Eating calorie goal and not loosing

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You may not be eating enough. I am 5'7, 25yo and 186lbs, I eat closer to 1800 calories a day. (I go by TDEE -500 calories).

5lbs in a month isn't bad at all, and that's assuming you started on May 1st.
Do you have a food scale, and are you using it for EVERYTHING? That '3/4 cup' measurement on your cereal is not the same as 28 grams. Weighing is always more accurate for solid foods.
If you open your diary so we can see it we can give you better advice.
Macros are individual nutrients, specifically fat, carbs, and protein. MFP gives you a baseline for these and you should ideally stay under fat and carbs and meet or exceed protein.

Time of month and starting a new exercise plan can cause some water retention. It will go away in a few days.

The answer is really simple (honest but harsh). Barring a genuine hormonal disease (<1% population), you're simply eating more than you're burning.

Yes, it might be organic, low fat, fair trade and taste like cardboard. "eating more" is rarely the solution to lose weight - the "starvation mode" is completely misunderstood: you don't stop losing weight upon a massive caloric deficit: you simply lose weight more slowly. If you have other goals (like athletic performance), then you might not be able to sustain a large deficit. Otjherise, just a matter of being disciplined.

The obvious is to measure accurately what you eat. By mass (weight). It's a pain to measure everything, but it's more of a pain to not get results. You have a long term plan and your physical activity seems modest - I wouldn't eat back my calories (e.g. my commute is 1/2 hour on the bike. I don't track it).

That said, weight loss is not linear. It takes time and is stochastic (highly variable). Some weeks might be zero, some weeks might be lots. And rarely do you see a trend that doesn't have daily fluctuations.

Keep up the good work, monitor what you do. Increase the accuracy of your tracking if needed - this includes professional help if it gets there. I had problems losing some weight because my BMR is lower than the average used in the models, but really if I was more diligent in the tracking

My best advice: GET to understand TDEE and BMR. It's pretty simple, and it will change a lot about what you think you know about nutrition. Being new isn't an excuse that will fly here for very long. Do a little homework and educate yourself about it. There is a search function here on the forums that can lead you to some really great information and resources.

Looking at your diary.. It's been 2 1/2 weeks. Be patient. The weight isn't going to magically come off, it's going to take time and effort. I honestly think you're doing OK, but you need to give it time.

Knowing is half the battle.

Lets say you don't understand all the specifics of the numbers but you're pretty much ball park on them. Stick to a "diet" for 2 weeks... 6 meals that include chicken and rice... for two weeks straight you follow the same diet and workout regimen... guess what you gained 1lb...

the next 2 weeks do the same exact thing but take out 1 cup of rice (out of the 6).. and lets say you lost that pound.. well now you found out the amount of food/calories that will get you losing weight...

every time you stop losing weight you take out 1 cup of rice...

^ do not follow this as it is not an example based on anything but its really that simple..
Gain weight = Caloric surplus
Lose weight = Caloric deficit

Shoot me a PM i'll walk you through some stuff if you want

Loose means not tight or free from constraint.
To lose means to fail to: (1) keep (2) win or (3) make money.

I just checked your diary and you are eating a lot of processed foods, dump the starbucks and the special k bars- expensive and empty calories, go for bulk and healthy. Eat some fruit for snacks, apples are great and tea would be better than the stuff at Starbucks. You could probably cut back on the salad dressing also, are measuring that amount out?

I just did a google search for something that a nutritionist said to me, "There’s an old saying that goes like this: Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, and eat dinner like a pauper. The idea behind this is that having the biggest meal of the day in the morning provides energy for the workday. In addition, the calories in foods eaten earlier in the day are processed more efficiently than those in foods eaten at night. The benefits of eating this way include not only more energy for work or school but also weight loss. And, interestingly, a recent research study seems to support this idea. ( http://health.yahoo.net/experts/diabetescheckup/eating-breakfast-king)

I love that old saying. yes you're right a lot of processed foods do seem to be the cause but that's not really the issue here. There's tons of people out there losing weight eating McDonalds 3 times a day as long as they're eating under they're TDEE

The thing about processed foods is that most of them have a lot of sodium and that could cause you to be retaining unwanted water... think about it .. do you honestly think that losing weight on a McDonalds diet will have you looking as good as a diet with mostly "clean food"

I do believe that calories in vs calories out is the way to go .... I also think that the food that the calories come in from is important..

I can eat carbs from white bread and I'll get bloated but when I eat them from brown rice I don't get as bloated and I feel better during my workout