Observation: Eating like garbage and missing work out = weig

sgpaschak

So I've been stuck in a serious plateau on P90X for over a month now. I've been trying a lot of different things to break it. Lowering carbs (which just screwed up my stomach and regularity), zig zagging calories, etc.

MFP has me at 2208 calories per day. I weigh my food and deconstruct ingredients when I count my calories so I know my intake is accurate, and when I work out I wear my Polar HRM and adjust calories burned to reflect what my body would be burning if I didn't exercise (my body burns 170 calories per hour, when I am just laying on the sofa, so I subtract 170 from every hour of exercise, so if my HRM says 770 cals burned, I put it in as 600). I do eat back some exercise calories.

I;ve been rock solid stuck between 255-257 for over one month now. I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. If I get incredibly busy with work and school and need to eat out and miss exercise for a day or 2 my weight starts to trend down and actually hit 253. On a week long experiment I tried eating closer to 3000 calories per day, only got to about 2800 as it is hard for me to eat that much, I got to my lowest point in the plateau. When I resumed my normal regimen, the weight trended back up to 256-257.

My observation on eating like garbage and missing a work out leads me to believe I may be eating too little. Is this a safe assumption?

I know there is a very popular thread out here on MFP from a guy, I think his name is Steve, where he tells people to multiply their weight by a multiple of around 14 if you are active or around 12 if you are less active to get your TEE. He also seems to imply that most people OVER estimate their caloric requirements and that might be sabotaging their weight loss. Which is why I have been nervous to eat more. He seems to have quite a following. He suggests a 30% deficit over what your TEE is for weight loss, in my case ~255 x 14 = 3570, 3570 - 30% = 2499. By the multiplier of 14, this total should include all exercise calories as well.

I know everyone is different, but I am just so frustrated. I've been doing Beach Body's programs since June 8th 2011 and have lost 86 pounds. In 45 more pounds I will hit my goal weight, the prize is so close I can taste it. Over this time I've seen consistent and amazing progress. Starting with power 90, moving to the Master Series, and now to P90X. I am in the best physical shape I have ever been in, but in terms of weight progress I've flatlined. Should I just say f&ck it to the scale and focus on fitness and eating healthy?

Thoughts?