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Is 8 stone a realistic weight for an 18 year old girl?

I am a highly active vegan! I have a pretty petite frame, but with lots of muscle. I am a long distance runner and work out. However, my eating habits have been off the wall, and I now stand at 9st 9. I am eating less than 1000 calories/day (today I ate 713!) and am probably on track to get down to 9 stone by 11th April. But I don't know if that will be low enough for me. Can I please have some opinions?

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Reply 1
Original post by izzibusybee
I am a highly active vegan! I have a pretty petite frame, but with lots of muscle. I am a long distance runner and work out. However, my eating habits have been off the wall, and I now stand at 9st 9. I am eating less than 1000 calories/day (today I ate 713!) and am probably on track to get down to 9 stone by 11th April. But I don't know if that will be low enough for me. Can I please have some opinions?


You need to be careful about your body going into starvation mode if you are eating that few calories . I'm sure one of the fitness posters will tell you more.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by meenu89
You need to be careful about your body going into starvation mode if you are eating that few calories . I'm sure of the fitness posters will tell you more.

Thank you for your concern, it means a lot :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by izzibusybee
Thank you for your concern, it means a lot :smile:


Seen it happen to others, take care :smile:
Reply 4
I wouldn't worry too much about how much you weigh really you are under 10 stone, you also say you have a muscular physique. Unless you are under 5 foot, I shouldn't worry. You need to eat 2000 cals + more if you are excercising a lot. 713 cals is way too low be very careful.
How tall are you?

713 cals is definitely too low to sustain you long-term
a specific weight is totally irrelevant if we don't know your height, 8st for someone who is 5ft is probably fine, 8st for someone who is 5'11 is incredibly thin

really what it comes down to is what is a healthy weight for YOU, which you wont find by eating 700cals a day, eat 2000+ of healthy stuff and compensate for your exercise properly and see where your body naturally settles, that's probably where you will be heathiest
Reply 7
Less than 1000 calories and lots of muscle is a thing hard to believe. Your body will eat muscle instead of fat and since you're vegan you will get less protein to build muscle.

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To answer the title I weigh a bit less than 8 stone and whilst I'm not very skinny I have a very small frame and barely any muscles :tongue: So it varies from girl to girl, but if you want to retain those muscles I advise against aiming to go down to 8 stone really.
(edited 10 years ago)
It's already said, but you shouldn't worry too much about your weight. In this day and age, people are too quickly obsessed with their weight. If you want to have a healthy weight, you might want to check out paleo or ketogenic diets, those are really good. I was underweight and didn't seem to gain weight, but this diet really worked for me. It also works the other way around, I've known some people who got rid of their extra pounds.
Reply 10
If you are muscular that weight isn't really obtainable unless you are very short!!
Reply 11
Original post by izzibusybee
I am a highly active vegan! I have a pretty petite frame, but with lots of muscle. I am a long distance runner and work out. However, my eating habits have been off the wall, and I now stand at 9st 9. I am eating less than 1000 calories/day (today I ate 713!) and am probably on track to get down to 9 stone by 11th April. But I don't know if that will be low enough for me. Can I please have some opinions?


It sounds like an unhealthy goal. How tall are you? You definitely shouldn't be eating too little because you WILL mess up your metabolic rate. I'm bulimic/was bulimic. I digested 500-700 max for a year and a half and my metabolic rate got so messed up that when I entered recovery I gained everything I had lost (50+lbs). So if you're going to do it, I advise you plan for the long term.
Reply 12
You need to have at least 1300 cals a day, I would say 1700 if you're a runner. You're eating too little and this will slow down your metabolism and you won't lose weight. And you should give yourself more time to lose it.
Take it from someone who knows. Crash dieting and starving just doesn't work.

I've lost half a stone in the last 2 and a half months from lots of gyming and changing my diet. I've had to be patient but the difference is amazing. My body looks so much healthier and sculpted and I feel healthy and happy. Just following a better diet so if I have a little treat there isn't anything to worry about cos it isn't strict calorie counting etc.

I'm aiming for 8 stone (I'm 5ft) cos I've put on a lot of weight since I've graduated and been sitting on my bum feeling down looking for jobs. Now I'm at 8 and a half I feel great and am hoping to be down to 8 stone by the summer.

