Girls, how many calories are you eating?

I'm 5ft 5"
158ish pounds
1200 cal a day but I eat half my exercise calories, so some days it's 1500-1600.
Some days I'm a slug and only get my measly 1200.

I'm 5'0", 122lbs, eating 1464 calories a day. I also work out 5 days a week, lifting weights and HIIT sprints.

5'7 / 129lb. Currently I aim to eat 1,270 cals per day. Most days I do exercise and I eat my exercise cals so I'm really eating about 1,400-1,500 cals a day.

5'5", 117lbs and eat between 1400-1800 a day. I do a HIIT class 3-4 times a week and 30 minute strength training sessions twice a week (one day upper body, 1 day lower body), 1 rest day.

I eventually lost some weight after Christmas 2014. A week on 1000 Kcal per day no change, a week on 800, felt ill, did lose 2 lb in weight, but the diet, I think even on 1000 kcal would be unsustainable. 1000 kcals in the 70s was the magic number for dieting, with exercise. Really struggled with my weight when I was in my teens (in the 70's) and used this formula to get to a toned size 10/12. Still ballooned to a size 16 whenever I wasn't dieting, in spite of being very active.Was very ill in my early twenties, unable to eat. Afterwards I found that I could eat loads (to me at the time), about 2000kcal without gaining weight. I had to watch my weight but it was about 7 lbs a year, dieted for two weeks, job done.
Went through a phase when I was very tired, lost a lot of weight and was thought, initially to be diabetic. The blood test was redone, fasting this time, and results were normal. Also tested my own blood sugar, which was a bit excitable, in spite of not having a sweet tooth. I'd had borderline thyroid result before but it wasn't flagged. Eventually gained weight from a size 8 (was eating family packs of nuts to gain weight) to my usual adult UK size 12.
Had a big problem with insomnia, and at times some depression/ anxiety. I took sleeping pills for 14 years. Bliss. Then told that I couldn't have them anymore. Agreed at the time, as I was developing a tolerance. For about 10 years it was just when I needed them, so would try not to take them every night. The alternative was Mirtazapine. Weight was OK then, size 12. Ravenous hunger about 30 mins after taking them.Didn't help acid reflux. I have a hiatus hernia and now Barretts oesophagus. Gained 2 stone ish.
My thyroid is now officially under active.So I take Levothyroxine. You need to get thyroid checks and avoid anti depressants with a weight gain side effect if being overweight is part of your cause for being depressed.
Gone off track, but I lost 10 lbs in early 2015, over 20 ish weeks. 1200kcals and a Rosemary Connelly DVD. per day.I think that the exercise worked better than than the calories. Thyroid bloods were also optimal, they vary.

Sorry didn't give stats. 5 foot 6, 13 stone, the heaviest I've ever been. Was 12 and a half stone before losing the 10 pounds. High cholesterol got it down from 8.9 to 7.9. Was normal before the Mirtazapine, now a mess.

5'4 105ish 2100-2600, workout 3-4x a week for an hour

4'10" I eat 1400 calories a day and burn 500 calories at least 5 days a week. On rest days I eat 1200-1300 calories. Usually I have 75-100 calories left over to account for food/workout calorie inaccuracies. I fell off the wagon and now I am 140 lbs, but this helped me reach 127 lbs before and I will do it again. If I hit a plateau I switch up my calories to vary on certain days to trick my body. I also track macros so I flex carbs/protein.

WinoGelato wrote: »

Sued0nim wrote: »

2200-2400 on average (5'8, 160 in maintenance) ... Today more like 2700 cos I've walked 18000 steps and not done yet

@winogelato is 5'2 and on 2200, aren't you lovey

There is no reason to have to eat stupidly low calories

Very close. I haven't been getting as many this summer because of work schedule and per my FitBit my TDEE dropped to 2100. It really does make a huge difference to be active, as a petite female I was really struggling when I was more sedentary and limited as to how much food I could eat. A concentrated effort to become more active has had multiple benefits, especially more food!

How active are you again? I really hate cardio so have a low-ish TDEE for my height/weight. I try to increase NEAT but it doesn't seem to be enough to make a difference. At 140 and 5'4", 10-12k steps per day, weight lifting 4x per week, I got 1800-1900 for maintenance.

WinoGelato wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

Sued0nim wrote: »

2200-2400 on average (5'8, 160 in maintenance) ... Today more like 2700 cos I've walked 18000 steps and not done yet

@winogelato is 5'2 and on 2200, aren't you lovey

There is no reason to have to eat stupidly low calories

Very close. I haven't been getting as many this summer because of work schedule and per my FitBit my TDEE dropped to 2100. It really does make a huge difference to be active, as a petite female I was really struggling when I was more sedentary and limited as to how much food I could eat. A concentrated effort to become more active has had multiple benefits, especially more food!

How active are you again? I really hate cardio so have a low-ish TDEE for my height/weight. I try to increase NEAT but it doesn't seem to be enough to make a difference. At 140 and 5'4", 10-12k steps per day, weight lifting 4x per week, I got 1800-1900 for maintenance.

I walk and do circuit training with light weights 3x a week. I average 13-15k steps/day.

5'2 and 120, been maintaining using Fitbit estimates for over a year.

That's not much more than me...and you're shorter and lighter. I fail.

Sued0nim wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

Sued0nim wrote: »

2200-2400 on average (5'8, 160 in maintenance) ... Today more like 2700 cos I've walked 18000 steps and not done yet

@winogelato is 5'2 and on 2200, aren't you lovey

There is no reason to have to eat stupidly low calories

Very close. I haven't been getting as many this summer because of work schedule and per my FitBit my TDEE dropped to 2100. It really does make a huge difference to be active, as a petite female I was really struggling when I was more sedentary and limited as to how much food I could eat. A concentrated effort to become more active has had multiple benefits, especially more food!

How active are you again? I really hate cardio so have a low-ish TDEE for my height/weight. I try to increase NEAT but it doesn't seem to be enough to make a difference. At 140 and 5'4", 10-12k steps per day, weight lifting 4x per week, I got 1800-1900 for maintenance.

That seems quite low @arditarose

What were your bulking cals?

Started at 2000, ended around 2100-2220

Sued0nim wrote: »

Sucks

I do find the marginal increase from 10000-12000 to 15000 steps quite significant ...not that I'm suggesting you need to walk more but that extra 3000 tends to be an additional 200-250 calories..it seems to escalate the numbers as they get higher tbh

I think you are right, there does seem to be a sharper uptick in calorie burn around the 14k-15k step/day threshold. I've heard though that for big step counts there's a law of diminishing returns that over 25k it doesn't seem like it continues the same trajectory.