Increasing Calories For Maintenance

katymullins

I'm 15 years old, 5'8 and 124 pounds. I fell into the trap of 1200 calories a day, and ate this amount while burning 400-700 calories 5 days/week exercising, in addition to being fairly active at school during the day and walking home, etc. I did this for about 6 months, lost 40 pounds, and have since increased to maintaining on 1500/day, but I realize that for someone my age and activity level this is still not enough. I have an ultimate goal of maintaining AROUND my current weight on about 2000... (I do realize I will gain a few pounds, though) Based on my TDEE, I think this is a reasonable goal, but how should I go about building up to 2000? (Faster or slower, trying to not gain much body fat % if possible) Any tips or personal experiences would be appreciated Thanks!

caesar164

Hi Katy, I would add calories as slow as possible, perhaps 50 more calories every week or so... This could be in the form of an extra piece of fruit or a 1/4 cup of yogurt, it shouldn't be to difficult though.. Your metabolism should acclimate easily to this..

caesar164

Also, if your very active, try to eat the calories you burn back... Eating only 1200 calories and burning 500-700 calories without eating any back is not healthy; especially for someone your age, who is still growing and developing.