Lifting Weights + Cardio = How many Calories?

mj235

Hello!

I am currently trying to lose weight while gaining muscle in hopes to up my metabolism. I just started lifting weight in September, and all through September until December I ate about 1,300 calories a day with one day a week where I wouldn't have an entire "off plan" day, but would go out to a dinner and perhaps frozen yogurt. During that time I lost about 12lbs (I try to stay off the scale, I realize it's not the best method and sometimes discourages me even when my pants are looser!)

Now I am in the gym 5 days a week. I do 35 minutes of pretty intense cardio (on the elliptical, generally burn about 450 calories) plus a cool down to bring me to a total of 40 minutes of cardio 5x a week. I also do 3 days of arms/chest/back and two days of lower body work plus 2 days of rest or active rest. I am also a student and most of the days of the week spend a lot of time running around campus getting to classes.

Currently I am at about 132 lbs. on a 5'3'' frame however am wearing a size 2-4 in clothing. I'm actually pretty happy with my body, I'm just noticing I'm having a hard time losing the fat I have in my lower midsection as well as wanting more muscle definition. Ideally I'd like to look slim, but toned and really rev up my metabolism.

I don't really lift for more than 20-30 minutes, 3 sets of 12-15 on about 5 different machines as well as core work, but tonight for instance I was STARVING and overate on the amount of calories I recently set myself at (1,400). I really, really don't want to gain - I'm fearful of it - and at the same time I don't want to not see progress due to not properly nourishing my body.

Can anyone point me in the direction to some links of websites that are fairly accurate where I can toy with numbers? Some of those days I had "cheat" dinners while on 1,300 calories I honestly must have had 1,000-1,300 calories over my norm (wine will do that!) but clearly still lost, so I feel like I can eat more, and perhaps need to as I find I go to bed hungry a lot. Any tips would be greatly appreciated - and if it helps any, I'm a beginner weight lifter and don't really consider myself to lift "heavy" weights. I'm just not there yet!

Thank you all so much for any input!