How many calories should I eat to maintain?

Hi,

I'm 22 yrs old, 103lbs and 5'4".

Im currently eating 1850 calories to maintain.

To exercise, I do 15 mins strength training on alternate days, and am generally active around the house but don't do any formal sports or don't have a gym membership.

Im unsure about how much I should be eating to maintain. At 1850 i seem to losing weight still. What would you suggest? Today I plan to up my calories to 1950... is this the right thing to do?

Please help!:)

Unfortunately, with a BMI of 17.6  you're clinically underweight.  So you need to be gaining and not maintaining until you get to a BMI of 19 or preferably 20.... 112-117lbs .   And for that you're going to need 2500-3000 cals a day.  To maintain at 117lbs if you're lightly active you'd need about 1900-2100 a day. 

i ditto GIJANE.

only thing id change is  i think you need to gain till a bmi of 20-at least.

Hi, thanks for the replies:)

I'd like to maintain at this weight, but if I do gain in the process of eating a healthy amount of food, then Im not too concerned. My main goal is to be able to eat a sufficient and healthy amount and quality of food, and to increase my muscle relative to fat (right now im at 17% body fat).

Btw, i ate 2000 calories yesterday and am down a whole pound this morning... this is quite freaky... i think 2500 is worth a shot. 

Do go with 2500-3000 and try to get up to 117lbs.... Being chronically underweight is not good for your long-term health and can cause all kinds of nasty medical problems..... infertility, early-onset osteoporosis, hair loss, dental problems.  You may feel you want to maintain but your body will hate you for it.

Wow, its scary when you look at the long term effects... (thnx for reminding me!)

Ive eaten 2200 calories so far today but i might stop there... it could be a bit of a shock to the body as i ate 2000 calories yesterday. But I will keep upping each day, thanks Gi-Jane.

Btw, I have set the burn meter on very active and still it comes up with 2200 calories for maintainence... but im pretty sure i need a little more than that to maintain.

What am i doing wrong? How do I make the burn meter go up a bit more... and my height, weight, age are all up to date?!?

Set your goal weight to 117lbs and 'light' activity level.  That should give you a more accurate idea of how much you need.

Thanks for that.

I think ive found the magic number of calories that i can maintain on.... 2000 calories.

In the last two days i had 2350 calories both days and i think im up quarter or half a pound... 

But it might be the sodium effect... or that ive starting working out... does building muscle have an extra effect on weight... do you increase weight for muscle growth?

If you maintain on 2000 then 2500+ should let you gain two or three pounds a month.  Only weigh yourself weekly to iron out any effect of water-retention.  Daily you can be up or down a couple of lbs for no special reason but over the course of a week you'll be able to judge if any gains are permanent.

To gain muscle you need to be consuming more calories than you need to maintain.  Best of luck