How to eat enough calories while losing fat and exercising

Hi, sorry if a similar thread has been posted before, but I could use some advice regarding nutrition.

I'm a 27 years old female, 164cm and 110kg. It is a lot, but I have a great fat distribution (huge chest, big butt, narrow waist), so I am actually pretty flexible and do well in the gym. Most people guess I'm around 85kg. I'm saying that so you don't picture me as some kind of a boulder who has issues with basic movement.

To give you some background:

I started working out and eating better in July and have been quite successfully reshaping my body. I completely cut out sugary drinks, ordering takeout and junk food like potato chips etc. I stopped smoking weed and rarely drink alcohol anymore.
Instead I started eating a lot of vegetables and protein in a caloric deficit. I do mostly weight training in the gym, so while I'm losing fat, I've also been building up muscle and strength.

My gym routine 3-4x/week goes like this:

30 minutes treadmill
30-40 minutes exercise with my own weight
1-2 hours strength training depending on how much time I have (dumbbells, barbells, machines)
5-10 minutes light cardio

I alternate between lower body and upper body days while doing some abs and glutes exercise every time. Right now I can squat 35 kg, deadlift 70 kg and leg press 140 kg.

Now, the issue I have:
Most calorie intake calculators tell me I should eat around 2600kcal/day and that's including the deficit for fat loss.
Yesterday I after gym I was super hungry so I let myself go and ate quite a lot of food: avocado toast, 4 eggs, smoothie, turkey ham, watermelon, a cup of cream cheese and a few of those "fake bread" puffy corn slices. I even threw in a scoop of ice cream after a long time. I felt guilty so I downloaded a calorie counting app and entered in all the food. It totaled at about 1500kcal, give or take.

I was stuffed after eating all that. It doesn't help that I've recently moved to a very hot tropical country, so my appetite has gone down even more.

My question is, is it okay to eat so "little" while I exercise the way I do? Would eating 1500kcal (sometimes I do even less) a day hurt my progress or do I have enough fat to "absorb" it? If not, what should I eat to fulfill my caloric needs and not feel like I've eaten a horse?

My goal is to get fit and strong enough to excel at a combat sport. I travel solo a lot and would like to visit some "dangerous" countries, so being able to defend myself would help a lot.

I'd welcome any advice in general! I'm probably doing a lot of things incorrectly as I've just started and am still trying to navigate my way through a healthier lifestyle.

Thanks a lot! :)


from Bodybuilding.com Forums - Nutrition https://ift.tt/kfYsb26

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