Creatures Caves

Most of any progress you will ever make in training your body comes from what you eat. As to that I say that it's imperative that you count your macronutrients instead of ambiguous calories.
(Also, strength training (i.e. weight lifting, bodyweight exercises - even if you're a girl! I am, and I haven't gotten "buffed" or manly, just strong. lol), either standalone or as cross-training, is much more effective in shaping and strengthening the body than using cardio alone. this is because in strength training fat is lost and replaced with muscle at a slow and steady, constant rate, unlike cardio wherein it is replaced at an erratic rate leading to the typical non-cross-training marathon runner's "jiggly thigh." Cross training will prevent this. But i digress.)

Anyway!
Right now I'm strength training 3 days a week and eating on a recomp, meaning i eat 20% more calories on workout days and 20% less on rest days. However, I calculate the caloric amount FROM the macronutrient amounts (fat=9 calories/g, carbohydrate and protein=4 calories/g). The amount of calories one eats does matter, but it alone does not determine how quickly and efficiently the body will be able to form muscle or optimize health - the KIND of calories eaten does. To do that, you need to put in specific amounts of the three macronutrient categories (protein, carbohydrates, and fat). I will detail this later in the post.

Also, let go of the "low carb" paradigm. Your body needs huge quantities of carbohydrates on workout days to assimilate protein into the body quickly - they work in synergy. However, try to eat low on the glycemic index (foods like brown rice, pasta, tortillas/tortilla chips, triscuits, and whole grain (NOT whole wheat) foods are great) because eating high-GI foods all the time will hurt you. Lol. Fat should be limited as much as possible on workout days, because if consumed once you go over your caloric limit that fat ceases to be processed and goes to your fat stores. However, on rest days, eat lots of fat - the body uses fat to slowly incorporate protein into the body. Any kind of fat's ok, even saturated. Contrary to what most people will tell you, saturated fat is a natural part of a human diet and really doesn't hurt you. Limit carbohydrate intake on rest days. Protein intake does not change between rest and workout days.

There's a formula for calculating how many macronutrients you need - all the links you need to do that calculation are HERE.

You use your weight, basal metabolic rate and body fat percentage to calculate it, among a few other factors. When calculating your BMI (body fat index/ percentage), don't use a calculator - those are so inaccurate because they use your total body weight in calculation. You need to measure strictly your body fat by doing a pinch test with either skin calipers or your fingers and referring to a chart for your gender to see where you fall.

I'm not sure what your body types are like, but I'll list mine and the macronutrients I need so that if your body type is similar to mine you'll have somewhere to start without having to calculate anything.

I am female, 19 years old, weigh 116 lbs, and have 27 percent bodyfat. After calculation, I found that my basal metabolic rate is 1440 calories a day. That means that I need to eat these amounts of macronutrients:

WORKOUT DAYS:

360 g carbohydrate
60 g protein
(no fat or very little fat)

= 1720 total caloric limit

REST DAYS:

100g fat (OR 900 calories' worth of some mix of fat and carbohydrates, while keeping carbs minimal as possible)
60g protein

= 1152 total caloric limit

This has proven extremely effective in streamlining my body and building clean muscle at a nice, slow, steady rate. And the beauty of this is that you can eat any food item you wish as long as it's in quantities that fit into your numbers. Try it!

ALSO! VERY IMPORTANT :

I cannot stress enough the importance of rest days. Going to the gym every day will not make you stronger faster, it will just damage your body and make it take longer to form muscle than if you had just taken rest days. Three workout days a week is enough to give you results.
Taking 3 to 5 minute breaks between sets is also indespensable and follows the same logic.
And if you're already physically light enouth to do cross-training with cardio, do NOT do cardio and strength training on the same day. Do them only on the rest days which follow strength training focusing on the upper body. You might also alternate weeks - one week of strength, one week of cardio. Both of these options will work with your body's natural working and healing cycle - if you do cardio and strenth training on the same day, you risk permanent damage to the CNS due to conflicting neuromuscular signals.

Good luck everyone!