WTF???

Okay, I took a look at your food diary. I noticed you don't log frequently, you miss days, and don't log lunch, dinner and snacks. What you eat isn't very healthy, but if you are eating the exact calories what you say you are eating then good job, that is only if that's true.

* Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE? If you haven't I recommend you do that, there are a ton of calculators on the internet for you to do that. * I believe you eat 10% - 15% below your TDEE, you'll have to check on that.

I think perhaps you are not be completely precise with what you are eating, do you tend to snack and forget? Also measure out your food so you know exactly how much you are eating. I got into the habit if I had a "Bad day" I wouldn't log, you need to log every little thing you eat because it all adds up.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BEST OF LUCK!

* Edit - Check with your doctor
Also, maybe you need to take a multi-vitamin weight loss is a-lot harder if you are deficient in a vitamin. Check with your doctor first.

For calories burned, a heart rate monitor (HRM) is the best tool I have found. I went through a few before I got one with a chest strap, but it's totally worth any extra you might pay for it.

I know how you feel, but you'll lose weight if you limit your calorie goal to 1300-1400 and ALWAYS fill it! It only takes less than a minute to write down what you had for lunch! And work out a lot! I was at 125 lbs and couldn't lose anymore than I went to the gym and burned 1200+ calories (did that every other day for 1 week) and dropped down 2 lbs!

You may want to go see a doctor. Barring a medical condition, this works when you're totally honest with yourself and log everything. I would also add that weighing and measuring is very important...when people just eyeball they almost always underestimate their consumption and it really doesn't take a whole lot of underestimation (or overestimating exercise burn) to collapse your calorie deficit.

Personally, I'd focus on the diet first...get your calories straightened out...go visit with a doctor, etc. Don't worry about exercise right now...you should exercise for overall health and well being, but right now you need to get your diet and calories in order. Once you do that then you can start adding in exercise and exercise calories. BTW, how are you estimating your burn. If you're using a database, it's likely that you are substantially overestimating burn as well. Overestimating burn is a major issue with NEAT method calculators like MFP and people often think they're burning way more than they think they are because they're "working so hard." Truth be told, burning a ton of calories is pretty tough to do.

I used to use a HRM to estimate my burn and if I knocked off a good 30% for error it was fairly accurate. I always did that in conjunction with a simple formula and compared the two burns. The formula is to take 7-10 and multiply that by the number of minutes you exercise...7 being basically the equivalent of a moderately paced walk...you're moving and exercising but you can still hold a conversation, etc. 10 being you can't do anything except focus on the task at hand...you aren't reading a magazine...you aren't watching t.v....you aren't talking to anybody...you're exerting yourself basically to the max. It's all an estimate, but I found that comparing these two and basically assuming the lowest number worked for me.

There is no excuse to not log your food. If you can't log here, then write it down. There are loads of books, i.e. CalorieKing, that provide a list of calories for food. Also, make sure you measure your foods and not eye them. If you can get a scale, that will greatly help in determining what a serving of something is.

As for exercise calories, if you can get a heart rate monitor, that will help you figure out how many calories you burn. Yes, some do work underwater. For now, try to underestimate your caloric burn by maybe 1/3 if not more.

log everything and buy a food scales. I found this helps as at the start was just geussing the weight and was totally off. I was eating double the calories should of been. Its gets easier as the weeks go on. One day at a time. Good luck

Do you log everyday? Are you honest about what you log? Do you weigh and measure everything you put into your mouth? Do you eat protein first? These are vital to weight loss!

Thank you for you comment. Here are your answers: I try to log in everyday when I have access to the intenet. Yes, I am honest about what I put in my mouth. I weigh but I haven't really measured along the way. I have a really-really hard time eating in the morning, I have to force myself.

I haven't read all responses, so I apologize if I repeat.

But I do agree with most poster that you seriously need to track and be honest. Even if it's a bad day, track. Otherwise you will never know where you are going wrong.

And if you don't have access to the internet every day, stop making excuses and do it the old fashioned way - pen and paper. Keep an actual food journal and record everything. If you don't know the calories, still write it down, then look it up later when you DO have access to the internet. This is the only way to really know where your trouble is. Exercise can only do so much, diet (calories in) is about 90% of weight loss.

Also, I would recommend looking into TDEE. There's a lot of back and forth about it on the forums, but generally TDEE is what MFP wants to be after you "eat back" exercise. I like TDEE because it's a little simpler and IMO a bit more accurate than the MFP calculators. Some good groups for info are:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

I highly recommend this starting point:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Another thing you could do is get a BodyMedia Fit band / monitor.

You wear it on your arm all day (and night if you wish), and it monitors how much you burn all day long, both being sedentary and when you work out.

I bought one back in January, but only actually started using it a few days ago (we moved, it got packed in a box and had trouble finding it LOL).

Anyway, it's definitely been enlightening to see the calories that do burn when you aren't working out, so maybe it's something that would help you? (You can sync it with myfitnesspal too).

One thing to remember:

Every pound is worth 3500 calories, so in order to lose, you must create a 3500 calorie deficit.

While you do get extra calories from working out, you need to make sure that you don't eat "all" of them if you wish to lose, otherwise you're simply maintaining. (At least in my experience).

I struggle as well, but I know for me it's hormones causing the issues. And unfortunately, here it's difficult to get a Dr. who will do further testing for thyroid etc. unless it's blatantly clear there's an issue. (I'm borderline hypothyroid - and they won't treat it no matter how much of a fight I put up).

I've also learned that *what* you eat matters.

i.e., if you eat the same thing every day, but its (for example) carb heavy, (as in pasta, breads), and minimal fruit/veggies, it's going to be much harder to lose. (You can eat a lot more fruit/veggies to equal the same amount of calories in bread for example... so your body might think you're under-eating too).

An alternate would be to try something like:

- the 6 week body makeover (although its very strict, no dairy, no oils even)
- the food lovers plan

Both are from the same company (different creators), but they do work. The food lovers plan has you make just one simple change per day, which makes it easier to change things.

The 6 week body makeover has you go through a quiz to determine your body type. It's quite informative, even for that part. And then it's pretty much eating LEAN protein at every meal (including snacks) along with your carbs (but fruit/veggie carbs mainly, not breads or pasta) during the losing phase. And you need to eat every 2-3 hours.

Frankly just following those guidelines will save you the cost of a purchase

Anyway, I'd do a diet check, I know I don't eat perfect, and I know where I can improve, and while yes, it's a lot slower, the scale DOES eventually go up then down.

Also, if you weigh yourself within a day of doing a workout, especially something you haven't done before, you might find yourself go up rather than down... it's discouraging, but stick with it and a few days later that weight suddenly disappears. (i.e., it was your body's protection mechanisms).

oh - and btw - another thought - your food may be loaded with too much sodium, which would also explain why you might be around your calories but still not losing. A lot of people forget this.

If you buy pre-packaged foods, that's one of the top ingredients - salt/sodium.

So after the diet check to monitor what TYPES of foods you're eating, I'd say get a bodymedia fit device, and also check with your dr.

Just some thoughts from someone who struggles too.

(ps - there's a book I thought was excellent - you can probably still get it at amazon - "where did all the fat go" - it's by the doctor from the biggest loser. It's REALLY interesting from a behind the scenes standpoint too. It might help.)

Stop eating crap. Completely. Once you'v experienced some success, are confident that you're permanently on a path to health and fitness, feel free to enjoy some of the crap you're eating now in moderation.

You're not going to be successful if you aren't willing to sacrifice.