Am I losing LBM?

Sorry I'm new to all the science, so go easy on me.

So I've seen it repeated that you should _never_ go below 1200 cals/day (unless you're on one of those 5:2 plans). But lately my appetite has dropped (ditched hormonal birth control) and I know a lot of days I'm eating well under this amount. I'm not intentionally restricting (health is much more important to me than numbers on a scale), I'm just doing what my mom always told me: "don't worry about diets, just listen to your body."

So, if I don't feel hungry (and don't feel like I'm restricting myself so there's no temptation to binge) and I have plenty of energy, should I still try to eat more, or am I good?

Is my hunger reflex not doing its job? Am I actually eating more than I think?

More info:
-I don't actually log my food (bring on the outrage), so I could be underestimating my intake.
-started at 128lb on April 1st, goal is 120 (but really, I'd be fine with _gaining_ if it was muscle). At 120.6 now.
-I'm not sure if y'all can see my progress chart (can't find a setting to make it public, so probably not), but I've been consistently losing (a lot at first, which I think was water weight, but now about 1lb/week, which is reasonable...right?)
-I do cardio and strength a few times a week and haven't noticed any energy/endurance loss since before I started really losing.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help. Guessing most of y'all will just say I should start weighing and logging all food (which would certainly be reasonable), but any other input would be appreciated.

Replies

unknown

eyeofnewt555 wrote: »

Not eating a ton as is, on top of being vegetarian, I'm probably not getting the protein I should be. I just really like vegetables...

Beans are our friend! I'm vegetarian also, and have been trying to up my protein consumption. Beans, protein bars, and protein powders would be a good start. The beans are more inexpensive though, so stock up.

unknown

eyeofnewt555 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help guys. Y'all just reaffirmed what should have been common sense. I need to realign my focus to be on building muscle rather than losing weight (which I admit, I gave more priority than I should have).

I'll start:
1) tracking cals and nutrients to make sure I'm getting what I need, and will likely need to increase intake (despite my busted hunger response).
2) killing it in the gym (with more focus on strength than cardio, rather than the reverse) and maybe a more organized, progressive program.

Anything else? Again thanks for the help and the lack of judgement.

If you want to gain new muscle, then you need to eat in a surplus of calories and need a progressive weight training program such as KSY suggest. This also means, you will gain new fat (~ 50%) as it's inevitable. But before you would do a bulk, which I suspect you mean you want to get stronger and lose some body fat, you would want a solid lifting foundation and should read Bulking - a complete guide for beginners

But if you want to get more lean (aka lose some fat and maintain muscle while getting stronger), then you want to have a small deficit (300-500 calories), focus more on getting more protein, and using a progressive weight lifting program (like NROLFW).