Why is it so hard to loose weight as a short woman????

[AbigailisPartiedOut]

Just that really. I'm 5ft2 and after a horrible year with our last failed ivf attempt, close family illness and a bereavement over Christmas I've let the gym slide and embraced pj's and bottles of wine on the sofa. I'm now back up to 11stone 7 and obese according to my bmi. so pissed off at myself.

I'm back in the gym (weights and hiit workouts) and got the calorie counting back on but I find it so hard to loose weight if I'm eating any more than 1200 calories a day. But all the advice says that is an unhealthy amount.

Just a vent really but if any other short ladies have any advice please share. I'm just so frustrated.

5ft2 and I also don't lose unless I eat around 1200 cals and also confused as everything I read says it's too low but nothing else works 😭 currently 170lbs and want to be 145 but it's such a struggle being so hungry!

1200 is usually too low unless you're menopausal, in which case things can go a bit haywire.
How long have you been trying though? As I think we're given the message to expect fast weight loss which is unrealistic anyway, but when we're short/smaller what we lose is going to be proportionately less, which means it doesn't necessarily show up obviously on a week by week basis.

I've been working on it since 1st Jan, and have lost nearly 2kg - it's only this week that I've felt confident it is actual weight loss and not just fluctuations!

I'm half an inch taller than you and 48. Have you worked out your tdee? I weigh 8.5 stone and my tdee is around 2000 calories because I walk everywhere. I lost weight to get to this point on 1700 a day or thereabouts. Work out your tdee and go from there. The heavier a person the higher their tdee ususlly.

I'm 5ft and find it very hard to shift any excess weight.

I've been reading the book "Rushing Woman Syndrome" which gave me some useful insights around which types of exercise might suit me best.

I now walk a minimum of 30 mins a day, do weights for 15 minutes (different groups each day) and 15 mins of stretching every day and I can see some improvements

Have a look at ESG Fitness on Instagram. She is passionate about helping shorter women lose fat and has recently done a workshop on it. She's very good so worth a listen.

I’m five one and like you had failed ivf and bereavements to deal with which has meant I’ve gained ten kilos over the last few years, despite being active and mostly eating well.

in December I got really bad piles from weightlifting and I’ve been on a strict high fibre diet since, while I wait for my nhs surgery to fix them. I’ve not been calorie counting but just making sure I have three home cooked meals a day with ten grams of fibre or more in. I haven’t been able to eat any of the usual shite I snack on like biscuits, sweets or crisps for fear of painful repercussions. The weight is falling off me - I’m six kilos down already and I never feel hungry or deprived. I never go to bed hungry. I’ve got hypothyroidism and I’m late forties so I’m surprised it’s working so well.

I would assume that you need to eat less than taller women, so naturally every portion size is going to put more weight on for you.
Similar to how men need slightly more calories than women.
It's going to partly be metabolism and activity based, but I would assume a smaller body overall (height wise) means a slightly lower calorie requirement.

I am 5 foot nothing and don't lose weight unless I eat 1000 calories a day. And that is with weight training 3 times a week. 1200 might work very very very slowly but that is soul destroying. Like 1/2lb a month slowly. And 1000 is pretty much impossible to stick to for long enough to lose all the weight. High fibre is a good shout though, will give that a go. Am vegetarian so high protein/ low carb is hard.

Thank you, I'll take a look.

Thank you for the replies. I'm pretty good with high fibre and not eating rubbish when I put my mind to it but I don't want to starve myself either! Will take a look at some of the suggestions. Glad it's not just me that has this problem. I guess being smaller I just don't expend as much energy as a tall person!

I guess being smaller I just don't expend as much energy as a tall person!

A taller AND heavier person will expend more energy than a shorter person who weighs less but height won't affect things otherwise. The heavier we are the more energy it takes to move ourselves around and breathe. My tdee was higher at 10.5 stone than it is now at 8.5stone. It takes more effort to move a 16kg sack of flour compared to a regular 1.5kg bag to use a blunt analogy.

Well, yes, obviously, but if you're in charge of your own food, shouldn't this work itself out by having a smaller apetite?
The problem is eating when someone else is cooking of course because then you get a standard portion.

All those "X amount of calories is too much/too little" always make me roll my eyes. There is no fixed amount (outside of a fairly wide range) that is too much or too little, it depends on your build, your age, your activity levels...

Work out your tdee and look at healthy low cal food that you can eat a satisfying amount of. Personally I like homemade soup and salads with sauce. You can even make your own salade sauce (some good lowcal yogurt based sauces out there).

I don't know if needing less calories necessarily translates to a smaller appetite?
Especially when you consider things like treat food, sandwiches, yogurts, steaks, fruit and so many other foods are a standard size, so unless someone leaves part of each item they will be having more unnecessary calories than a larger person eating the same snack or lunch etc.

Yep the shorter you are the fewer calories you need, depressing but true.

I also have a very petite frame. I find having 2 meals a day naturally works for me.

