That dirty 'P' word

I think it's here and I'm not very happy about it. My first (and hopefully only?) plateau.

I have been hovering at the same weight for almost 2 weeks now and I'm doing a good job of not getting frustrated, but now it's time for some action. This morning I spent a good hour searching the MyFitnessPal community about plateaus and "eating back" my exercise calories. I also compared my net calories (the difference between what eat and what I expend exercising) to my weight loss progress and the results were telling (at least I hope so).

Here's what I found: when I eat the calories that MFP tells me to and I do not exercise, I lose weight. When I exercise a lot and do not "eat back" some of those calories, I stall. This sounds like great news, right? I get to eat more! And eating is my favorite! But, no. I'm scared shitless. Eating is how I got into this mess. I know I need to make a change though and after reading this post, eating more is making a lot more sense.

So here's the plan:

1. Never let my net calories drop below 1200 and try to keep them near my daily calorie goal (which is higher)
2. "Eat back" my exercise calories before practice and workouts (Note: I normally don't eat after practice and I think this works well for me, but I know a lot of times I am putting myself way under 1000 net cals after practice. Also, I only put in half of my practice time as exercise, so if practice is 2 hours, I am only putting in 45 mins of skating as exercise because I think MFP grossly overestimates exercise.)
3. Replace more carbohydrate calories with protein calories

I think my plan sounds simple enough, but see myself having the most issues with number 3. I really just don't like meat that much anymore and haven't found a lot of good protein sources that I can eat on a regular basis. I have to work harder on that.

I'm going to give this one solid week and revisit and make adjustments if necessary. Wish me luck!