Need help/advice on how many calories to eat as a teen!

millaxoxo

So firstly I'm 5'7 about 133 pounds 18 years old , gained some weight would love to be around 125 . I have been eating 1500 calories a day sometimes a little less with exercise (1300) and sometimes more 1700 ish I measure all my food so I know it's accurate, watch my carbs and sodium etc and eat plenty of protein. I know my weigh is healthy blah blah but I have extra fat in areas and want to cut down a bit more before bulking. I do yoga once a week for two hours and then workout 3x a week for about an hour, mostly weight lifting and some moderate cardio. I also have a lightly active job , I work at a froyo shop and we wash dishes And walk back and forth a bit and clean nothing crazy. I have been losing VERY slowly , And was wondering if if was because I'm not eating enough (which I think I am) but I've been researching and some people say at 18-19 you should eat around 2000... I calculated my TDEE and it is around 1950. So if I are 2000 wouldn't i maintain? Am I losing weight so slowly because my deficit isn't so big?( which is fine I don't mind slow loss just don't want to mess up my metabolism) or is it because I'm building muscle? I know you need a surplus for muscle gains but I have been focussing on weight training and lots of protein and definitely feel my muscles growing which is odd. Would love opinions!! Just don't want to do my body Any harm

SezxyStef

8lbs to go yes it should go slow. I eat 1600 for a 400 calorie deficet daily and it's a slow go...but it's gong.

You are not building muscle at a deficet...what you are doing is losing fat around them to make them more defined.

geekyjock76

We all have a limit to how much fat mass that can be burned in a single day. This limit is primarily determined by how much total fat mass one has. Thus, a person with a large amount of fat mass will burn more fat than a reasonably lean person in a 24 hour period. In another way, think of that limit as a max deficit - meaning that any calories burned beyond that threshold will not result in further fat oxidation.

Note: To estimate max deficit, multiply your total fat mass in lbs by 31. Ex: 20 lbs x 31 = 620 max deficit

My TDEE is 2900 calories; my hypothetical max deficit is 600 calories. Thus, the lowest I can reasonably eat and still burn fat is 2300 calories. If I establish a deficit beyond 600 calories, no more fat mass will be burned. Additionally, the closer to this max deficit I get, the more lean mass is used as fuel. Considering all the above, I eat 2600 to spare as much lean mass as possible while maximizing fat loss.

Some may think it's frustrating that fat loss slows down as our weight decreases. Personally, I'm thankful; because at 10% body fat, I really don't want to be capable of burning 2 lbs of fat a week. I only have about 18 lbs of total fat mass. So if I lost weight that rapidly, I'd be among the first to die in a famine.