How many calories should I eat?

doodlecakes_07
doodlecakes_07 Posts: 69 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm an 18 year old girl, 5'8, 155 pounds. I'm super active, exercising 5-6x a week. I'd been overweight in middleschool, so in highschool I decided to get healthy. I starting calorie counting and exercising. It then turned into an obsession and I got down to 130 pounds, exercising 7 days a week (an hour or more of intense cardio), and only eating 600-900 calories per day.

I decided to train for a marathon, to get my mind off food and to work for a goal that I thought was utterly impossible. As I starting running more, I started to view food as a vessel for fuel and not some evil thing. I gained 10 pounds marathon training, but looked lean and strong. I completed the marathon, but still questioned how much I was eating after, scared to refuel.

Over the past year or so, I've healed my relationship with food, but as a result am up to 155 pounds (almost my starting point of 158). I'm not fat, I'm super muscular (working out all the time), but I do have fat to lose.

I want to lose 10-15 pounds, but I'm so confused as to how. Since I'm so active, I don't want to under eat, but I also don't want to over eat.

My BMR is ~1570. Should I eat that and exercise? Or should I eat that and eat back some of my exercise calories? As a chronic under-eater, I'm not sure what I should do. I'm currently eating ~1200 calories and exercising.

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    What's your body fat%? Were it me, I'd worry less about a number on a scale and more about my body fat%. If you want to have enough energy to keep running and keep the muscle you have, you should probably eat more than 1200 calories per day.

    Figure out your average TDEE. Eat 200-300 less than that every day while continuing to run. And lift weights. That plus patience will get you to your goal.

Categories