Eat more to lose more???

My maintence amount is 1750 calories per day if I'm sedentary.

I'm looking to tone up, though. While I was doing field hockey, I could have eaten 2,000 calories a day to lose weight, but I usually ate 1,500, which left me at a daily deficit of at least 1,000 calories or so per day. Field hockey ended, and I still stayed at 1,500 calories per day. During the past 14 weeks of this  "diet" I've only lost about 3 pounds and I haven't been slimming down much, either.

Then cue the overeating. For the past 2 weeks, I've been binging on Friday nights by about 1,000 calories. And then when I step on the scale I actually find that I've lost more after BINGING then I do by eating 1,500 7 days a week.

Which brings me to the question...... shoald I start eating MORE?? Is that my body's way of telling me that I need to eat more? I've heard that if you eat too little, your body will hang onto every ounce of food you put in it. Some people I know have even lost more weight when they started to eat more every day.

 I'm physically active, so I can eat from about 2,110 to 2,430 to maintain.

Should I start eating MORE to lose weight? Maybe like 1,700 calories a day?

im no expert it wouldnt hurt to try though, you might have to give it a few weeks to see results since your body will have to readjust~erica

YES please do! It seems like your body went into a kind of starvation mode at 1500 and slowed your metabolism down to compensate for the huge deficit. You should probably shoot for a little more than 1700 actually.

what are your stats?

15 year old female/ 5'3/ 128ish pounds

Being that you're only 15 and our bmi is 22.7, you are already at a healthy weight and are still growing. that being said, it's likely that you will thin out as your weight distributes and you might even grow taller. you would actually be considered highly active and burn 2633 calories each day. 1700 is definitely NOT ENOUGH. i would say 2000 minimum if you insist on losing weight but i would reconsider since your internal organs are still developing even if you aren't growing taller.

How would I be considered highly active? Field hockey season is over.

Now, all I'm doing is lifting dumbells, doing squats, doing lunges, and doing bicycle crunches every other day to strength train. I'm also trying to do cardio for at least half an hour 5 times a week.

sorry, thought you were still doing field hockey. so you're right about your maintenance level being around 2400 calories with your cardio for half an hour. my suggestions still remain though. i'd eat about 2000 daily if i were you and just wait it out. you look fantastic and healthy i'm sure, don't let the scale tell you different!!

I think I'm going to try to stay between 1700-1800 calories every day, but definitely not 1,500!!! I was even feeling light-headed all week long; I wonder if I was eating too little?

Thanks to all of the repliers for the help!!!

YES ur eating too little and NO u do NOT need to lose weight.

ur a healthy growing young girl, please dont think about losing any weight, dont eat under 2000 either.

good luck