how many calories does a female teen need?

i'm a 16 year old teenage girl, trying to lose recovery weight. everywhere i've read syays that i teenage girl needs to eat AT LEAST 1500 calories. however, i used the calorie target on here, and it says that to make my goal weight by the date i want to, i should be eating 1243 calories a day.

would that be okay? i was under the impression that 1500 was the minimum.

1500 is the minimum for a female teen.  You may need more.  The CC tools use calculations for adults, not teens.  Please check out the info in the Young Calorie Counters forum.

It's a very bad idea for anyone recently recovered from an eating disorder to go down the calorie-counting route at all.   So easy to get back into destructive old behavioural habits. And if you're 16, it's another compelling reason why you don't need to do it.   Rather than restricting calories, simply try to get a better diet of good quality whole-foods, eat regularly, snack when hungry and be as active as possible.   It's much healthier for you mentally and physically.

thanks smwhipple =] it said the number was based on "body weight, height, age, gender, and activity level", so i figured it counted the fact that i'm still a teen, but i guess not.

gi-jane, i've actually talked with my therapist and nutritionist, and they both agreed that based on outside factors, it's okay for me to be counting right now. i'm not restricting anything, i'm just writing down what i'm eating. i gained more than i needed to throuh recovery, and i'm trying to work that off through exercise and eating healthier. thanks for your concern.