I am stressing! Help Please!

I have been eating a banana for breakfast...and drinking close to 10 16.9 oz of water daily... I eat fish or chicken with a steamed vegetable for lunch... and then another banana a few hours later...then an apple...then some sunflower seeds... possibly some blueberries and cucumbers as well...just snacks throughout the day....then at night I eat chicken or fish with a veggie and like some whole wheat rice... but I have been trying to eat smaller portions. I don't know. I certainly do not what to be unhealthy about this... I just want to be comfortable in my own skin again! I thought I could diet to get to the size I would like and then just be careful and monitor it... I normally eat McDonalds 3 times a week...and eat very unhealthy....cookies before bed... chips...sodas... so just not eating all of that stuff and exercising is a huge deal for me. haha! I appreciate all of your advice and help! You guys make me feel not so alone!

Congratulations on changing your eating habits for the better. Good job!

Since you haven't specifically said you have a food scale I would suggest getting one as soon as you can. Weigh all of your solid food, even your banana in the mornings. Measure all of you liquids as well. I will weigh any sauces that have a weight on the serving size. Accurate logging makes a huge difference in long term success.

Then weigh yourself, pick a day as your weigh in day and weigh yourself once a week first thing in the morning after you pee with very little clothes on. Don't do it tomorrow after you enjoy tonight though because you may be retaining water because of the sodium from the yummy foods you will be enjoying.

Then go back into your MFP settings and set it up to lose no more than 1lb a week like someone else mentioned (when you get down to 10lbs to lose change it to 1/2 a week) and change your activity factor to accurately reflect your exercise. That will give you your daily goal for calories, eat that plus at least 1/2 of your exercise calories as MFP overestimates calories burned during exercise. MFP will ask you to readjust your goals after 10 lbs lost, do that.

The goal is not to drop pounds quickly but to make a lifestyle change so you can keep them off so slow and steady wins the race. Good luck!

And have fun and enjoy tonight.

Stop stressing.

Set a more reasonable calorie goal. 1200 calories is NOT enough for a person your size. I'm about the same height and weight as you, but twice your age, and I lose weight just fine on 1600-1800 calories.

You don't need to be miserable and avoid things you enjoy in order to lose weight.

Dear "I am stressing!"
I started on my latest journey two weeks ago. Over the weekend, we had two get-togethers with friends - both were potlucks! I couldn't ask about calories. I worked on portion control instead. I tried a little of everything that looked good, but avoided dessert the first night. I have found over my many years of losing & gaining weight that I simply cannot deprive myself. I find that I go home and binge if I do. ENJOY your brother's birthday, but in moderation. You will find as I did, that you WANT to get back on track. Think of your long term goal! Also, it is VERY, VERY important that you consume all of the calories they say you should. Otherwise, your body is not getting the fuel it needs to succeed. You will not lose weight that way. When you exercise, be sure to replace those calories burned. Your body needs fuel. Best of luck to you!!