Am I Doing This Right?

jackiedoming

I've spent hours on end reading different books and articles on how to transition into a healthier, happier lifestyle.

In the past month, I've drastically changed my eating habits - I've been a vegetarian for the past few years, which makes it both easier and harder to eat healthy. Although there are less fatty meats I can dine on, it's pushed me to make choices of the starchy variety - potato chips, fries, heavily-dressed salads, etc. I tried donating blood last month and I also found out I was anaemic (which isn't uncommon for women in my position), which is driving me to make permanent changes in my eating habits. I want to feel better both extrinsically and intrinsically.

I've cut junk food out of my life almost entirely (except for one or two cheat days a week). I've been using myfitnesspal to keep track of my caloric intake, and what kind of calories I'm consuming. I've made realistic changes to my diet so that I can sustain them long term (instead of quick fixes or crash dieting). My goal is to lose ten pounds, gain lean muscle mass, condition for a marathon and ultimately have more pep in my step.

I'm 5'6", 128 lbs with a BMR of approximately 1350 kcal. For the past month, I've been working out five to six times a week. My workout routine consists of three days of 30-50 minutes of running, one or two days of one hour aerobic/strength training classes and one to two days of strength training to gain more muscle mass. I've been consuming approximately 1200-1400kcal a day, losing about 200-500kcal in exercise and work a desk job during the day.

I started off around 130 lbs with a body fat percentage around 22-23%. I'm currently sitting around 19-21%.

I realize my finish line isn't too far ahead, but I want to make sure I'm following the right steps towards reaching my fitness goal - which is why I'm reaching out to this community. I'm looking for any additional advice to follow, or corrections in my current routine. The difficulty is that sometimes there is almost too much information to digest through readings - so much that you start having a hard time sorting right from wrong.

Thank you for your advice and support. I'm excited to make this life change and hopefully run my first marathon in the new few months!

ocukor1

With working out 5-6 times a week, I'd say your calorie intake of 1200-1400 cals a days seems kinda low. With such a low calorie intake, every meal counts, and every meal has to have a good balance of carbs, protein and fats. You might want to look into supplementing with multivitamins as well.

jackiedoming

Thanks for the advice. I have felt slightly more fatigued lately, and I think an increase in calorie intake would probably make me feel a lot better. Do you have any recommendations for what kind of multivitamins to take? (There are so many out there in the market, it's overwhelming to figure out which ones are effective.)

jackiedoming

I'm also curious to know - how much is too little? Most weight-loss calculators suggest 1200 kcal, but it seems a little low for my lifestyle and I'm not feeling as healthy as I did when I was consuming a few hundred more calories.