I am 5ft2 and also find it hard. I have never found calorie controlling works- if you’re eating the wrong things you’ll put on weight!
i have lost half a stone in January doing the following:
low carb at all times
limit sugar
lots of protein
savory breakfast
2 meals a day

I'm 4ft 10, I've actually shrunk over an inch in last 30 years!

I eat 800 calories a day to lose weight, obviously I would be unbearably hungry all the time on that so I use Mounjaro

Because the alternative would be starving hungry, trying incredibly hard to lose weight like I did for over 30 years.

I literally ate 1000-1200 calories a day while being hungry ALL the time and put on 5 stone over that time. I did not have a will power problem, I had a perfectly normal response to having to eat so little.

Mounjaro for life for me. Only way I can cope with eating 800 calories a day and not climbing the walls and literally crying with hunger.

Yes, obviously I did say that when you can't control the portion sizes, it's a problem. I don't think fruit is really a problem either and plain yogurt is extremely healthy.
In general, yes, I would think that your appetite is to some extend determined by your size. Obviously muscle mass and activity factor in as well.

Hi, would you mind sharing an example of what you tend to eat?
This sounds like a route I need to take.
Thanks

I feel your pain I’m 4ft 11 and was 10st. I did go to slimming world for a while (a good 8 years ago now), and used to get really miffed that people would lose 4lb and I was half a pound a week at best. It did come off eventually and I’ve kept it off for the last 8 years, I don’t have a huge appetite and only really eat small portions unless I’m really hungry. I do run between 8-10 miles a week and do lots of day to day walking which I think has massively helped.

This book is a good start: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Life-Cookbook-bestselling-gut-health/dp/1787335232

Most days revolve around a dish with legumes. I soaked a load of canellini beans yesterday and cooked them up so today we're having this https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/24/leek-and-beans-romesco-sauce-vegan-recipe-meera-sodha - my DP will have it with bread. Tomorrow we'll have the leftovers on jacket potatoes with a salad.

A couple of days ago I cooked a load of puy lentils, and then made a mushroom and lentil ragu which we had with wholemeal pasta one day and jacket potatoes again another day (had lots of potatoes in our veg box recently). Then yesterday I made a lentil salad - added a jar of roast peppers, some walnuts, some olives to it, when served it up with some figs, cottage cheese, and avocado.

I will have cannellini beans leftover from yesterdays soak, so I will do a chopped salad with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, seeds, feta, peppers. Or I might make a bean and tuna salad - mix in a tin of nice tuna and some red onion, maybe some capers.

I soaked butterbeans last week so had a greek butterbean stew, another chopped salad, a ceasar salad using roast butterbeans instead of chicken, and a butterbean mash with some fried fish.

I have a loads of nuts and seeds either in dishes or sprinkled on top. I also make a lot of tahini and greek yoghurt dressings instead of using mayonnaise.

Then also various soups with added beans or lentils - tuscan soup is a particular favourite, or a mexican black bean soup.

We used to eat a lot of sandwiches at lunch as it's quick to do, but I've now found as long as I have some beans or lentils cooked up in the fridge waiting, it's just as quick to throw a salad together and it keeps the hunger away more easily.

I use tins of beans when I haven't had the time to soak and cook myself but cooking them yourself tastes so much nicer. I find the tinned pulses taste a bit tinny. The jars are good but really expensive.

It helps that my DP is vegetarian!

Thanks so much! That all sounds delicious and right up my street as I love pulses etc. Funnily enough, I have had that cook book in my favourites for a while so I will definately get it now.
I put quite a bit of weight on over Christmas and as I am mid 40s and short I am finding weight harder to shift. I'm currently reducing calories, trying to fast for 14 hours and not over doing the carbs. Yet it doesn't feel like the right way for me and I do not want to be calculating and counting forever so I need to find a healthy path that is easier to follow.

Last year I reduced eating upfs and it felt like a much healthier way to eat than all this counting. For something sweet I would have greek yoghurt with a small amount of honey and a couple of dates and I would feel satisfied. I think maybe I have lost my way counting everything and discounting actual healthy food because Im worried about the carbs.
Thanks for the recommendations. The leek and bean meal reminds me of an Anna Jones one I love that is a tomato cassoulet with sour dough bread. I'll have to make that again too.

This is the meal I meant. It is delicous.

https://annajones.co.uk/recipes/tomato-and-coconut-cassoulet

@Flipflop93 ah yes, love Anna Jones!

yes I know what you mean, it’s so confusing all the diet information that is thrown at us but fundamentally I just don’t think you can go wrong with a Mediterranean diet, and to me eating lots of pulses and seasonally just makes me feel healthy. Many parts of the world eat lots of carbs and are healthy so I see no reason to exclude them if it suits your tastes. My brother follows a keto diet and that works for him but it just wouldn’t suit me, and I want to enjoy my meals.

apart from the occasional bowl of all bran or similar I’ve cut out UPFs and that addictive feeling when I’m eating has gone. I’ve always struggled with self control on factory food sweet things if they’re in front of me, so I’ve just gone cold turkey and a few months on I don’t even fancy them when I walk past them in the shops. Dates and good quality peanut butter hit the spot if I feel I need something sugary and fatty.