Very Frustrated

OP:
Read the links provided for you up thread ^^^^^

Also, read this link and all of the links in it:

(it will take quite a bit of time, but it is worth it)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?page=1#posts-16625920

I should also clarify that I didn't exactly do a "cleanse" to start this thing, it was five days worth of the lemonade/cayenne fast, where I dropped ten pounds pronto. I may try going back to something like 600 calories/day a couple days a week and see if that brings any results...like maybe a couple of hardboiled eggs, some V8 juice and a salad or a can of tuna or something, that should all add up to 600

No. No no no. You dropped a quick ten pounds of water - that's all. And 600 cals a day isn't at all healthy. You'll just lose more water weight (which is temporary) and a crap-load of muscle.

Caveat: Intermittent fasting might work for you. Or the 5:2 method, where you eat low calorie 2 days a week and higher calorie the other 5. I'm not experienced in either, but many folks have good results. Look them up here with the Search function, or search out a Forum Group. Those two methods are the only way I'd condone such low calorie eating.

I really think you're over-estimating your calorie intake and/or exercise burns. The readouts on cardio machines and the database numbers here on MFP are notoriously generous. A heart rate monitor is much more accurate, but useless for weight training. Start with being completely accurate with you intake - get a food scale and use it. In your case, working out your BMR and TDEE and eating about 20% below your TDEE might be easier to stick to. There are online calculators for TDEE - just Google it and you'll find several. Take an average. Try this for 3-4 weeks and see how you do.

If you're being completely accurate with your calorie logging and still not losing weight after a month, it might be time for a doctor's visit to see if there's something else going on. Best of luck!

You diary is closed so hard to say where the problem lies.
But...
You say you are eating 1850 and working out so....
1-Are you eating back what you think you burn and if so, all of it, half of it?
2-Are you trusting the machines/MFP values or do you have a HRM?
3-Are you accurately weighing & measuring your food with a good food scale?

I think that you are doing a great job. Just be careful and don't burn out. As far as the weight, it's simple, your workouts are causing you to gain muscle mass while losing body fat. Go to the gym or MD and get a body fat measurement done. The muscle is heavier than fat so your scale isn't seeing the losses. You know that you're doing all the right things so just keep it up. Then see the body fat measurements show you the TRUE results.

Have you had your thyroid and testosterone levels checked?
By your 50's you will naturally have a slowed metabolism but there are health factors that could slow you down too and your doctor can do blood tests to make sure you aren't working against a health issue that you don't know about.
When you eat as many calories as you burn your weight stays the same. If you had 500 uneaten calories at the end of everyday, in theory you would lose a pound per week. So are you eating every calorie you are allotted per day or leaving at least 500 uneaten?

Good grief (not to you, OP, but some of the responses).

1. MFP sets you up with a deficit when you sign up, if you told it you want to lose X amount of weight. So, your 1800 ALREADY INCLUDES A DEFICIT to lose weight. Do not eat below that 1800.

2. Buy a scale, weigh your food, log it all. If you are not doing this, you are probably eating more than you think and are not in a deficit.

3. Log in your exercise. Do not use the machine's calorie burn, use MFP's, or get an HRM (cardio only, not lifting) - those are still estimates, but I wouldn't use the machine's.

4. Eat anywhere from 50-75% of those exercise calories BACK (though some people can eat 100% and still be fine). This maintains the, hopefully, healthy deficit you asked MFP for when you started. (This does NOT mean you are eating to maintain your weight, you are still eating at a deficit. Ignore people who do not understand MFP's setup and claim eating exercise calories means you are eating to maintain.)

5. In the alternative, use the sexypants link that someone provided, and use that as your calorie goal instead. In that method you do not eat your exercise calories back because they are already accounted for.

6. You do not need to exercise as much as you are. If you want to because you enjoy it, great. But, you don't need to. Exercise for health, for body comp, for fun, if you want to eat more. But you don't HAVE to exercise as much as you are if you are logging accurately and eating at a deficit.

Be consistent for at least around 4-6 weeks. If no change, then it's time to look at something else that might be happening.

You need to do some research online and educate yourself. You aren't giving your body what it wants and needs and until you do educate yourself, you're not going to get very far.

You already have some good advise here but I just want to add one thing .
Make sure you are drinking enough water .
I feel like my weight loss stalled because I was not drinking enough water - maybe I'm wrong but at least this advise couldn't hurt :bigsmile:

And good luck !

Are you weighing your food?

If not, you could be eating more than you think.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

This goes along the lines of if you're not losing weight you're not in a deficit. Weighing your food and logging it as accurately as possible ensure that you are in fact in a deficit. If you're in a deficit, you will lose weight, barring any medical issues.

Also read this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

There's alot of good information to be had in both links. Read them thoroughly and put what's written into practice.