I need some quick calorie intake advice

Okay, I've tried a few different things and what I'm at now "feels" right, but I'm just not sure. Can someone evaluate my stats, and possibly tell me how many calories I should shoot for per day on average?

18 years old (19 in March)

Female

CW (as of 1/9/09): 213

GW: between 153 (recommended by CC) and 160

Goal time: Hopefully before September of this year, but I can wait.

Height: 5'10"

Activity:

I'm a college student, and our campus is pretty big. I have to cross it about four times a day, which adds up to at least a mile of walking and 150 stairs per crossing - at least 400 stairs a day!

I'm in the first week of the "Couch to 5k" plan (started yesterday), the 30 minutes 3 days a week walk/jog plan. I also plan to add a 30 min-1 hr walk on Saturdays.

I also work in the cafeteria at my school between 10 and 15 hours a week - constant standing and walking around.

Otherwise I'm sitting somewhere. So is that considered light activity?

Current Calorie Intake:

When I did my first day of calorie measuring, on my "before" diet that made me gain all this weight all of a sudden, it was over 3500 calories. Ack! The hashed browns I ate for breakfast alone were about 1500 calories.

For the past 10 days (the full amount of time I've been dieting now) I've averaged about 1500-1550 calories. Some days I go less if I'm not as hungry, and I make up for it the next day by being hungrier and eating more.

My question is, what calorie range should I be shooting for? I just don't want to eat too much, since I'm getting used to eating less. I don't feel worn out or anything - I get my protein from tofu in my salads, vegetarian chili, milk and cheese. I check on my vitamin and mineral report daily, and I usually get way over the suggested amount without even including the multivitamin I take in the morning. Sometimes I get a little hungry, and am usually under calories, so I eat some fruits or veggies.

Thanks in advance, you are all so helpful. =D

Those 20 and younger have more active metabolisms. I'd eat more than you are right now to be honest. And generally, its easier just to mark your activity at sedentiary despite other unlogged exercise. However, that's a personal preference. To measure how high your bmr is and how much you're likely to be burning I'd use this site:

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html

According to this I'd recommend eating closer to 1800-2000 calories/day. Although I weigh less than you I have similar stats and usually try to hit around 1800kcal/day at 20 years old. My guess is that you'd be a lot more satisfied with your eating habits, lose weight, and things would feel less like a diet if you ate a little bit more. :)

I'd say you need to eat more, too! That's a lot of steps, for example, and you are young and active, more like moderate than light activity.

Best of luck!

Shoot for 2000 cal per day! It will be easier and healthier for your brain, organs, and body!

I had very similar stats when I started, but was way less active, and I lost well (50lbs in 8 months) eating 1600-1700 cals per day.   So as active as you are, you should probably be eating no less than 1900 per day, and would still even lose eating 2000.

For now your activity level set as light activity is probably right.  However as you progress farther along on the C25K and start jogging more than you are walking, you should probably either reset your profile to moderate or just start logging the jogging minutes in the activity log.

Hello! I agree that you should stay around 2000 cal.day. Of course every day isnt going to the same, but in the long run your calories and activities should balance out at the end of the week. Since you are trying to loose weight, I DEFINETLY would not try to deprive myself or try to eat under 1500 calories because that is not going to be realistic throughout the rest of your life. Being as tall as you are (althouhg I do not know your body type) you will of course need more calories that a girl that is 5'6" etc. You need to listen to your body and set goals that will fit into your lifestyle. In general...you want to make lifestyle changes becuase you cannot diet forever! Sounds like you are on a roll with the activity so I would work on small adjustments to my meals. Make sure you are eating every 3-4 hours to prevent overeating/binging/starving! This will keep your blood sugar levels in tact so you can better control your food intake. I would try to eat more filling foods, and try your best to limit hash browns! (and most anything fried and high in saturated fats) Some options of foods could be...Oatmeal, fruits, egg whites, whole wheat bread/wraps, plain beans, vegetables, non fat yogurts, tofu/fish/chicken breast(depending on vegetarian or not) but these choices should be grilled, baked, steamed, brown rice, squashes/sweet potatoes are great and filling.  But you do need to make sure not to completely cut fats from your diet but make them healthy such as nuts, peanut butter, avocado, olive oil, salmon, flaxseed. Most importantly you want to listen to your body and eat when your hungry and before you become ravenous! You want to create a lifestyle that you can maintain, no yo-yo dieting that you wont be able to do forever. I hope that helps and sorry fo rit being so long...i guess i was on a roll.

Hm, I figured I was probably eating a little too little.

I have a large frame by the way. Well, the wrist test is a bit awkward on me. Depending on where I do it, my fingers either barely touch or don't touch. So I assumed large since there was a spot where they didn't touch.

Yeah, I kicked out the hashed browns. That was insane. I've been really limiting the fried foods, since I work the fryers a lot and know the oil isn't always the cleanest.

I've been having cereal with skim milk for breakfast, and sometimes a fruit and grain cereal bar with it. Usually some sort of protein-veggie lunch, like a sandwich with hummus, a bean burrito with veggies, or a salad with tofu. And the same idea for dinner. As for beverages it's always either water, green tea, raspberry tea or lemonade.

Thanks for responding though, I've spent way too much time reading these forums trying to guess.

I think I'll bump it up to 1800 and see how it goes. I really think I could maintain that for the rest of my life and still be satisfied.

Sounds like you are making good changes! I hope you can stay on track and make healthy eating a habit! (with occasional indulgences!) mOst important is you want to be happy..not feel deprived or ruled by food!

The protein thing I would definetly work on...im guessing you are a vegetarian so I know that must be sort of hard...however egg whites, cottage cheese, beans, greek yogurts, tofu, soy beans, nuts or protein powders in shakes/smoothies are all great and healthy.  It must be hard to work at the frier, but the more self control you have the better you will feel! goodluck

This reply is a bit late, but I just noticed your post. It sounds like your activity level falls into the sedentary range, rather than the moderate range.  At the sedentary level, the average calories that people should allow per pound is 12. If you multiply 12 x 153 (your goal weight), you arrive at 1836 calories, so that is a good place to start regarding how many calories you should eat a day.

Good luck! It sounds like you are already on the right track.