So first big thing if you are exercising.

The only valid weigh-in day is the morning after a rest day where you ate normal sodium levels, and are not still sore from last weight lifting session, if you do.

So go back through your stats and confirm what weights are actually valid to even consider.

Would you give any attention to gas mileage estimates if you saw it was based on no trip miles and partial fill-ups and no gallons sometimes? No, not valid data.

MFP can set you wrong because YOU selected not true activity level (and most with desk jobs are actually Lightly Active with no exercise) and weight loss goal beyond the recommend 1 lb weekly.
And even if that is right, a person can foul that up by not eating back their exercise calories and creating an even bigger deficit than the recommended 1 lb weekly, not helping matters at all.

The other thing you need to make your mind over with - you want weight loss or fat loss?
Are your friends losing fat or weight that includes muscle mass?
Guess what's going to happen at goal weight with loss of muscle mass, if they even reach it?

I can give you a diet and exercise plan right now to encourage burning off muscle, and because muscle provides only 600 calories of energy per lb to use when burned, it goes a whole lot faster than fat with 3500 calories per lb.
But you won't like the end story, and no one has either agreed to take me up on it, or reported back their results for even a 6 week test.

So your desire of using MFP method is not unusual, so either follow it the way it's intended as described above, or manually set your goals and keep track of things.

This will make it easier to do that.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

Be honest in the activity calculator with your daily routine since you aren't on your rear for 40 hrs a week, how many hrs of that 40 hrs as mom are you actually standing/walking, or lifting and toting? Some may be sitting, so that's fine.
Then don't enter any exercise estimates there.
Go to the MFP Tweak tab, use the Katch BMR shown, use the BMR multiplier shown. And there's your deficit and eating goal.
Now scroll down, and that's where you log your exercise calories and time, and it will show you how much to actually eat back to take the same deficit off.
Use the macro goal shown, and change MFP with what it says to.

First of all, stop weighing yourself every day. The body naturally fluctuates. Weigh yourself once a week or once every other week. There are also numerous things which could cause you to "gain weight" (i.e., retain water - lifting weights, for example. Your muscles when they are repairing retain water, so it's natural to go up in weight after you have lifted weights. Carbs, sugar, sodium all also can cause bloat. Personally, I didn't start losing until I dropped my carbs under 100; started losing quickly when I dropped them to 50. I'm still eating a lot, i'm just eating real food, no processed high calorie foods.