Am i not eating enough calories? Please help!!

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AveyHam
AveyHam Posts: 70 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I'm a 5'2 19 year old female and weigh 129 pounds. i've lost 12 pounds so far but i'm worried i might be eating too little. I eat 1200 cals a day and i do strength training (30 mins) 5 times a week+3 days of HIIT cardio. I missed my period this month and that kinda scared me so am i eating too little? If so, how many calories do you think i should eat? Thanks.

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  • RelevantGains
    RelevantGains Posts: 83 Member
    edited August 2016
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    1200 would be at the low end of what I would recommend with your activity, but I don't think it's too low.

    Hormones do get a little screwy when you diet, especially at lower body fat levels. Having occasional refeeds or diet breaks may be beneficial. Also, make sure your fat is at a decent level. Fat intake that is too low can mess with your hormones, too. At your weight, 40-50g of fat should be a good goal.

    https://youtu.be/J7oD_nGdtbs
  • Zealand4530
    Zealand4530 Posts: 180 Member
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    It's too low........way to low.....I think 1700 calories would be the absolute minimum
  • RelevantGains
    RelevantGains Posts: 83 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Zealand4530 wrote: »
    It's too low........way to low.....I think 1700 calories would be the absolute minimum

    Haha, don't do that to the poor girl.

    Realistically, you could raise your calories to about 1550 and still have a decent rate of weight loss, probably about .5-1 pound per week, if you wanted to.
  • Zealand4530
    Zealand4530 Posts: 180 Member
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    Guess it all depends on the intensity of her work outs. If strength training is 2lb dumbells and hiit is 5 minutes then yeah sure 1500. 1200 to 1500 calories if she's working out hard is stupidity. Nothing like putting in all that work to lose lean tissue
  • RelevantGains
    RelevantGains Posts: 83 Member
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    There's more to muscle retention than just throwing in more calories. Sure, if you want to completely prevent any muscle loss, then eat at maintenance or even a surplus.

    I would agree with you that that should be a focus, that protein should stay high, and that volume and intensity should stay at a good level to retain as much muscle as possible. But she wants to lose weight, so she's going to have to eat in a deficit to do that.

    For a 19 year old female at 129 pounds, 1700 would be about maintenance with light activity. HIIT 3 days a week is likely light to moderate exercise (though, like you said, it really depends on the intensity and the length, which we don't know). But in any case 1500 calories would be a very small deficit, and would produce quite a slow weight of weight loss. 1700 would likely give no significant weight loss (maybe a pound a month)
  • AveyHam
    AveyHam Posts: 70 Member
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    So this is pretty much what i do on leg day
    Deadlifts (80 lbs) 15 reps 3 sets
    Leg curls (50 lbs) 10 reps 4 sets
    Cable kickbacks (30lbs) 12 reps 3 sets
    Smith machine lunges (i use 11 pound weights) 10 reps 3 sets
    Squats 15 reps 3 sets

    And for upper body i do 8 exercises (3 sets, 12 reps) and use 11lb weights and i usually do 20 mins of hiit with some mobility training. Thanks for the comments

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