This is hopeless..... :(

Yes, eat back your exercise calories. MFP does overestimate a bit IMO, so eat back 2/3 or whatever you feel comfortable with eating back. I never eat back less than half, though I use a HRM, which isn't 100% accurate! either! but it's more conservative than MFP estimates.

This link, instead, may help you to set your calories right and help you understand why eating back exercise calories is important. It helped it click for me (well, an earlier version of it did).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Edited because my ticker makes it look like I haven't lost that much. I lost over 100 lbs after my first baby in 2011 and was super fit. I had medical issues during my second pregnancy that caused me not to be able to exercise, and my eating went to *kitten*, so I have a lot to lose all over again. My baby is almost 11 months old, but I'm breastfeeding this time, which, contrary to popular belief, can cause your body to not let go of weight, even if you're doing everything "right" (and eating too little --> body stops producing milk). Just a clarification that my ticker belies my knowledge of successful, healthy weight loss

Okay, so I see the post and I am in the process of calculating. I work in Finance and I love math, so I will definitely do this. But can you please explain why I should eat my calories back? Just the logic behind it, and not the math? I usually catch onto things pretty quickly, but this weight-loss stuff is hard.

Slow weight loss is better. You have already set a deficit so you do t want exercise to produce an even better deficit. Don't think of exercise for weight loss but for health and a better body composition.

Yes, eat back your exercise calories. MFP does overestimate a bit IMO, so eat back 2/3 or whatever you feel comfortable with eating back. I never eat back less than half, though I use a HRM, which isn't 100% accurate! either! but it's more conservative than MFP estimates.

This link, instead, may help you to set your calories right and help you understand why eating back exercise calories is important. It helped it click for me (well, an earlier version of it did).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Edited because my ticker makes it look like I haven't lost that much. I lost over 100 lbs after my first baby in 2011 and was super fit. I had medical issues during my second pregnancy that caused me not to be able to exercise, and my eating went to *kitten*, so I have a lot to lose all over again. My baby is almost 11 months old, but I'm breastfeeding this time, which, contrary to popular belief, can cause your body to not let go of weight, even if you're doing everything "right" (and eating too little --> body stops producing milk). Just a clarification that my ticker belies my knowledge of successful, healthy weight loss

Okay, so I see the post and I am in the process of calculating. I work in Finance and I love math, so I will definitely do this. But can you please explain why I should eat my calories back? Just the logic behind it, and not the math? I usually catch onto things pretty quickly, but this weight-loss stuff is hard.

I'm sorry; I spoke too soon. Whether or not you eat them back actually depends on how you calculate your calorie goal. (Confused yet?)

For the examples below, let's assume you want to do TDEE -20% (as explained in the link) for maximum suggested speed of weight loss. (Scooby' site is a great place to calculate your TDEE, and I think that link I gave you has a link to it. If not, Google "Scooby TDEE calculator.")

Assume you calculate your TDEE at a sedentary or lightly active setting as 2500 calories, then your TDEE -20% is 2000 calories. So you should eat 2000 plus any exercise calories because 2000 already accounts for a pretty significant deficit per day (500 calories). Not eating them back may put your net below your BMR, which you shouldn't do. (Your BMR is what your body would use to maintain bodily functions if you were literally comatose. You need to eat over your BMR for your body to function properly - and we want you to lose weight healthily.)

As a second example, let's say you continue working out pretty regularly like you say you do, you might want to calculate your TDEE using a different setting, like "very active." In that case you would set your TDEE -20% and don't eat back exercise calories because your TDEE has already compensated for your regular workouts. Let's say your TDEE set at very active is 3000 calories, so less 20% is 2400. You'd eat 2400 calories regardless of your workout that day, unless you wanted to eat a little less on rest days (that's up to you, frankly).

Exercise allows you to eat more, it helps strengthen your body and retain muscle as you lose weight (or gain muscle, if you're eating enough for that), plus it's good for you, both physically and mentally.

Both methods of TDEE -20% are valid. You just need to recalculate regularly (every 5-10 lbs) because both your BMR and your TDEE will adjust downwards as you lose weight.

I hope that makes sense and helps!

PS - Former math teacher here, so this method makes me feel all good and number-y

There are some good reads here.
However, in the meantime I say keep doing what you are doing for a few more months!! Track everything you eat and your exercise. I have a feeling you will lose weight but if you stay the same weight, then you have collected some excellent data that will accurately tell you what YOU need to eat to maintain your weight! This is valuable information that will put you in control of your weight goal.

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This is confusing to me. Should I be eating back the calories that lose during the exercise? TBH 1700 is a lot. I feel like I am just eating throughout the day, which of course is good, but sometimes I fee like I am eating too much. I also think that MFP over exaggerates how much you lose when exercising. I mean I go hard during my weight training and Zumba, but it must be closer to 600 calories vs. the 900 it says. I am reading the post that you linked, but I am not understanding it.

Eat half of your workout cals back...that allows for any overestimation

Maybe, just maybe, the FOOD matters.

You seem to be doing really good already so first of all give yourself some credit - its easy to look at whats wrong but redirect your focus. Your clearly commited to this lifetsyle and the stress of it can affect you and your weight. Muscle does weigh more then fat as well.

Try watching "Hungry for Change" its a very powerful documentry and it really inspired me to focus on doing this to be a healther person.

Keep it up and remember its a process

I do not know your lifestyle, so correct me if I am wrong, but either way it is still good information. If there are any alternate views on the information, please share with me.

Your body is always trying to establish equilibrium. You have a routine, and your body knows it. It doesn't want to either lose pounds or gain, so it conforms to your schedule. If you stay in routine, and are anywhere close to your TDEE in caloric intake, you wont lose anything.

Change it up. Workout in the mornings instead of evenings, or vice versa. instead of going on the elliptical, go to a spin class. Instead of lifting on the same two days every week, switch it up every other week. Instead of running on a flat treadmill, walk on an uphill treadmill.

If you change up your physical routine every once in a while, the body will have to change how it uses nutrients. The food is irrelevant (assuming you arent eating 2000 calories worth of hohos).

If anyone wants to add to that, I could use the info as well. I do HIIT on occasion, and I do not have a routine.

P.S.--think of your hormones. Your body knows when you want to go to sleep, so it starts to develop melotonin in the evening, which is the hormone that puts you to sleep. When you wake up, your melotonin levels are almost nil, and stay that way til dinner. Sometimes, if you eat a heavy lunch (or a lighter lunch), your body gets confused because it thinks it is dinner, and that is your "2:30 feeling." So to compare in an analogy, if you work out when the body doesn't expect it, and you workout the muscles that it doesn't expect you to work out, you will have a better chance at losing weight because it has to work harder. You fooled it into thinking that you weren't going to work out.That is how I understand the plateau.