Unsure how many calories I should be eating for my new activity level to maintain weight loss & still fuel my body adequately

I'm feeling a bit lost/discouraged lately, especially as I've started a new workout routine recently, and i'm looking for some advice.

Stats: 26f, 5'3", SW: 150lb CW: 130lb, GW: 110-115lb~ Pear shape (I carry weight in my hips, thighs, lower belly, and unfortunately my face -_- )

According to tdeecalculator.net, my BMR is 1,299 and TDEE is 1,559 (sedentary). I work a sedentary desk job so I've been going by the "sedentary" estimation. With a goal of losing 1lb/week (500 cal daily deficit) this puts me at eating 1059 cals/day, which I did for months and lost 20lbs - I found the calculation to be fairly accurate for me based on the pace I was losing weight (I use myfitnesspal and log everything meticulously using a food scale). During this time I exercised 6 days a week at home, but very lightly/half-assed if i'm honest.

3x/week weights (all exercises using 2 5lb dumbbells, all I had at home) workout examples:

leg day:

• 4x10 squats

• 4x10 lunges

• 2 x 1 min wall sits

arm day:

• 4x10 bicep curls

• 4x10 front arm raises

• 4x10 overhead press (with dumb bells)

• 4x10 side arm raises

I also did 3x/week 30 mins treadmill, mix of walking speed 3.5 and jogging speed 5.5. Honestly, these were pitiful workouts, I was focusing more on getting in the habit of working out every day (except rest day), working on my form, and improving my breathing & heart rate rather than worrying about burning calories or building muscle.

I finally joined the gym a few weeks ago, and recently completed the 8 week c25k program on my treadmill @ home, so my workouts now look like this:

Work out 6 days/week, 1 rest day.

4 days weights which look something like:

• 3x10 squats using 2 15lbs dumbbells (working up to 45lbs total so I can start the stronglifts 5x5 program)

• 3x12 35lb deadlift (again, trying to work up to stronglifts 5x5)

• 3x12 140lb leg press

• 3x12 55lb leg extension

• 3x12 55lb leg curl

• 3x12 55lb of another leg machine I simply cannot remember the name of

• 12-15 mins stair climber @ level 8.

On arm days I switch out squats and dead lifts for bicep curls and arm raises & some of the machines for lat pull downs, peck deck, etc. This takes me roughly 1 hour including rests. I will be the first to say I have no idea what i'm doing. Right now I am very inexperienced in the gym and still feel a bit awkward, so I realize my workouts are kind of all over the place. I'm just trying to get a hold on how to use different machines but I have no program i'm following, this is just my current general routine. I hope to start stronglifts 5x5 soon but i'm very intimated by the squat rack and bench press.

Then I do 2 days/week run ~5km which looks roughly like 5 mins warm up @ 3.5 speed, 30 mins @ 5.5 speed, 5 mins cool down @ 3.5 speed. And then 1 rest day.

tdeecalculator.net's suggested information for me (which I've found to be quite accurate so far in my journey):

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,299 calories per day

Sedentary 1,559 calories per day

Light Exercise 1,786 calories per day

Moderate Exercise 2,013 calories per day

Heavy Exercise 2,240 calories per day

Athlete 2,468 calories per day

With the current workouts i'm doing, i'm not sure what category that would put me in considering my job is sedentary. I read somewhere on this sub that if you have a sedentary job then 1 hour/day of exercise is not enough to even classify myself in the "light exercise" category because it doesn't offset the rest of my life being sedentary, and therefore should stick to my -500cals of my sedentary TDEE to continue weight loss. But then I've also read that you need to eat more to fuel your workouts.

My goal right now is primarily fat loss. I don't really care about building muscle at the moment, but from what I've read newbies may be able to lose fat/build muscle simultaneously for a time? Either way, i'm just focusing on losing these last 20lbs right now and i'm not sure how many calories I should be eating to lose the fat but not malnourish myself basically. I have no idea how many calories these new workouts burn so i'm not sure how much more I should be eating to compensate, or if I should just continue on eating around @ 500cal/day deficit (~1000cals/day). I know people always say don't eat less than 1200cals, but I've also read that it doesn't really apply the same to short women?

I'm just feeling a bit lost. Based on the stats I've listed, what would you guys suggest?

• Thank you for reading, I realize this was long but I wanted to include as much information as possible to help paint a picture of my activity level.

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