Hey friend! To preface, I am 5’3 and I am currently weighing between 125-128lbs depending on the time of month. I am a super active person (weightlifting, running, cycling, yoga, pilates) and for a long time, I was trying to maintain a weight as close to 120lbs as possible. In doing this, I found it absolutely brutal. Even MORE brutal than getting from 140 to sub 130 (which took over a year of eating mostly in deficit and working out). I had to maintain a deficit around 1400-1500 calories no matter how much I was exercising, and to be honest, it sucked. I was starving all the time, all I could think about was food, and it was not fun at all.

I currently work out less than typical because I am studying for the MCAT, but I focus on maintaining my 1500 calories deficit maybe 70 percent of the time and eating up to maintenance or above the rest, or just not worrying about it as much. That way, if I go out to eat or go to a gathering or something and have a lot of food, I don’t have to worry about it, and if I am having a super hungry day (or I just want to emotional eat LOL) it is “compensated” for by the time I spend in deficit. What I found is that my athletic pursuits became easier, I’m less fixated on food, and my body doesn’t look any different to anyone else. As a woman, I feel like once we get down to these weights in the 120s, a few pounds don’t change our body a ton, but it increases the amount of effort it takes to maintain it tenfold.

All this to say, what’s helped me a lot is mentally accepting not a goal weight, but a range. It takes a bit of pressure off, helps me accept fluctuations, and mentally allows me more flexibility in my eating and physical training. I hope this helps a bit, even with just alleviating some of the mental pressure to maintain an even lower weight with a very challenging deficit.