Having a hard time losing the weight

How accurate is your calorie tracking? Are you tracking EVERYTHING, or are there foods, beverages and condiments that you're discounting because you think the amounts are negligible? Because if you are, you're doing yourself a disservice. Count EVERYTHING as accurately as possible, and stay within a range every day. Binge days will wipe out your progress faster than anything. Weigh and measure yourself often, but analyze your data with long-term goals in mind.

I am a rather sedentary person myself. I hate exercise, so I don't do it. I also eat a lot of fast food and other junk. How do I lose weight? Through math. I make sure that I'm accurately tracking my calories, and I try to stay within the weight losing range as much as I can. I hate estimating calories consumed, so when I have to do that, I try to overestimate them. The good thing about eating so much fast food is that the calorie totals are pretty accurate, at least.

Finding the calorie range that will result in perceptible, steady weight loss takes some trial and error, but you have to be scrupulously honest and diligent about your data tracking. Try not to put off entering your food, do it as soon as you have access to your MFP account. If you've got an app on your phone, input your intake during your meal or just after. Or even before the food arrives, if you want. If you're strict about the numbers, then math will do what math does and you'll lose the weight you want to lose. :drinker:

I am a rather sedentary person myself. I hate exercise, so I don't do it.

One comment on the exercise.... I was the queen of avoiding exercise.... but I will tell you, the fitbit (or any other similar device) has been a life changer.... I track my steps and miles on this thing. I find myself parking as far away from the front door of a store as possible, just to get those extra steps in. I average 18000 steps per day.... more often than not, I do around 25K (around 8 miles).

In fact, this week, and the next two weeks... I am working 16 hour days (I am teaching a night class 4 nights a week after my regular 10 hr/day job). In the course of the day, I have been averaging 8200 steps. My minimum daily goal is 10K.... so, there I am every night at 11 pm walking on the treadmill for that extra 1600 steps... only takes a few minutes, but still....

The point is, once I got over that "hatred" of exercise, I am now finding myself unable to NOT walk every day.... I find that is the one thing that keeps me sane and great to see the extra calories I earn every day through exercising! It has taken me many, many years to figure out this simple concept.... calories in vs calories out... I want to "splurge"??? I walk the extra miles! simple math!

Looks like there are several days in your diary where your net calories are well under 1000. This is not enough to keep your body healthy while losing weight. You need to have adequate fuel, especially if you are working out. If you are tracking calories accurately with a food scale you should be eating ALL the calories in your "budget" each day. I'd recommend setting MFP to .5 or 1 pound a week loss, too. If you have it set for 2, that might be too aggressive a goal if you don't have all that much to lose in the first place.

Thanks everyone, Im actually tracking every little bit i put in my mouth, even if its one piece of candy corn (i had two bits, shoot me its only once a year). I will add the fitbit to my routine and the walking. And yes, the weight every day might not be a good idea...so Ill try to scale (ha ha) back to once a week? I have not binged at all, but I do wish I could have a cheat day. I stopped drinking sodas and sugary drinks, instead im drinking lots of water and tea. My complexion has cleared for sure, and Im not as swollen as I was, but its such a slow go that it seems like its not making a difference. Do you recommend maybe having a veggie shake for dinner? or anything else that might help?

Honestly, what you eat isn't as important as your calorie total, and CONSISTENCY. Starving yourself for several days, then having an 1800 calorie day isn't going to work out so well. Better to be at 1200-1300 every day, and budget your calories for those indulgences. If you know you're going out to eat, try to plan what you'll have beforehand, that helps me a lot. And go lighter on your other meals that day, so you'll have more discretionary calories for a bite of dessert or something. Most menus don't have calorie totals, and alcohol is going to wipe you out too, if you get drinks. I've pretty much abstained from alcohol since I started trying to lose weight, it's just not worth it. I know that doesn't sound very spontaneous, but spontaneity leads to unplanned calories (and pregnancies, but that's a whole other topic). :laugh:

A few things I noticed in your diary:

1.) MFP is set up so that you eat back your exercise calories. So if your goal is 1,200 calories per day (very very low), and you exercise and burn 300 calories, you need to eat 1,500 calories. That is the GOAL. You shouldn't have a goal of 1,200-1,500 and eat 800 calories.

2.) One day you had a glass of wine for dinner, another day you had only salad dressing logged for dinner. Do you plan to eat this way the rest of your life? If not, create a food plan that has a moderate, sustainable deficit. Even though I want to lose 53 more pounds, I set mine up to lose 1 pound a week. I am rarely hungry and I can live like this forever. I eat pizza, wine and chocolate every week, I eat out at restaurants a lot. I work out moderately. I am losing with this plan, but as someone said, it's not linear.