u/A-3456

I’m curious whether anyone here has looked deeper into cases where women seem to have unusually low energy expenditure despite good adherence and activity levels.

For context, I’m 5’2, South Asian, average around 12k steps daily, weight train consistently, and track intake very accurately (15+ years tracking + I work as a PT/fat loss coach).

Despite this, my apparent maintenance seems to be around 1400 calories. At 1200 calories, fat loss is minimal, and I only see slow movement closer to 1000.

I know adaptive thermogenesis, reduced NEAT, and tracking error are common explanations, but I’m curious whether there’s evidence for some women genuinely having significantly lower TDEEs than calculators predict — especially smaller women and/or women with possible insulin resistance/hormonal issues.

Would love to hear from anyone who has explored this clinically or academically.

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I’m 5’2, South Asian, 160lbs weight train regularly, and average around 12k steps daily. I’ve struggled with weight loss for years and I feel like my calorie needs are abnormally low compared to other women my size/activity level.

I track very accurately (I’ve used MyFitnessPal for 15+ years and I’m also a PT/fat loss coach), so I’m confident it’s not a tracking issue.

The issue is that I seem to maintain around 1400 calories, and even at 1200 calories I barely lose weight. The only time I see noticeable loss is closer to 1000 calories, and even then it’s slow.

Meanwhile I see other petite women losing steadily on much higher calories.

I’m wondering if any other short women here have experienced this? Did you find out it was just genuinely low TDEE, metabolic adaptation from chronic dieting, hormones/insulin resistance, or something else?