I was coming here to write a lengthy post, and I probably will still.

here's a few thoughts. Keep in mind, I am not an expert, just a woman who is overly concerned with this junk and has been looking into it recently.

number of calories you need a day. there's several calorie calculators online, mostly versions of the same thing. I like this guy, it's a little more intense than others:
http://www.dietitian.com/ibw/ibw.html

that'll give you an idea of caloric consumption.

Next, let me bring to mind a few more things. One of my roommates doesn't eat that much. she doesn't excercise, and while likeing good, wholesome, made-from-scratch food, she doesn't like to cook. She is overweight. more than what is in the "healthy body weight range" is my guess. not obese, or uglifying, but from what i see of her eating (we work together), she should not be that heavy. However, her diet consists of mostly processed foods, with the occassional vege or fruit.

calories from processed foods are easier for the body to consume, and thus, you need less of them to keep your body calorie sated. Now, the problem with processed foods, is they rarely have a sufficient amount of the goodies your body needs.

Here's an interesting site which talks about a few generalities with calorie types:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa16.htm
and another interesting read:
http://www.annecollins.com/calorie-c...ose-weight.htm

Raw foods are cool. There is a "diet" out there of raw food only. no limits on how much you eat, just be picky on the foods. I'm sure there's a way to gain on it, but for the most part, people lose on it. why? i was reading about "negative calorie" foods. In theory they require more energy to digest than they provide. (though none of the sites say it, I"m sure you need to be eating them raw. they include certain fruits and veges like apples, carrots, celery, etc. ) I'm sure you'd lose weight if you only ate those foods, but that's kinda silly. using them as a negative is silly. saying they don't count towards the end, that makes sense.

regardless, I think everyone should be eating more raw, including myself. we need what they offer, enzymes, amino acids, and all the other goodies.

now that i've lost myself on a bunny trail...
I'm not sure how tall you are, but I know that even if I'm looking to lose weight, i have to eat 1800-2000 a day. any less and my performance on the bicycle shows. I'm 5'6" and somewhere in the vicinity of 127-130lbs. days I ride more than just my commute to and from work, or have some other form of moderate to intense activity, then i add calories to that day's consumption and/or to the day before's. Even at those estimates, I'm still not sure exactly where I fall in.

If you are starving, you need to eat. I've lost weight without being hungry. hunger is the way your body says, "Hey! you're jipping me here!" I gain weight when i boredom eat. when I eat only when hungry, and am truly honest with myself, meaning that I don't always eat at the "preset times" (for me, comes to 3 decent meals and 1-2 snacks), the weight is slowly trimmed or maintained. You should not be experiencing great hunger pains if you are losing safely, perhaps a very minor discomfort at most and definitely not all day, something easily ignored.

avoid sugars, and heavily processed foods. If you are hungry, eat an apple or 2. Plan on keeping healthy snacks available. I know some people say protein fills them up. i need a complex carb to make my tummy say, ahhhh, thank you. but you need to have something available. breads do the trick for sure, but I'm trying to be concious of what I eat as well, so that means my bday present (breadmaker) is getting used. a nice piece, even plain is much nicer than running to the vending machine for an unfilling bag of chips or candybar.
"overdosing" fruit can be fun. While clementines were in season, I ate 5-7 a day in the morning before lunch. It was cool. but a mere apple isn't enough now. i keep rice cakes, and need to find another healthy processed carb to keep on hand.

another interesting fact, i can boredom eat, but if I increase my effort, not my distance in cycling, then my body consumes it faster. Even taking one day a week and punching it as hard as you can makes a difference.

it's is definitely trial and error to figure it out. I hate the water weight thing, I can't tell if I'm stable, gaining or losing! Even with these, you can tell. If you lose 7 lbs in a week - worry! if you are starving all the time - worry! If you eat all the time when not hungry - worry! actually worrying is bad, so don't worry, just notice and correct. the body is an efficient machine, and while it does not want to lose
but I can say for sure that for you, you need to be eating more than 1400. you are too active to do a starvation diet... . if you don't eat enough, you can lose muscle, water, and then when things come around later, you'll have fat fill in where the muscle was

hope some of my ramblings helped. Sorry if you feel I spoke too much about me. I think many of us struggle to some extent with some aspect of these issues and what we eat.