Am I eating too few calroies?

Question
Hello Laurie,
I am a 31 year old female.  I am 5'4 and 154 lbs.  Before I had my second child I was 130 lbs and training for a marathon, my long runs were up to 15 miles.  I ran on a regular basis, cross trained on a bike and weight trained 3 days a week along with pilates.  However, I got injured 2 months before I got pregnant and had to cut back my training.  I could also not run during my pregnancy.  I have about 25 lbs to loose so I feel like I am starting over in my fitness training.  I eat an average of 1100 cals a day.  I am not running yet, but I walk at a brisk pace for 1 hour every day.  I do pilates and yoga (Rodney Yee's yoga for flexibility) 2-3 times a week and I weight train about twice a week.  I lost 8 lbs to start but now I have stalled in my weight loss.  I don't want to try running until I can loose some additional weight.  My husband says I may not be eating enough calories.  I eat 3 meals a day and 1 snack.  I do not feel hungry for more food.  Could I not be eating enough?

Answer
Dear Theresa,

Congrats on your pregnancy! and Also your devotion to exercise :)

I always wonder how people know how many calories per day they are consuming?  If you are eating 1100 calories in 3 meals and a snack your meals must be like 2 oz of fish, 1/3 cup rice and a vegetable!  1100 calories is definitely too low, but I would not encourage you to eat more until you somehow know you are consuming 1100 calories (many times people underestimate their portion size, or the actual number of calories they are eating).  I would suggest you log your intake on one of the sites that helps you count your calories, such as The Daily Plate or Calorie Count or Spark People.  The other helpful site is http://www.mypyramid.gov  You actually can't meet your nutritional intake in less than 1200 calories, so you're missing something important in one of the food groups!

Be sure you are eating enough grains (for energy), enough protein, enough dairy, etc.  Allow yourself all the portions the pyramid guides you to include.  consider adding another snack as well... the more times you feed your body the more comfortable it will be using the energy you feed it.

Keep up the good work, and feed yourself well :)

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