Feeling really down...

Two pound gain is nothing to be concerned about. Just relax and focus.

You're netting under 1,200 calories every day. That's not enough to keep the body humming along as it should long term. At some point, something's going to give.

What are you doing wrong? Are you kidding???

Last 20 pounds are killer... it's definitely not a straight line! I've stalled, lost, gained, stalled again. Go on maintenance for a month - exercise because it feels so good, eat well and get enough sleep. Then, cut again after a month - although you may actually lose a little just by relaxing for a while.

It's your life, it's not a battle. Celebrate how far you've come! Enjoy how your body feels now! Think about the things you can do now that you couldn't do before. Try something new!

Okay started end of May at 188 pounds. See it go down to 158.6 and now at 160. I can't see what I'm doing wrong.

Any ideas?

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

I found the following quote useful. You can always notch your calories up or down and give it a little time to find what works for you. The online calories and charts are only a ball park estimate starting point. You must experiment a bit to find what works for you.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Adonis Index and Venus Index workout manuals)

I'm a short female and my RMR is too close to the 1200 calorie limit for that to work for me, so I had to go down. Bigger people have more room in their calorie budget to play with so can go up and still have room for a calorie deficit. That does not usually work for us smaller people who don't have so much room and have a lower RMR. Here are more tips that worked for me as a shorter female with a low RMR and not as much room to work with as most other people on MFP --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout