I'm a 15 year old female, 5'5, and 120 pounds. I have tennis practice or conditioning 3-4 days each week. I either run for 2 miles or walk for 45+ minutes 4+ days each week. I plan on starting to lift weights 3 days a week. I lost 30 pounds in the past year and think that my metabolism might be slow because I was not eating enough. How many calories should I be eating?
Are you now at your ideal weight after losing 30 pounds? If so, it might be easier to just weigh yourself every day rather than count calories. If you can maintain a healthy weight it's not necessary to keep track of the number of calories.
Last edited by JohnR41; 02-18-2010 at 09:44 AM.
Reason: to delete quote and punctuation
I'm at my ideal healthy weight, but I want my body to be healthy too. I'm can eat and be full with under 1000 calories, but I know that that's not good for my body. I just want to be as healthy as possible.
At your age, I would not receommend counting your calories. I would, instead, focus on eating 3-4 times a day. Eat smart and drink tons of water and you should be fine.
Last edited by mod-anon; 02-17-2010 at 09:34 PM.
Reason: removed quote
I didn't used to count my calories, but now when I look back at what I was eating I realize that it was way less than I should have been. I eat extremely healthy to a point where if I don't make myself eat huge meals then I won't get enough calories, and calories = energy. I just wanted to know what number to shoot for since I've heard that I need from 1200-1800. I eat 5 times a day already and drink about 80 ounces of water. Thanks for everyone's help!
As long as you're eating "extremely healthy" then you don't have anything to worry about. The time to worry is if you go too far below your ideal weight. If that happens, all you need to do is eat something extra like high calorie nuts.
Here's a different answer: If you decide that you absolutely must count calories, figure 10 calories for every pound of body weight. You weigh 120 so that means you will need at least 1200 calories per day. Perhaps that formula assumes you have a moderate activity level. If you exercise a lot, you may need more calories.
1500 for females but since you are working out so much you will want to compensate by eating more calories. It is also important to eat HEALTHY food. 1500 calories of junk food is not the same and doesn't help your body.
