Debating a Bump Up in Calories

MFP put me at 1200 calories when I joined. I'm a 48 year old female looking to get down into the 120s. I exercise daily (C25K, Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, and some outdoor walking or Leslie Sansone DVDs thrown in occasionally) and eat back my calories, which means I actually eat about 1400 to 1500 a day. Most days I stay within the limit, although I go over occasionally, usually when hormonal chocolate cravings attack, and sometimes I'm under because I'm just not too hungry that particular day. I have occasional planned overages when covering a media event with food or going to an indulgent restaurant for a special occasion.

I was losing nicely after joining MFP and starting my program on March 25, but I've hit a plateau. I'm not gaining, and I"m getting toned, but I can't get the scale into the 130s. I've seen others talking about plateaus caused by too few calories, so I wonder if that's what's happening to me. I do have one other factor playing in. Around the same time as I started my fitness program, I got off Yaz birth control pills, which I've taken for a few years for perimenopause symptoms. I'm using an herbal supplement with black cohosh at my doctor's recommendation instead. I know hormones can wreak havoc, so I suppose that could be playing into the plateau.

I'd love to hear from others who bumped up a bit and started losing again (or gaining) and those struggling with hormones before I make a final decision. I'm okay with 1200 calories, but it would be very ironic if that was what's impeding my progress at the moment.