Same Old Question--I Would Appreciate Advice

I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how much I should be eating for maintenance, honestly. 

I am 15 (and 10 months), 5'7", around 128 lbs, having come down from 185.  I work out usually six days a week--sometimes five, sometimes seven--using an elliptical for thirty to thirty-five minutes, then ten minute calisthenics  and yoga routines (BeachBody's Ten Minute Trainer).  I'm currently taking in 2000 calories (50/25/25). 

This brings me to my plea for help: how much should I be consuming; online calculators have thrown out numbers from 1700 to 2700.  I can't figure out if I'm lightly or moderately active, seeing as I'm pretty much completely sedentary apart from my morning workouts.

Again, I would greatly appreciate any advice you could offer.  Thank you!

You might check out this site:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/wellb eing/weight_height.html#

I've looked at a few of the sites and I like this one

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/healthyeatingcalculat or/eatingCal.html

I'd say you are moderately active.

Thank you very much for your help :)

First of all congratulations on your weight loss but please remember you are only 15 and still growing until you are around 18 years old.  You sound like you are doing the right things by eating healthy and exercising but don't go to the extreme.  Your body is changing everyday and that is normal and should be accepted.  That is the way you are designed.  You are growing into a woman and women are meant to carry babies regardless of weather you make that choice or not much later in life.  

For a healthy woman (aged 18 and older) the easiest way to figure out what you should be consuming is the following formula. 

Take your current body weight (128) x 10 = 1280 calories per day

1280 x 7 (days) = 8960 calories per week. 

BUT please remember you are still growing.  This number will change as you get older.  It is a fact that you will not stay 128 pounds for the rest of your life.  I have a 15 year old daughter and I know how easy it is for girls and women to put so much pressure on themselves to stay at their weight when they are teenagers.  Enjoy your high school days, it goes by to fast and don't cave to the media pressure of if you don't look like a size 0 your not beautiful.  You are no matter what your clothes or the scale says you are.

indyquilter that formula is gibberish........ even if she was over 18 which she isn't. When we've got good tools that take into account many factors why mention something that common sense must tell you is rubbish.

Original Post by vwiggins:

indyquilter that formula is gibberish........ even if she was over 18 which she isn't. When we've got good tools that take into account many factors why mention something that common sense must tell you is rubbish.

^ Agreed.

Why waste your time with those *10 formulas (I use plural, because I've seen it as anywhere between 7 and 13, and people have defined the result of that formula as the amount to lose, or the amount your burn at sedentary, or the amount you burn with exercise), when we've got a calculator on here that gives a much better estimate for burn rate for adults, and links to calculators that give the same for people under the age of 21. Which the OP is.

1850 cals on  workout days, less 200 cals on non workout days and the  percentages really should be 30% fats, 30% carbs & 40% protien. Using this formula coupled with 75% cardio and 25% strength training ( using weights for example) will allow you to maintain muscle growth, maintain your weight, lose fat and define yourself.

The most accurate way to test your own maintenance numbers, without lots of specialized testing regarding oxygen usage and all that, is trial and error. Online calculators are based on averages, and may be close or may be way, way off. Age isn't even a good measure because your "body age" is heavily dependent on how far along your development you are... if you're behind schedule, your body will act more like you're 12-13 (though if you're 5'8" that's unlikely) and if you're ahead, you may be near adult numbers.

If you're maintaining on 2000, then it's about 2000. If you're still losing, you need more. If you're gaining, then you either need fewer calories or more exercise; the latter is probably better, but keep in mind that exercising more doesn't translate to "hey, I worked out, so now I can have a jug of Gatorade" because that's going to cancel out the workout with excess calories in their worst form - sugar, providing nothing but extra calories and a rise in insulin, the most powerful fat-storing hormone we have.

Every person is different. I maintain on 1800-2000 calories if it's very low in carbs, and 1400 on a more typical macronutrient breakdown - I prefer the former. My mother doesn't have a problem with carbs even though she's much older than me (obviously). So you really have to experiment a bit and learn what you need, regardless of what a calculator based on people other than yourself would say.