Time for a long rambling post, just to get an idea if anyone else has gone through something similar and could offer advice.

I am closing in on my maintenance range. Actually bounced down to it a few days ago, but then scooted back up after an indulgent weekend.

I've had to lower my calories lately to lose any weight, I've had days where I dip below the mystical 1200, but I'm always above 1000. Most days I keep to 1200. I try and run 3 days a week, strength train 2x, and ride/train my horse about 3-6x.

The past few months I have had very little energy, and it seems to just be getting worse. I wake up and am ok until I try and leave the house for work. Then I just feel like I am dragging the rest of the day, not sleepy-tired though, but it feels like my body is exhausted. I have to seriously push myself to get to the gym or barn after work, and lately I've been stopping for a coffee just for that extra zing I need.

I guess my question is where is my boundless energy supply that people who have lost weight claim to have. I'm reading on here of people exercising WAY more than I do, and they weigh less than me, and I don't get how they have sooo much energy? This is getting so hard, and I'm getting frustrated from being so tired all the time. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it to push for those 5 more pounds? If I should increase my calories and enter maintenance now, just to see if my body will perk up and become lively again.

AHH.

If anyone has gone through something similar I would very much like to hear about your experiences and how you handled the last few pounds.

I wonder if you could be low on iron or some other nutrient in your blood.
Dieting and exercising can be a stress on a body and studies say most of us don't get enough of the necessary vitamins and minerals when eating normally, much less cutting back. If you have a doctor, you might tell him about this and perhaps he would run a simple blood test on you. This would rule out anemia and get you back on track. If you don't want to see a doctor, I would at least add a multi-vitamin every day and just try maintaining for a week or two, get a little extra rest and see how you feel.
After all, good health is just as important as losing two more pounds. Good luck and hope you feel better soon!

Do you log your calories online? Most of the online logs have nutrient reports. You might look to see if you are low on anything. I noticed I'm ridiculously low on Vitamin D so I am going to seek out some vitamins.

You have come a long way and lost a ton of weight! Why not maintain here for a few weeks and see if that helps? You can come back to those 5 lbs later if you want to.

You might search on the Weight Loss forum for "refeed" or maybe it's "re-feed." A know a member was saying it is very important to give your body a break from the restricted-calorie regimen. Since you've been on so few calories, that could very well apply to you.

Also, check out the maintainer's forum and read some of the stickies there. Lots of good info there!

Thanks ladies, the more I think about it the more an iron deficiency makes sense. I do take a multi-vitamin daily, but it only has a low dose of iron (4 mg vs a reccommended daily intake of 18 mg for women). I think I will make an appointment with my dr. for a blood test.

I get plenty of sleep, so I know that I am not worn out in that sense. I have thought about trying a re-feed too same7, but for some reason keep telling myself to get a bit closer to goal before tinkering with something like that. I have a few weekends coming up that are going to be hard to get through food-wise (weddings, birthday parties) so I'd like to focus on staying on plan through those events and let my weight settle for a week or two before I attempt a re-feed. That way the changes in my weight can be monitored more carefully and I won't wonder if it is the wedding cake that did it.

I have been at this for so long it seems silly to just settle for what I have now and maintain when I know if I focus I can get lower. But then again, it would be nice to raise my calories and see if it helps with the exhaustion. Oh man, I am so indecisive

eta: I do track my calories on dailyplate somedays, not every day. But I do keep track of what I eat everyday on an excel spreadsheet. I didn't realize that you could track nutrients (other than fat/protein/carbs) on a logging site, so I will have to look into that.

I think the iron pill suggestion is a good one. A few weeks ago I started cutting back on my meat portions and eating more fruits and vegetables. I was tired all the time though. I think it was also due to still nursing my 1 year old a few times a day. So I started taking an iron and b vitamin supplement and I feel great now - lots of energy and I have even dropped a few pounds since then. Yay!

ETA - I was also bruising really easily. I know I'm a klutz, but my arms and legs had bruises all over them. Once I started taking the iron pill the bruises have definitely lessened.

Daily Plate doesn't seem to have the nutrient information. I just switched to DP from Fitday, which did give detailed nutritional information. I think DP might have that if you do the "gold" level, which I might do just to make it easier to enter things from my phone.