Does it count as weight loss if...

Give it time, girl! You only JUST started. --July 4th?? That hasn't even been two weeks! Patience, patience!

You didn't put on several pounds a week, it makes no sense to expect it to come off that fast, either.

Also, I highly recommend NOT upping your deficit to anything past 20%. I'm assuming one of the reasons you want to lose weight is to look nicer, right? There's nothing nice-looking about excessively saggy skin, which is a direct result of losing weight too fast. Going slow gives your skin time to keep up and shrink back normally. You can also risk losing lean muscle mass, which compromises future weight loss, and generally overall makes you feel like crap. I speak from experience, here.

You'd be surprised...I have gained several pounds a week before. Maybe I just need to head back into low carbsville....I don't know. I lose faith quickly....

1. Go talk to your doctor and see about getting some bloodwork done (specifically, insulin, but cholesterol and whatnot are good, too). Not only will this provide you a baseline, but it can also help make sure you're not fighting against a medical condition, and can help you get your macros right.

2. Adjust your macros. MFP is notorious for being off on their macros, and low-fat diets are extremely carb heavy (this can be especially detrimental if your bloodwork comes back with a high fasting glucose level). Additionally, it looks like you might be trying for too much protein. Since you're lifting, you'll want about 1g per pound of lean body mass - so about half of what you have it set for. If your bloodwork comes back and indicates insulin resistance (which you're at high risk of due to your weight and being female), then you'll want to work on decreasing your carbs to a goal of around 100g (give or take, depending on how you feel) and focus on getting them from veggies. Then, fill the rest in with fat, and learn to love dietary fats - believe it or not, they are very good for you! At the basic level, anything but trans fats are good for you. Saturated fats and monounsaturated are better than polyunsaturated. Things like olive oil and coconut oil are awesome oils to keep around.

2a. Even if you don't come back insulin resistant, it might be a good idea to lower the carbs a bit. Lots of carbs tends to promote water retention. Try aiming for under 200g, and again, getting most of it from veggies and the remainder from whole grains.

2b. Look at your carb limit as an upper, and your protein and fat as minimums. You don't want to go over on carbs (especially sugary carbs), but protein is generally good to go over (unless you're doing something like doubling your goal), and healthy fats are good to go over as well (again, barring going WAY over).

3. Be patient! You're looking at too small a time. As someone else said, you didn't gain overnight, so you won't lose overnight. Also, the body starts holding onto water as soon as you start lifting. So even though you just started Saturday, you might even see your weight go UP for a short time. Give it a little more time and see how your body responds. Additionally, you're a woman. For better or for worse, you have to deal with the monthly cycling of hormones and everything that goes with it, including water retention that hides weight loss. Yes, that happens even not during your time of the month (ovulation triggers it, too).

4. Ditch the processed crap and Taco Bell level eating out. I've noticed that there's a number of times where you've eaten out at places like Subway and Taco Bell, and even when you don't eat out, most days see at least some chips or one or more Snicker's Power Bars, or something similar. Ditch them for real food. The Power Bars are little more than glorified candy bars (seriously, there's probably less sugar in a regular Snicker's), and most of that stuff is largely empty calories. When you eat out, go for places that cook with real food (which is pretty much anywhere but Taco Bell). Want a taco? Go to Chipotle and get a burrito bowl. You can actually identify the ingredients, and even watch them cook the stuff. It's probably more filling, too. If you want to avoid sodium, too, try to go above any fast food (even Chipotle and Subway tend to be high in the sodium department). Ideally, you should cook all your meals at home, but sometimes eating out is a part of life, but you can still try to go for the best you can.

Thanks....I haven't had insulin or thyroid checks but all my other bloodwork is normal.

I'm not a good planner so sometimes I hit up a fast food place but not generally. I do like to go to subway though.

I plan to go to more whole foods when my financial situation levels out a bit (husband wasn't employed for about a month and a half so kind of catching up right now) and unfortunately, the stuff that is good for you is more expensive. Actually planning to go on a 21 day cleanse of only whole organic foods soon to get rid of toxins in my body and then go to a mediterranean diet as it is beneficial for PCOS. I don't believe I have the insulin resistance associated with PCOS though as my sugar never gets high and I level out to normal within 2 hours of eating (usually with insulin resistance you get hypoglycemic due to insulin overload)

You might want to check out the research on Mediterranian vs Paleo for insulin resistance. I don't know if there's been anything for PCOS, specifically, but the research that is there is pretty fascinating.

As for the whole foods thing - it often works out to be less expensive if you know where to look. Eating a whole food diet doesn't require shopping at Whole Foods. Look around for local co-ops, farmer's markets, and farms. (For that matter, even when we were broke, when I was without a job, we actually ate better, because we weren't eating out.)