Do older teens really need to eat more?

millaxoxo

First let me tell you guys about myself I'm 18 almost 19, 5'8, always have been at a healthy weight but have extra body fat..have been on a healthy journey for about a year now, started out very clueless and ate way too low 1200 calories and exercised a lot lost a lot of weight but gained it all back plus double. Learned a bit more and started eating more around 1400-1500 and got back to my initial weight which was 132 pounds. My goal weight is 125 and pounds which seems so close but so far. I eat from 1400-1600 calories a day and workout 3-4 times a week and eat at least half my exercise calories back. I usually do 20 minutes weight training and 20 cardio. I weigh out all my food as well ... And I am wondering why I am not losing.. I researched and saw that on multiple forums that if you're under 21 you have to use the children's TDEE and so on. I did that and it says I should eat 2100 calories a day. Is this correct ? Or around there? Am I not losing because I am virtually starving myself?? Even though I am usually full on 1600 calories... Or have I messed up my metabolism? Any advice?

Greenrun99

Your 5'8, active, and pretty skinny at your height/weight... you may want to look into dumping your cardio for an all weight training routine to get where you want to be.. you can definitely eat more.. I would really look at your macro's and make sure your measuring everything your eating.. So your 132 lbs, are you getting 100g+ of protein? Maybe pick 1 # (1600) and eat that everyday instead of cycling based on your workouts.. and don't eat exercise calories if you do that. (maybe you are overestimating your exercise calories as well)

millaxoxo

Yes I eat around 120-138grams of protein and I would love to ditch the cardio and just do weight training but I thought to build muscle you have to be in a surplus

TR0berts

Look up New Rules Of Lifting For Women. Follow that and don't worry too much about 7 lbs.