I burn like a wet matchstick

MFP estimates are generally too high and people who rely on them solely are likely overestimating their burn. If you are wearing an HRM, that will be a much closer read.

We don't burn as much as we think when we exercise. One of the reasons why people have a hard time losing weight when they incorporate exercise is because they overestimate the burn and eat too much. Or say, "I just ran 5k, so I can eat whatever I want," which isn't really true at all. A 5k run for me only burns 500 calories.

Exercise has fantastic benefits, including calorie burns, but the average person cannot out exercise a bad diet.

500 is great. My 5Ks give me a little less than a 300 burn.

Start lifting. You're not going to get the instant massive extra calories that you're after, but it will help your resting metabolism, allowing you to eat a bit more without fat gains!

Lifting does help you burn more calories at rest and there are a lot of great body comp benefits from lifting.

That said, this approach is dangerous. There's no good way to measure the burn from lifting and most people will end up eating too much.

you can figure it out by monitoring your weight gain/loss over a period of time while logging how many calories you eat. Anyone who's ever done a bulk cycle while logging their food intake will know at what kind of calorie numbers they maintain and at what numbers they start to gain weight. So I don't see where the danger is to be honest, so long as you're logging accurately and monitoring whether your weight is moving in the direction you want it to move in.

In my experience (which includes the experience of friends on my friends list etc here that I converse with a lot) a lot of women tend to underestimate how much they burn when lifting, and when it comes to switching from cutting to bulking for the first time, are often surprised at how much they need to eat to start gaining

example: calorie calculators say I should maintain around 1500-1800 cals/day (depending on the calculator) - reality is last time I was doing cutting/bulking cycles, I had to eat 2100 cals/day to maintain and more like 2300 cals/day for bulking. I'm not very tall and wasn't that active, as in I didn't do cardio and spent a lot of the day sitting.. but I was doing stronglifts 3x a week.

You're right. Instead of no good way, I should have said no easy way. For people who are really dedicated to monitoring this closely, it can be done. But not everyone has the tools or dedication to know as much as your friends who are going through bulking/cutting cycles. Heck, I'm pretty into fitness and I don't even want to get into all that.

My comment was geared towards people who aren't as advanced or knowledgeable about burns. If you don't really understand it, or what your body is burning, it's dangerous to say "I can eat more because I'm lifting," without really knowing how much more.

Start lifting. You're not going to get the instant massive extra calories that you're after, but it will help your resting metabolism, allowing you to eat a bit more without fat gains!

Lifting does help you burn more calories at rest and there are a lot of great body comp benefits from lifting.

That said, this approach is dangerous. There's no good way to measure the burn from lifting and most people will end up eating too much.

you can figure it out by monitoring your weight gain/loss over a period of time while logging how many calories you eat. Anyone who's ever done a bulk cycle while logging their food intake will know at what kind of calorie numbers they maintain and at what numbers they start to gain weight. So I don't see where the danger is to be honest, so long as you're logging accurately and monitoring whether your weight is moving in the direction you want it to move in.

In my experience (which includes the experience of friends on my friends list etc here that I converse with a lot) a lot of women tend to underestimate how much they burn when lifting, and when it comes to switching from cutting to bulking for the first time, are often surprised at how much they need to eat to start gaining

example: calorie calculators say I should maintain around 1500-1800 cals/day (depending on the calculator) - reality is last time I was doing cutting/bulking cycles, I had to eat 2100 cals/day to maintain and more like 2300 cals/day for bulking. I'm not very tall and wasn't that active, as in I didn't do cardio and spent a lot of the day sitting.. but I was doing stronglifts 3x a week.

+1

You're right. Instead of no good way, I should have said no easy way. For people who are really dedicated to monitoring this closely, it can be done. But not everyone has the tools or dedication to know as much as your friends who are going through bulking/cutting cycles. Heck, I'm pretty into fitness and I don't even want to get into all that.

My comment was geared towards people who aren't as advanced or knowledgeable about burns. If you don't really understand it, or what your body is burning, it's dangerous to say "I can eat more because I'm lifting," without really knowing how much more.

*rolling eyes*

If you're weighing yourself once every week or two and using a tape measure once a month, and not being silly with eating 500+ calories in excess a day, you're going to see it, whether or not you're "advanced or knowledgeable about burns." (Please define "burn" for me, too...)

Lifting to develop even a bit more LBM especially when the OP is quite petite and at or near GW will give her a little extra room for enjoying a bigger portion or a treat or two, which is I think what she was asking for. You don't have to perfect the science to be successful at this.

OP, if you're interested in starting to lift, I really liked ChaLEAN Xtreme program (I am not a BB coach), or get yourself a few sets of dumbbells (8lbs, 15lbs, 25 lbs might be good starting weights for a petite female) and look into body weight resistance (push ups, planks, squats, etc.) I do think these types of exercises have a more sustained effect on metabolism than just 60 minutes straight cardio.