For a woman 4’9 90lbs at 20 to maintain her weight she needs:  1,263 calories per day 8,838 calories per week    For a woman 5’9 90lbs at 20 to maintain her weight she needs: 1,491 calories per day 10,438 calories per week       This is just the most basic caloric difference, of maintenance. To lose weight the amount of calories that needs to be cut is 500. A 4’9 woman can only have 763 calories a day to lose weight while the 5’9 can eat 991 calories a day. These numbers might not be much to you, but on a diet those numbers are an entire meal of difference.         So yes. It is harder.