need to vent

I think that when you first start on here, you should stick to what MFP sets out for you
- enter your weight and height and choose the activity level that is includes any exercise you do on a normal day, not what you do if you might go for a walk or go to the gym. Enter that you want to lose 1 or 2 lbs. This will give your daily allowance of calories.
- Eat these calories
- weigh or measure your food before you eat it.
- enter every mouthful of food you eat
- do exercise, if you want and enter what you do into MFP. This will give you more calories to eat. Eat these calories.
- weigh yourself once a week - not more or you may get discouraged.

In terms of eating your calories, don't worry too much about what you eat. Look at your portions and make sure you are eating enough calories firstly. If you find you are not hungry then eat more foods which are higher in calories (cheese, meat, bread etc). If you eat all your calories and are still hungry, eat more chicken, tuna, veggies and fruits to fill you up

Once you have tried this for a couple of months, you can change things about, but you need to stick with it for a while sometimes to see the changes you want. Patience is very important - don't lose weight too quickly or it will all come back on again quick as you like.

Hope this helps

PS I've just reread your post and am a bit concerned about the food issues to which you refer.....did you want to elaborate on these, or maybe see your doctor to talk through them with him/her, or even just chat with a trusted friend or parent? If you want to message me privately then feel free to do so. Please don't get obsessive about losing weight, all you can do is to do your best x

I just looked at your diary: one day consumption of sodium was 4,950. That's way too high for someone who is trying to lose weight and health wise. I think if you cut back on the high sodium foods (hummus, salt line crackers, butter, white bread, pizza) to at least once a week, you will see some change with the scale.

I love hummus, cottage cheese, but the sodium is too high a price for me to eat, so I gave them up for a while. One of the first things I do before buying any food is to look at the sodium content, the maximum I would tolerate is 200 per serving, and that is high.

The scale was not moving , one of the things I do every day is drink 1 ounce of 100% cranberry juice with every 7 ounces of water to rid my body of water retention. I was stuck at 14 for the longest, it was really getting to me, I have lost 4 lbs within the last 2-3 weeks.

You can buy 100% cranberry juice from Trader Joe's - $3.99 - $4.99 per bottle (best money I have spent to date).