Sport How many calories do I really need?

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schapman

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I've found so many sites that tell me how many calories I need a day, but they are all so skewed. One site said 1200 and another tells me 2300. So can anyone give me a better idea?

26 year old female
5'4"
117lbs
I work out 4-5 days a week. At least 35 minutes of cardio and 15-20 minutes of strength training.

I would like to be able to get to and maintain 113-115lbs. By the way, those few pounds seem so hard to get to lately. I watch everything I eat (no red meat, lots of fiber and lean meats, veggies and fruit, and no fried foods) and probably stay within 1200-1800 calories a day. Any advice?
 
Do you have any photos of yourself that you can put up here. You are at a good weight, maybe you just need to tone up
 
first off, all those calculators are only giving estimates based on average statistical evidence collected over the decades of data collection.

they can be useful in finding a good starting point, and then you can tweak calorie intake from there to dial in your personal/unique needs.

My recommendation: use the harris-benedict formula...there's several calculators online for it. This ONLY gives you a basal caloric intake...what you'd need if you were immobile.
YOu have to take that number and multiply by an 'activity modifier' that fits your lifestyle. desk workers like me use WAY fewer calories than a construction worker, even if we have the same height, age, weight, gender, and similar body frames.

so your base needs might be 1000 calories, but with an activity modifier of 1.3 (for light office work all day) you'd need 1,300 calories, as an estimate. could be hundreds more, or less.

and as you lose fat and add muscle, or increase activity (especially endurance activities) your caloric needs will change.
 
Theoretically, your maintenance level is around 1800-1900 calories, but realize that is and will always be an estimate. You may have to play around with it to see what works for you. You can safely drop your calories to around 1400 and you should see some great progress.

PS: Don't be afraid of red meat :D
 
Probably your current weight would be considered quite ideal on any "official" chart, so first ask yourself what you're trying to achieve before working towards a specific scale amount. If your current workout routine isn't getting you where you want to go in terms of muscle tone, maybe it's time to change it a bit - not even necessarily more, but a new routine to "wake things up." Check the other forums for techniques such as interval training.
 
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