How many calories should I be eating?

christinefrano

I'm a 100 lbs, 5'1. I lift 3 times a week and currently at 1,600 calories. I want to continue to build at my maintenance. Some days I'm fine with this, some days I'm hungry. Lately I've been pretty hungry n idk if it's cause I've increased the weight on some exercises? I hit my macros and eat a great amount of protein.

I feel like I don't need an excessive amount of calories since I don't do much cardio and not lifting a crazy amount (eg. 63 lb hip thrust, max 20lb dumbells for arms).


Advice?

yirara

So is your weight stable? For how long? Are you eating back your calories from the exercise? And most importantly probably: how often per week do you take a break from exercising?

christinefrano

I've gained about 1.5-2 lbs since the fall. I don't eat back my calories. I workout 3 times a week so plenty of rest there.

AnnPT77

christinefrano wrote: »

I've gained about 1.5-2 lbs since the fall. I don't eat back my calories. I workout 3 times a week so plenty of rest there.

Do you live in a place where climate changes your routine seasonally? For some of us in the North, it's common to gain a couple of pounds in the Winter, lose it again in the Spring.

It can happen from incidental movement, not necessarily a change in exercise intensity/frequency/duration.

For example, in Summer when I'm rowing on water, there's more incidental walking involved vs. machine rowing at home. When I get home, I wander around my garden, see what's blooming. Nothing blooming now, in 6"+ of snow, temps around freezing and sometimes well below. Better weather brings outdoor social stuff, too - concerts in the park, art festivals, etc.

If this is a potential for you, and you're not distressed over the 1.5-2 pounds, you might ride it out and see if you cycle down again come better weather. Or, if you don't want to do that, maybe make a tiny cut in eating, or increase exercise a little, or work on upping your daily life movement. There are ideas about that in this thread:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

I don't know how long a time period "since Fall" is for you, but 100 calories is roughly around a pound in 35 days, up or down.

christinefrano

Yes, it's currently 7 degrees where I am lol.

I'm not necessarily upset about it as the number/reps have gone up on the dumbells and barbell. I just want to want to make sure I eat enough without gaining weight too fast. How do I accurately find my ideal calorie intake?

I checked my logs and Dec 12th I was 98.6. Today I was 100.6. I haven't really weighed myself much since then as I try not to stress about lbs. I was eating a couple hundred calories under maintenance during oct-dec sometimes as well. Now I'm hitting maintenance if not 100 cals more some days cause I'm hungry post workout.

I know growing muscle at maintenance is long and hard but I don't want to "bulk" either.