Confirm suspicions

According to your given info. you are a few pounds under ideal weight for your height. Here is a link to a calculator to see how many calories you should be eating: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

activity often dictates maitenance.

If you aren't active then yes your maitenance will be lower.

That being said if you are not weighing yes you are probably under esitmating intake.

Even measuring cups don't cut it most of the time.

A lot of things determine your caloric needs. Some of these are pretty clear (height, activity, etc) and some of them change as your body changes (body fat %). Its likely that as you've improved physically, you may have induced a kind of "starvation mode." As a result, your body is consuming fewer calories as your metabolism slows.

At the same time, it is also likely that there are measurement errors in how much you think youre eating and how much you think youre burning

A lot of things determine your caloric needs. Some of these are pretty clear (height, activity, etc) and some of them change as your body changes (body fat %). Its likely that as you've improved physically, you may have induced a kind of "starvation mode." As a result, your body is consuming fewer calories as your metabolism slows.

At the same time, it is also likely that there are measurement errors in how much you think youre eating and how much you think youre burning

really....you didn't just say that a perfectly healthy woman who is in maitenance is in starvation mode....wow just wow.

A lot of things determine your caloric needs. Some of these are pretty clear (height, activity, etc) and some of them change as your body changes (body fat %). Its likely that as you've improved physically, you may have induced a kind of "starvation mode." As a result, your body is consuming fewer calories as your metabolism slows.

At the same time, it is also likely that there are measurement errors in how much you think youre eating and how much you think youre burning

really....you didn't just say that a perfectly healthy woman who is in maitenance is in starvation mode....wow just wow.

No, I said that one reason why she could be plateauing at such a low calorie count is because of the body's ability to slow down its own metabolism.

My first sentence should have kind of tipped you off to the central point - there are a lot of things that drive one's caloric fluctuations.

I'm sure she has already considered the obvious ones which have changed. However, I doubt she'd have posted on here if she hadn't already considered those and determined that her caloric needs were higher despite that.

I still measure but admit I'm getting a bit sloppy and mostly just eyeball, also eat out more and guestimate what I'm getting if I can't find an accurate looking entry, could I really be underestimating by 200+ cals daily?

I've been on maintenance quite a while and my tracking gets pretty sloppy too. I don't think it matters much in my case because what causes me to gain weight is not paying attention at all.

As for the 200 calorie overage, that's only about 12% of your daily goal. The numbers on labels are not nearly as precise as many people believe. (I've done some research on how they arrive at these numbers.) You're probably within the margin of error.

I respond really well to statistics and that 12% has really hit home, thanks. Realistically 200 cals is a kitkat - I'm sure I could easily be slipping in those little added extra cals without 'logging' them - even if I was trying.

Agreed and if you are in the states the FDA allows for a 20% margin of error on food labels. Not sure about other countries.

ETA: Canadian Government also allows up to a 20% margin of error.

I stopped losing weight at the end of December, I went from 150lb to 120lb from May until then and have maintained within +/-2.5lb ever since. I'm 5'3.5. I now log about 1650 calories per day on lazy days and about 1800 on active ones - is that /really/ my maintenance? It seems low. I still measure but admit I'm getting a bit sloppy and mostly just eyeball, also eat out more and guestimate what I'm getting if I can't find an accurate looking entry, could I really be underestimating by 200+ cals daily?

Edit: typo

If you are no longer losing or gaining.....Then yes. You are eating at maintenance.

According to your given info. you are a few pounds under ideal weight for your height. Here is a link to a calculator to see how many calories you should be eating: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Really? Because a 5'-6" person can be healthily 115 pounds. So how would 120 at 5' 3" be low?

If you're maintaining, guess what.....you're eating at maintenance. Also, underestimating your intake by a couple hundred calories is pretty easy to do...200 calories is jack ****...it's a small handful of nuts. My guess is in fact, you are eating more than you think you are, but yes...you are eating maintenance obviously.

I advise you not to give up on the lifting. Just do what you can do without injuring yourself. Though this does take practice. Basically your muscles are like little calorie engines and you want them to be chugging away as fast as possible. Not only to give you health and bodily strength but to up your bodies calorie demand so you can eat some of the food you enjoy.

And once again yeah Cardio will help a lot too. But I would urge you to tone down the lifting rather than dropping it entirely.

I'm a slight bit taller than you and a few pounds heavier and when I switched to maintenance I switched to "sedendary" so that I had a basic calorie count for days that I might not be as active aka rest days. My maintenance calories are just over 1600 so that's what I aim for. I tend to not really pay as much attention as I was when trying to lose weight what you might call sloppy but in the end I really don't want to live or die by any scale, food or weight so I'm just going with healthy foods that I enjoy, a few treats here and there and the days I know that treats are going to be on the menu I add a bit more cardio.

As for you neck and lifting, perhaps you could add it some yoga and extra stretching. If you've injured yourself definitely consult a physician but you might find stretching those muscles out will help more than anything and you don't have to give anything up.

Good luck to you, you seem to have your own body figured out for the most part.

I stopped losing weight at the end of December, I went from 150lb to 120lb from May until then and have maintained within +/-2.5lb ever since. I'm 5'3.5. I now log about 1650 calories per day on lazy days and about 1800 on active ones - is that /really/ my maintenance? It seems low. I still measure but admit I'm getting a bit sloppy and mostly just eyeball, also eat out more and guestimate what I'm getting if I can't find an accurate looking entry, could I really be underestimating by 200+ cals daily?

Edit: typo

If you are "guesstimating" and "eyeballing" things, you will never know.

Want to find out?

For about 4 weeks, track your food accurately at 1800 cal / day and see where you end up at.

I stopped losing weight at the end of December, I went from 150lb to 120lb from May until then and have maintained within +/-2.5lb ever since. I'm 5'3.5. I now log about 1650 calories per day on lazy days and about 1800 on active ones - is that /really/ my maintenance? It seems low. I still measure but admit I'm getting a bit sloppy and mostly just eyeball, also eat out more and guestimate what I'm getting if I can't find an accurate looking entry, could I really be underestimating by 200+ cals daily?

Edit: typo

A handful of almonds will set you off 150 - 200 calories. It's pretty easy to go over even if you're eating well and watching your calories. A lot of people are shocked at what their maintenance calories really are. I know we all expect to be able to eat 2000 calories a day like the FDA recommends but that's just a general rounded number. Women typically need 1600 - 2100 calories for maintenance. Of course that varies depending on height and the amount of lean body tissue. You're not going to need 2000 calories a day at your height unless you had a much higher amount of lean muscle.