calories... confused?

Skinnyminimee

I don't know how many calories to eat. I have read through all of the links in here and done a lot of searches but I'm just getting more and more confused.

I'm 5'6", in high school (17 years), and I play 3 sports a year. Lacrosse in the spring, and cross country/distance running the rest of the year. I work out on my own too after practice ~3x a week. I've figured my TDEE is around 2300, and my BMR is 1440. I weigh 129.5 lbs currently and am looking to get to around 115-110 BEFORE AUGUST. (I have a small frame.) I want to be a faster runner so I need to be as light as possible without sacrificing muscle.

What kind of calorie deficit can I safely create/how much should I be eating? I don't know if i should count excersize calories either, because I don't know exactly how much I burn at lax practice/strength training/etc. So should I eat my BMR, or should I subtract a deficit from my TDEE, or should I net my bmr?

em9371

15-20lbs in 12 weeks is too high to achieve healthily as you don't really have much to lose, for your current weight you should be aiming for only 0.5 per week. any more than this and you will more than likely lose muscle. Make sure to eat plenty of protein and do some weight traiing to maintain your muscle mass.

Take 250 cals from your TDEE so based on 2300 you would eat 2050. Exercise is already included in your allowance.

Alternatively, set MFP to a goal of 0.5lbs then log and eat back exercise cals.

Either way, make sure you NET above BMR.

mallory3411

I would suggest another site like sparkteens.com

MFP isn't designed to ensure those under the age of 18 get proper nutrition. You are still growing and need proper calories, proteins, etc.