Be realistic and healthy.
Reply 14
Thank you everyone. Sorry, I completely forgot to put my height! I am 5 ft 4. The weight's coming off very rapidly at the moment, and I take that to be a sign of it needing to go: I lost 5 pounds at the weekend without even trying! I can completely see what you're saying, and I think many of you are right in that I ate 470 yesterday and I couldn't really function today. I'm increasing the calories to 600, which I appreciate is still not much, but to be honest I don't feel I need that much. My question is really: is 8 stone a good weight for a girl of reasonably petite frame with a height of 5 ft 4? As I say, I am a vegan (so my dietary habits are different), and am highly active...?
Reply 15
Original post by arson_fire
It the very bottom of the healthy range, bordering on unhealthy. No offence but 5lb is a ridiculous amount to lose in a few days. Your body needs fuel especially if you are taking loads of exercise. Slow down with the weight loss - it`s not a race!

Thank you. In all fairness, I was hiking for 3 days and eating very little because I wasn't hungry. I wasn't doing anything really unhealthy. But I can completely see where you're coming from. I guess I just feel like there's no real reason why I can't be there, given the fact that I'm a highly active, healthy vegan...
Original post by izzibusybee
Thank you everyone. Sorry, I completely forgot to put my height! I am 5 ft 4. The weight's coming off very rapidly at the moment, and I take that to be a sign of it needing to go: I lost 5 pounds at the weekend without even trying! I can completely see what you're saying, and I think many of you are right in that I ate 470 yesterday and I couldn't really function today. I'm increasing the calories to 600, which I appreciate is still not much, but to be honest I don't feel I need that much. My question is really: is 8 stone a good weight for a girl of reasonably petite frame with a height of 5 ft 4? As I say, I am a vegan (so my dietary habits are different), and am highly active...?


I'm a 5'4" vegan woman as well and I weigh a little under 8 stone. I don't do any exercise and have no muscle so you should weigh more than me if you're highly active. I would advise against your current diet though - I've recently come off a similar diet and I've been gaining a lot of weight because I hadn't been feeding myself for months so it's so hard to stop eating now. I lost a stone in two months but it made me feel so ill and I couldn't do anything because I had no energy for anything. I couldn't even watch a TV programme because I didn't have the energy to concentrate on something for that long. You're just going to make yourself ill and when you do stop the weight will just go straight back on.
Reply 17
Original post by ArtGoblin
I'm a 5'4" vegan woman as well and I weigh a little under 8 stone. I don't do any exercise and have no muscle so you should weigh more than me if you're highly active. I would advise against your current diet though - I've recently come off a similar diet and I've been gaining a lot of weight because I hadn't been feeding myself for months so it's so hard to stop eating now. I lost a stone in two months but it made me feel so ill and I couldn't do anything because I had no energy for anything. I couldn't even watch a TV programme because I didn't have the energy to concentrate on something for that long. You're just going to make yourself ill and when you do stop the weight will just go straight back on.

Thank you. Yes, I found that today, having eaten 400 calories yesterday I just couldn't concentrate, I felt awful and had a panic attack. I think if I stick at it though, I should get used to it. I'm desperate to lose the weight. I've just cut out a lot of sugar and carbs very recently and was feeling strange as it was. What do you eat then, as a vegan woman? I'm only recently one and am struggling a little.
Original post by izzibusybee
Thank you. Yes, I found that today, having eaten 400 calories yesterday I just couldn't concentrate, I felt awful and had a panic attack. I think if I stick at it though, I should get used to it. I'm desperate to lose the weight. I've just cut out a lot of sugar and carbs very recently and was feeling strange as it was. What do you eat then, as a vegan woman? I'm only recently one and am struggling a little.


You won't be able to stick at it forever though. You're either going to get seriously ill and have to gain weight for your health or you'll reach your target weight and eating normally will cause rapid weight gain because you've been starving yourself. In the long run it's better to lose the weight slowly so that it isn't all for nothing. I understand that you want to lose weight as fast as possible but losing weight is only half the work. You need to eat in a way that is actually sustainable long term. While your body will get used to not having enough energy in some ways you will feel constantly exhausted on 600 calories a day.

If you're vegan and you've cut out sugar and carbs your diet must be very restrictive so I'm not surprised you're struggling. Most days I eat cereal with soya milk for breakfast (except when dieting), a big salad for lunch then usually a vegetable/pulse/bean-based dish with rice/pasta/bread for tea. Recently I've been eating a lot of biscuits and crisps in between meals because I can't stand being hungry anymore. So my diet is very carb based tbh!
I think 8 and a half is probably better for 5ft4.

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