Question

Hi, I'm a 14 year old girl and I'm unsure of something. About a month ago I decided I wanted to get into better shape. I wasn't in terrible shape or anything, I'm 5 foot 3 and at the time weighed around 112 pounds, and I did karate everday besides Sunday for 45 minutes plus lifted weights several times a week.  Still, I wanted to get stronger and fitter with better arobic health. I wasn't trying to lose that much weight, because I don't really need to, although it would be nice to reduce a little of my stomach fat. So for a couple of weeks I've been bicycling for an hour every other day and weightlifting for an hour every other day (different days) in addition to the karate I already did ( and I'm going to try and join a gym this summer, too). This has caused me to lose some weight-- I'm now 106 pounds (but before you flip out, this is partly because I just got my bushy long hair cut extremely short, so that probably accounts for some of it).

My question (which I'm finally getting at) is about my diet. Ive started counting the approximate number of calories that I eat every day, and over the last few days it's been 1333, 1390, 1526, and 1608. That seems really weird, though, because nothing I've read has recommended less then 1800 calories for a girl my age, and it's not like I'm on a diet or anything. This is the way I've eaten all my life. And I'm almost certain I haven't underestimated--in fact, on most of them I'm fairly sure I've overestimated a bit. Also, I eat pretty healthy; lots of fruit and vegetables, not too much junk food, and etc. So now I'm wondering how much I should eat to be healthy and get into the best possible shape. Should I start eating more? Less? Or should I keep it the same?

 

(And I'm sorry if that was wwwwaaaayyyyy too long. I do that sometimes.)

It is therefore very important to create a balance between exercise, rest and diet to stay healthy and fit. Exercising too much and eating too little will not do you any good so forget about reducing your food and fluid intake to reduce your body size and weight fast. You will get sick if you do that.