Calories to maintain + metabolism problems?

Well, long story short

- I was a REALLY chubby kid (20 lbs overweight according to my doctor), between grades 6-7 i sort of naturally slimmed down, but was still a little over so she suggested i count calories to watch what i ate. This lead to my undereating and dropping to about 85 pounds. I realized how unhealthy that was so I gained 15 pounds, got my periods back etc but the problem is I have NO idea how much to eat to maintain. My health teacher told me 1600 calories per day, which I've been doing and maintaining on but idealistically it seems a little low? I'm short (5''2) so i know my metabolism isn't very fast, and i dont have a ton of muscle (i'm 15 in April).

How many calories should I be able to eat and maintain on?
I dont want to over/undereat, I wont grow any taller but I want to be healthy and not develop bad habits for the future, so ANY advice would be great :)
I'm a vegetarian as well as allergic to eggs so that limits my food choices a bit :|

whats ur weight?

im nearly 1000000000000000% sure ur undereating and that ur teacher is wrong

you're only 100 pounds at 5'2 correct? you should be gaining still. 110 would be preferable.  for someone your size with less than 1 hour of activity per day the caloric burn is around 2000 calories, with 1 hour of exercise it increases to 2250. 

I would recommend you eat 2500 for a while until you gain to the appropriate level for your height. 1600 is WAY TO LOW FOR YOUR AGE AND STATS.

here is a website to calculate your calorie needs.

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/energy_calculator.htm

annual physical was yesterday and I weighed in at 107-- she said it was healthy but should i still go for 110?

Put this in perspective:

I'm 5'1 (shorter than you) and weigh less than you do and gained my weight (back from anorexia) on 1800 calories. I remained on that +30 minutes of exercise a day and maintained.

Went on a small calorie roller coaster and eventually ended up where I am now:

I know that I lose on 1600, sedentary. And I'm eating anywhere from 2000-3000+ calories a day. Of course I exercise 2-3 hours a day 6x a week. 

Yes, you should be able to eat more. 

yes she should gain more

yes she can maintain on more than 1600

NO she does not need to start excercising 2-3 hrs a day, or at all, as a young growing girl, school life has enough activity.

Original Post by agruskin:

yes she should gain more

yes she can maintain on more than 1600

NO she does not need to start excercising 2-3 hrs a day, or at all, as a young growing girl, school life has enough activity.

Did I ever say to exercise 2-3 hours a day? No. I said 1600 is a sedentary weight loss amount. Did I ever say it was necessary to eat over 3000 calories a day? Yes, if you're exceptionally active. 

Though I do disagree with the "No exercise at all" part. She's at a healthy weight- so 30 minutes 3x a week is completely healthy, maybe take dance lessons, join a sport, ect.