How many calories for the shorter gals? :)

christinefrano

I'm 5'1 and I weigh a about 100 lbs. I'm trying to gain muscle on maintenance calories (recomposition) but I don't know if I'm eating too much, or too little.

I've been eating around 1,600 calories and I while I don't want to lose weight, I want to lower my body fat %. I have gained a couple lbs since December, but I don't really know if muscle or fat. I definitely feel/look stronger.

Do I continue to eat this amount, or lower it on less active days? I lift 3-4 times a week.

sijomial

If you think that 2lbs in 12 weeks is a genuine weight gain trend (either fat or muscle) then taking roughly 500cals off your weekly calorie allowance should get you closer to maintenance calories.

kshama2001

It doesn't sound like you are fully utilizing MFP, as it does these calculations for you. (This is just a starting place - use your data for at least a month and adjust as needed.)

Go here:

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

Set your goal to Maintain my current weight.

"How would you describe your normal daily activities?" refers to your job or lifestyle, not time in the gym - eat back the calories you earn from exercise.

AnnPT77

In addition to good advice above, there's a thread in the Maintaining Weight part of the Community with a discussion of various ways of determining maintenance calories, with useful insights from quite a range of MFP maintainers:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1

Presumably you've already seen the good recomposition thread there, too, but I'll link it in case other readers may not know about it.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

tporter9999

Read more about body recomposition. If you are really into this get a DEXA body scan and start a bodybuilding/shaping program from a reputable trainer. Log all your food and manage macros per your health goals. You can make it happen.