beating a dead horse but what am I doing wrong?

Healthy food does not have to be tasteless. stock up on herbs and spices, look up recipes, educate yourself. You can't go all your life without learning to cook, Best time to learn is while you are young, if you don't learn to cook then would you feed your kids takeouts in the future? Cooking is fun man, you just gotta learn how to.

I see huge gaps in your diary...no lunches logged, lots of dinners not logged some days over, some days way under (ie 1000)

There is typically a few reasons people don't lose weight.

Over estimate calories burned

Under estimate calories in

You say you use a food scale but if you don't cook...
You say you use a HRM but for what? Daily activity or exercise? and does it have a chest strap?

To be blunt you are probably doing both...I have a sedentary job, lift weights, and eat 1600 a day and I lose weight...so no reason you can't if you are active and only eating 1500 a day.

Hi Rachel!

I did a quickie calculation for you for your TDEE on the scooby calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
You can also do it for yourself there, or you can try the more mathematical way discribed here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Here's the info I got based on the stats you posted:
BMR: 1494
TDEE: 2316
TDEE-20%: 1852

I used the following criteria to get these results:
3-5hrs per week of moderate activity
Lose fat - 20% calorie reduction

Based on those parameters, your basal metabolic rate is 1494, so you basically should never be netting under that amount. Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is 2316. That's how many calories you would eat to maintain your current weight.
1852 is your TDEE minus 20%. This is the amount of calories you need to consume to lose weight.

You would therefore change your calorie intake on MFP to 1800cals daily. With the TDEE method, you don't eat back your exercise calories as that's already taken into account with the first parameter. Also, you need to recalculate your deficit every 5-10lbs lost seeing as your intake needs will change as you lose. Try the 1800cals for 4-6weeks...if at the end of that 4-6 weeks you are either still gaining or maintaining, then subtract 100cals and try the new amount for another 4-6 weeks. Keep subtracting 100cals if needed until you find the amount that shows a 1lb/week loss or thereabouts.

If you feel that you are more active than the 3-5hrs per week I chose to use, feel free to recalulate using the activity level you believe you are at. I would not include your work stuff because that's basically just life living and isn't really strenuous enough to be considered exercise (though sometimes I'm sure it feels otherwise!).

Concerning what areas of your body to measure.
The waist and hips is definitely not enough. Especially seeing as waist and hips may not be where you're losing right now. We can't spot reduce and so you may well be losing on your arms, chest, thighs or calves...heck, even your neck and face may be responding. The measurements I take are my arms, over bust, under bust, waist, hips, thighs and calves. I also take pictures wearing the same bikini approximately once a month to track visual progress...I shoot front, side and back. These two things are more important than the scale...they really are. I've gone 4 weeks at the same scale weight and yet 4" were nipped off my waist in that time and the same at the bust with about 2" lost on the other parameters each.

Seeing as you're obviously extremely busy, I would suggest that you take one morning a week before getting ready for the day to weigh and measure yourself...at most it takes 10 minutes to do. You can log your measurements through the Check-In link if you aren't already. First thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom, weigh yourself and then measure. You can choose whichever day is most convenient for you, but try and be consistent and use that same day for all your measuring.

I don't think you'll have to cut out your cream and sugar for your coffee...I sure don't! I would drink water instead of the soda though...it'll actually quench your thirst instead of making you thirstier. If you like flavoring, get something like Mio and add a squirt in now and then. Just measure how much you squirt!

Good luck on your journey!