calorie needs for a petite cyclist

[Susan]

Hi txcyclist! I guess it's hard to tell you exactly how much calories are right for you, because as other have stated, we are all built different.
I'm 5'4'' and weight 140lbs. Livestrong tells me that I eat about 1800 calories a day. From what you wrote I'd say I work out less than you are, about an hour per day. I lose weight very slowly on this amount of calories. I guess 1600 per day would give me better results.

You have to consider that you burn less calories when you get lighter (overall and while working out) and less if you get used to an exercise. So the numbers that where accurate when you started your weightloss, may not be accurate now that you have lost weight and are used to training regularly. Losing weight gets harder the closer you are to your target weight.

Regarding the "firming up" - with the amount of cardio you are doing as a cyclist, it might be hard for your body to put on lean mass. Generally, if you want to put on muscle, you cut back on cardio and do more weight training, and I guess thats not an option for you at the moment, so you might not get as fast results.

Last but not least, you are not overweight anymore. Your body might be very happy where you are now, which makes it more difficult to lose those last pounds. Like Veronica said, the number you have in your head might not be the number your body is happy with. It's not so easy to find the "sweet spot" now, where you can fuel you workouts and feel good while doing them, losing weight at the same time and not forcing your body into starvation mode and slowing your metabolism.
You can get there by tracking exactly how much calories you eat and burn and trying to create a small deficit that makes you lose about a pound per week/2 weeks. It's a bit trial and error.

Personally - for me - I think that's too much fuss about 10 pounds. I'm ok with losing the weight very slowly but steady, not starving and not counting everything I eat and do, gives me more quality of life than a quick weight loss. And if I stop losing weight I will be ok with it. 120 pounds might look better on me, but somewhere around 130 - 140 will be ok and healthy.
Keep in mind that the less you weight the less you need to maintain. If you are feeling that you can't live happily on 1500 calories per day, don't forget that you will have to be able to create a lifestyle around your target-weight if you don't want to gain the weight back.