Help needed!!

Hi all I was hoping for some advice on my daily food intake...I am 21 years old and I am 5.5'and weigh 124lbs and was hoping to maintain this and tone up my body. I go gym four times a week (one hour each)... in the gym i do cardio two days and strength training the other two days. In addition to this I walk around a lot.

This is my typical day:

B= Quaker oats(fruit and nut) with skimmed milk (250 cal)

S= Carrot sticks, Ritz crackers and philadelphia cheese(156 cal)

L= Smoked salmon sandwich in whole wheat bread with cucumbers(252 cal)

S= Yeo Valley Organic yoghurt (76 cal)

D= Jacket Potato with Philadelphia Cheese and Mixed Vegetables and Baked beans (625 cal)

Total= 1359

I normally would have soup or rice or pasta with chicken for dinner but i would like to know if this sounds healthy. Is my calorie intake too high for my activity level? What other food groups should I add and what should I take out? Thank you for all your help.

Your calorie intake is far too low for your activity level....  Typically an adult woman can maintain her weight on 2000 cals a day.   Since you're quite young and pretty active you need more than that.  1400 would be a weight-loss amount, not a weight-maintenance amount. 

If you want to tone up then calorie-restriction is also unhelpful.  If the body is kept chronically short of energy and there is little spare fat to use, it will use lean tissue to make up the shortfall.  This weakens the muscles and makes then softer ... the opposite to toning.

Aim for something in the range of 2000-2500 as your daily standard

I'll share something that was a great help to me in learning to eat right.  It's flexible so you can use it with any calorie goal.

A Simple Diet Plan

Use the Tools to determine your maintenance amount.  If your current weight in as your goal weight, it will give you the amount to maintain that weight.  Be sure you put in the most accurate activity level.

Another way to get the right number is to figure out you average burn.  That's your maintenance amount too.

Good Luck on the journey to optimal fitness! 

Thank you sooo much for your advice. I wasn't aware of the fact that I was still eating very less calories. I will work on it .

Original Post by gi-jane:

Your calorie intake is far too low for your activity level....  Typically an adult woman can maintain her weight on 2000 cals a day.   Since you're quite young and pretty active you need more than that.  1400 would be a weight-loss amount, not a weight-maintenance amount. 

If you want to tone up then calorie-restriction is also unhelpful.  If the body is kept chronically short of energy and there is little spare fat to use, it will use lean tissue to make up the shortfall.  This weakens the muscles and makes then softer ... the opposite to toning.

Aim for something in the range of 2000-2500 as your daily standard

OK i just realized something...I was eating 1200-1400 calories with the same activity level and did not notice any weight loss ( i live in uni and don't have any scales). So if I up my calories up to 2000...will  I gain weight?

You'll gain weight temporarily.... but that's a small price to pay for avoiding a lifetime of slow malnutrition and chronic undereating.

You didn't lose because you went into what is commonly called "starvation mode" which is not really a good description of what happens when you don't eat enough. 

Since you were not providing your body with enough nourishment, your body chemistry caused you to hold on to every last fat molecule.  Here are some better explanations:

adaptive thermogenesis

You might gain a few pounds as your body adjusts to the better nutrition, but it will level off and slowly drop off if you are eating at your correct maintenance level.  It's worth doing now rather than waiting until it becomes a more entrenched problem.

I know this is repetition of one topic that i posted in another forum, this is because I was advised to do this...I apologise for any inconvenience caused.