Say you have a 105 lb ballet dancer. 5 foot 3

She exercises 8 hours a week in ballet classes and then 4 hours or so in aerobics classes.

How many calories approximately should she be taking in daily?

What is a good diet for her in order to keep at a healthy weight?

depending on age, i would not worry too much about calorie intake.
if there is a low calorie option, you can have it, but quantity is really the issue. don’t think drinking a diet soda will help. if you want a soda, just drink the real thing because there isn’t much of a difference (unless you’re diabetic).

you shouldn’t really have more than one soda a day (about 6-7 teaspoons of sugar in a 12 oz can).

drink a lot of water instead. most normal people don’t drink enough water each day, and most dancers i know don’t either (and they need far more than normal people).

you should eat a fairly balanced diet (eat from all your food groups, lots of veggies, fruit, and dairy). women naturally have issues with retaining calcium and with bone density. women that are extremely active (especially dancers) have weaker bones than most and require more calcium than normal women to keep their bones healthy. so lots of milk (which has also been proven to help with weight loss) and a calcium supplement could help.

if you have to have a big meal, make the biggest breakfast.

eat lots of small healthy meals throughout the day. this helps to keep your stomach small, increase your metabolism, and burn calories faster.

when eating protein, like meats, don’t eat servings larger than the thickness and width of the palm of your hand. people don’t actually need more than 3 of those servings of protein a day.

if you need snacks between meals, eat something healthy like grapes or apple slices. if you visit fast food chains a lot, like burger king or mcdonalds, they both have very large salad options on their menus, as well as packaged apple slices. salads with cheese, a little dressing (thats where the calories are in salads), with some grilled chicken can make for a delicious meal, also very good for you if dark greens like spinach are used.

if you read on the back of most foods, it says "based on a 2000 calorie diet" i’m not the healthiest person around (certainly not the healthiest eating dancer), and i don’t even intake 2000 calories a day.
i’m 5′ 9" and weigh 127lbs. the last time i counted i took in about 1200 cal. and i’m actually under the recommended weight for my height.

most people have a general idea about what is healthy, but just don’t eat those things. if you are truly eating non greasy/fatty foods and are not eating loads of sugars, and eating the proper serving size of each food, everything should be fine.

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