What’s a feasible GW for 5’ 1”?

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earthangelone

New member
I’ve recently finished a reverse diet around 1850 cal per day, focusing on 32% protein, around 130. I used to weigh 120 but I wasn’t doing it very healthily / didn’t do high protein/ was always hungry. Is it possible to get leaner again and go back to 120? Eating more protein has helped a lot in terms of feeling full, but it makes me more bulky than I’d like to be, so I can’t figure out a solution. Is the answer really just hella cardio?
 
@earthangelone Body weight varies based on what you're aesthetic/sport goals are. For example, I'm 5'2" and in my late 30's and early 40's, I was a long distance runner and weighed 98lbs at 18% bodyfat. I ran between 40-60 miles/week and was in the gym for sport-specific strength work 3x/week. I'm in my mid-40's now and have transitioned to a strength focus and weigh around 116, still at 18% bodyfat. I lift 5x a week, and do cardio (rowing, running, and elliptical) 3x/week.

When I was running, my goal was to be fast, so I dropped as much weight as possible to obtain that objective. Now my goal is to be strong, so I have a goal weight of 120 at 18% bodyfat.

If I hadn't gotten out of thinking that 100 pounds was my upper weight limit, I wouldn't have been able to add so much muscle. I learned to eat more, not fear weight increase, and keep a laser focus on my bodyfat, vs on the scale number.

So, to answer your question, for your height you could set a goal weight of just about anything, as long as it serves your overall aesthetic/sport objective. Maybe instead of asking what your goal weight should be, think about what sport or aesthetic goal you want to achieve and work toward that. The scale number winds up being a whole lot less important that way.
 
@earthangelone 120lbs sounds good for 5’1. The last 10lbs is generally the most difficult to lose when you are already at a healthy weight.

There’s no need to make any drastic changes. Just throw in a daily walk as your cardio and that should be sufficient.
 
@earthangelone Yeah definitely, healthy even. I'm 5'0" and 115lbs and I eat +2,000 calories for maintenance. It's all relative to your goals and the level you exercise. You might wanna adjust macros to 50% carbs, 25% protein and 25% fats and try for 1650 calories. See where you are in a month. Remember that when you're lifting as well as doing cardio the weight won't drop as fast as if it were just cardio as you're recomping and building strength at the same time. Enjoy the process. Or focus on cardio only if you want to speed the weight loss up, but you'll also lose muscle in the process.
 
@pete71 Happy to see someone of same height as me hitting 2k calories. May I know your workout routine??? I am confused if I should be consuming 1200 calories or hit some more around 1500.
 
@communityguide Sure :) I now lift weights five times a week. My split is upper, push, pull, lower/hammies focus and lower/quads focus. I’ve been lifting consistently 4-5 times a week since April if that helps at all. Before I started, I was eating 1200 and went up 1500 a couple of weeks in and then have slowly moved up to +2000, although some days I have 1800 and others 2500… depends on how I’m feeling :)
 
@pete71 Thanks for posting this! It's a little easier to conceptualize the variability when it's folks closer to your height and age.

I started at 5'0'' and 115lbs when I went back to lifting in April 2022. I started with 2x Squats + Bench with progressive overload being a goal. Then I creeped up to 3/4x a week and started doing Squat and Bench on different days and adding in 10 sessions of whatever I felt like to round out activity (bouldering, kettlebell, dumb bell, leg lift, etc) until I was bored by the 10th session.

I was only tracking protein but I would guess the calories were 2,000-2,200 and put on muscle but only my arms and back got any definition.

At the 6 month mark I was just below 130lbs and started going down to 1x week for 90 min instead of 3/4x for 20min to 60min depending on the focus.

I started tracking at the 7-9 month marks and calories went to 1400-1800. With exercise picking up to 2/3x a week, calories hover around 1600-1800. Weight hovers around 123-126lbs.

The most annoying thing is that I do any lifting at all and my legs immediately bump me up a pant size. I'm also entering my later 30s this year and it's like you can't put on muscle without some lower belly fat trying to sneak in.

To the OPs concern, getting down in weight and being a smaller size aren't always the same thing. It's not unusual to be heavier on the scale but slimmer on inches in some spots on the body. Conversely, some parts are always going to get bigger before they are ever leaner when you're trying to muscle mommy those legs (in my case).
 
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