What is a good amount of calories to consume daily for someone who exercises ver!

What is a good amount of calories to consume daily for someone who exercises very heavily?

I'm a 15 year old girl, and I'm a member of my school's track team. I run between 4-5 miles a day. I've lost a lot of weight (gone from 150 to 118 and I'm 5'7") since I started doing this about 8 months ago. I've visited my doctor and she says I'm at a healthy point now and not to lose anymore weight, which I don't have a problem with. However, I'm concerned that I may not eat enough calories on a daily basis to fit my lifestyle. I eat anywhere between about 1500-1700 calories a day. Is this healthy? If not, I'd love to hear any advice you may have to offer.

Congratulations on your weight loss, and on doing it healthy, you should be very proud. This is a very interesting question, and the answer is there is no drop dead absolute number. I can suggest that based on the average numbers provided by the government, take that for what it is worth, you are close to the range of calories they suggest, perhaps a little low. Use the chart they provide as a jumping off point, but more important than that don't freak out if you drop down 2 or 3 lbs. Your body weight is going to fluxuate + or - 5lbs through out the week, especially at certain times of the month. I don't want to second guess your doctor, but I imagine her warning about not losing any more weight did not have anything to do with your pound or two or staying static at 118, but more of concerns about your dropping down to the double digits like many of the "role models" young woman are presented with these days. If you notice your average weight range starting to decline, I would suggest adding calories in increments of about 200 until you find yourself in a comfortable range.

Now I have given you my politically correct answer about counting calories, now here is my personal belief. Please keep in mind I am not a doctor or medical profession, but my honest answer is; don't stress about it. People spend too much time worrying about a number that in reality means very little, focus more on how you feel and perform. You’re a competitive athlete, and if your body weight starts to get to low, and or you are not eating enough food, your performance is going to suffer as a result. Chances are you will find yourself getting sick more often, your times will be getting worse, and you will feel just generally lousy. These are some of the more common signs of over training and if you reach this point, eat more, maybe take a few days off from running. You are much too young to be in a constantly stressed state of how much you weight, you sounds like you live a healthy lifestyle, enjoy it! That’s just my two cents and I could be wrong.