How much should I be eating? Should I try and tone?

[freya1219]

Hey! I’m a 14 year old girl that’s 174cm tall and 54kg. I have a history with restricted eating (typically was eating 1200kcal - 1500kcal); 7 months ago, used to be 72kg and ended up losing -16kg as of now.

I was (and still am) cycling 2-4 times a week for an hour, but that’s pretty much all the exercise I do. I understand that I was not eating enough so I’ve been trying to up my calories a bit, but am getting so frustrated with the scale — FYI, I’m probably throwing that thing away or locking it in my closet haha.

I used to eat a lot of junk food, but have now stirred away from it and only eat whole unprocessed foods.

I’ve started upping my calories to around 1500kcal-1800kcal two weeks ago, and am a little confused how I’ve gained a kg - It’s probably water weight since I’d think my maintenance would (hopefully) be higher?

I don't know how much I should be eating and have a fear of gaining. I have this terrible body image and see myself as having some extra fat... The idea of eating more then just gaining fat makes me irritated for some reason, so I guess the best way to go about it is to tone / gain a little muscle? My dad however says this is probably not going to work considering it’s hard for girls to “get gains”.

I don’t really know at this point, but are there any recommendations? Any insight would be helpful. Thank you 😊

[Dominique]

First of all, at 14 of age, you probably haven’t quite reached your adult size and may still be growing for another 2-3 years. That growth must be fueled by a sufficient amount of quality food, so you shouldn’t be restricting calories IMO. If you remained 174cm/54kg until adult age, you would qualify as underweight (BMI 17.8). Since you may well gain another 2-3 cm in height, you would need to weigh 57-58 kg just to make it into the normal weight range. You may in fact be in a better spot at 60-65 kg, especially if you’d prefer to be "toned" rather than merely thin.

As to gaining muscle: females do produce testosterone, though much less than males. This means they too have the potential to gain muscle, though less than males (especially young ones). The optimal conditions for gaining muscle are the same for both: you must provide your muscles with a stimulus (resistance training), eat enough protein and preferably be in a caloric surplus. 

Kudos for improving the quality of your diet. Don’t go overboard (orthorexia), though: it’s OK to eat what I’d call "fun foods" (cheesecake, pizza, icecream etc.) every now and then, especially if you are physically active and given you are closer to underweight than overweight.

[emili]

@freya1219  as a mom to two kids, I can honestly say that if your nutrition is good and you are active, you need to be worried about summer break, your favorite band and what you should wear in the heat wave.. enjoy your childhood... it only happens once.