eating too little?

Hey everyone,

I guess this question has been asked a lot, but I couldn't really find a satisfying answer, so I'll ask it anyway:

I've been eating a little more than 1200 kcalories every day (which is what caloriecount suggested for me), my sedentary burning being around 1700. Now I've started to either jog for 20 minutes, or do exercises (pushups, situps, etc.) each morning, burning around 200-300 more each day. I thought that burning extra would mean a quicker weight loss, but now I've been reading that I should keep my calorie deficit at 500, or risk hitting a plateau..

So it would mean that I would have to eat more when I'm exercising?
Or is a calorie deficit of 700-800 still healthy?
I guess it feels so useless to burn extra but then having to eat it back again :S

Thanks a lot in advance ^^
Love,
Lila.

P.S. I'm looking to lose about 12 pouns, not that much, so this wouldn't be for very long.

Chances are that, even before you started exercising, you weren't completely sedentary.  Also, you're 19... and the CC calculator is calibrated for the over-21s so you'll get an underestimate.  Even a totally sedentary (bedridden) teen needs 1500 cals a day minimum to stay healthy.

Try entering your stats into this link  http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html  instead and read off the number for 'low activity'.  Deduct 500-700 cals from the number, stay above 1500 cals in total, and you'll have a more pleasant and sustainable weight-loss experience.   Crash dieting is unpleasant, unhealthy and also makes it much more likely you'll yo-yo back to your original weight (or higher) very quickly.

Thanks so much!

I will start eating a bit more from now on then, 1500 a day seems better.
As you were saying, I don't really want to crash diet. :) putting in a few weeks more looks like the better thing to do :)

love!
Lila.