Long story short..
4 months stuck at 178-182.. gaining and losing the same few pounds on a 1200-1500 calorie diet.
I just had a light bulb go off in my head a few days ago that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't losing because I was no longer creating a deficit!

Ignoring conventional wisdom I dipped below 1200 and did two 1,100 calorie days.

Scale said 175.8 this morning. A MIRACLE!

So I am going to cycle lower calorie days and throw in a higher 1,500 calorie "maintenance" day here and there to find some balance.

So, just a suggestion to others fighting a long plateau like I did. Perhaps you need to ignore the 1200 rule for a few days and see if that helps. Also a problem is that I might have been underestimating calories and while it felt like I was doing good, I had just been eating at maintenance level this whole time.

Congratulations on the breakthrough ! The truth is that short people like you and me need fewer calories to survive. Sorry, folks but I cannot eat the same number of calories as my 5'8" friends and not gain weight. Seems unfair but is true.

THANK YOU!
I agree A smaller adult does not have the same caloric needs as a larger (taller) adult. I have heard so many people say height is irrelevant and I say baloney!
I am battling insulin resistance so I have that working against me as well. I felt perfectly fine at 1,100 calories and I ate a wide range of foods (almonds, strawberries, broccoli, chicken, almond milk) and tried to get as many nutrients in there as I could.
But a lot of people will try to tell me I am starving myself since I went below the magical arbitrary number of 1200
I feel fine, infact this morning I actually woke up with energy instead of feeling sluggish

congrats! Feels good doesn't it? I think adding in a few "lower" calorie days in is a great idea.

Yeah i 100% agree with calorie cycling. Staying at 1,200-1500 can get very very boring!

Congrats! Good job!

last time i lost i was stuck at around 180 for like 6 weeks! since ive come back ive probably seen 10 other posts about people being stuck around 180. weird!

maybe our bodies love that number for some reason