How many calories should I be eating?

snafuing1

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here. I think I might be overthinking things, but I am not sure if I am eating too many or too few calories. First, the numbers: I am female, 23 years old, 5'6", 147lbs. I did a few body fat calculators and I appear to be around 20-21% body fat, and although one calculator gave me 24% I am assuming that is an outlier. I do 30 minutes of cardio 2-3x per week, and combo strength/cardio (rock climbing) 2-3x per week in addition to that. I always eat about 15g of protein right after my rock climbing sessions. I'm kind of bad about keeping up my diary...

My problem is that I have hit a plateau at my current weight. I have tried calorie cycling, I've increased my exercise, I've tried changing the ratio of macronutrients that I eat... now I am worried that I am possibly not eating enough calories to keep up my metabolism. I have been netting 1300/day and I am thinking of increasing to 1500/day. On the other hand, I always eat back most if not all of my exercise calories, so maybe I'm actually eating too many? Does anyone have any advice or should I just try eating more or less and see if it helps?

skylark94

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Dan's method has worked wonders for me and busted me through a plateau.

cmriverside

I agree with skylark. In addition, I suggest you go to this group and read all the pinned threads at the top of their discussion page.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less