How many calories should I have in a day? Also have ?s bout Powerbar, Clif Bar, etc.

[dEgeNeRaTe8211]

This is me...

Age: 15 year old Female

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 115 lbs.

Bodyfat %age: people haven't suggested that for my age

Activity: pretty intense 2 hour soccer practice 2-3 times a week; usually soccer games Saturday and Sunday; in total, 4-5 days cardio a week
Ab work w/ weights 4 times a week
Arm and shoulder work w/ light weights 2-3 times a week

Diet: IMO very clean...tho I am comparing it to my friends' diets that consist of total crap

Goals: nothing in particular; simply stay fit, slim, tight, healthy, and able to perform well in soccer
_____________________

I really don't know how many calories I should have in a day. Everyone on this board is like 5'10" 175lbs and stuff, talking about their needs. I forget who said this, but calorie intake should be bodyweight x 16. But I don't know if that takes into consideration activity level, individual's goals, etc.
So I multiplied that and got around 1800 cals/day. Well does this change based on my workout for the day or anything? I don't know if this is correct number, as many people say how 1800 will get you nowhere.
--but they are talking to larger people I guess--

Also, how good are Powerbar-type-things? In another post, someone said they have discontinued their eating of Powerbars because they realized how much is sugar-content. I use Powerbars, Clif Bars, Gatorade Bars, etc and have now become aware of the sugar-content. A Powerbar has 45g carbs...22g sugars. Should I keep eating these?

Thanx, later.

~dE

 

[bigM]

Well not for sure what exactly you are wanting to do...

lose weight? gain weight? stay the same?

Basically its pretty easy to figure out how many cals you should eat to do either of these...

Its your basal metabolic rate, and your active metabolic rate...

you can find a calculator to do all the figuring for you on this site..

http://library.thinkquest.org/10991/bmr.html


Im not for sure what constitutes an "active" activity lvl.. but I selected this for you since you are very active with all your soccer practices and games...


This is what I came up with..


Your BMR is 1345- if you lay around the house all day and eat this many cals you will stay the same weight... if you eat more you will gain ... less you will lose...

You AMR is 1883 same rules apply....


Again it's really all according on how active you are etc...

Maybe on days you have off and are playing it lazy eat the suggested BMR and days you play soccer the suggested AMR...

I am also new to all of this.... so you may want to wait on a few more opinions...

 

[blood_drinker]

All big M said was fine, just that BE CAREFUL. He said, you eat less than your bmr, you lose.

Ok, all fine. But do NOT go overboard on how many calories you will eat less than your bmr, for you will surely go into starvation mode and lose NO fat, your metabolism will drop, youll feel like crap.

Eat 500cals below your AMR, not your BMR.
Find amr by searching for it on the net.
It called the active metabolic rate, or you could search for basal metabolic rate.
Or you could try -15% of AMR which works fine but at a steadier pace usually.