I'm stalling

Since you have already lost a bunch of weight, I think the issue the last month is miscalculations and possibly water retention. Looking at your diary, it seems you weigh many foods, but some that could be extreme differences between weight and cup ie: potato salad, are logged as a cup. You also had "Swimming, leisurely, general minutes 180 calories burned 1,669" that seems like a huge miscalculation.

The reason I mentioned water retention is because your diet seems high in sodium, if you are smaller now your rate of loss could be down to ½lb per week... So 4lbs per month, that can easily be hidden by water retention.

Maybe try the TDEE method and try keeping intake as accurate as possible for the next month, you should see a change then. Best of luck and congrats on your success so far!

You asked for help and multiple people have given you advice or ideas. But since you have an explanation for everything then you obviously don't want to listen to the advice you asked for. Why would people want to take the time to help if you aren't going to listen anyways.

Yeah, I was out of town this past weekend

your fridge was broke, you ate out, etc. etc.

I'm not trying to be a pest, really. But if you want consistent results, you have to be consistent with your habits and logging. I know life happens -- and frankly that's what makes life worth living -- but "estimating" your activity and not eating more consistently is something that could cause issues with not getting consistent results, no matter how "good" you think you've been sticking to your diet.

Just FYI. Try to not be so hard on yourself if you haven't been consistent. Patience. Try to be consistent. Eat a little more. You'll be happier, I promise.

Since you have already lost a bunch of weight, I think the issue the last month is miscalculations and possibly water retention. Looking at your diary, it seems you weigh many foods, but some that could be extreme differences between weight and cup ie: potato salad, are logged as a cup. You also had "Swimming, leisurely, general minutes 180 calories burned 1,669" that seems like a huge miscalculation.

The reason I mentioned water retention is because your diet seems high in sodium, if you are smaller now your rate of loss could be down to ½lb per week... So 4lbs per month, that can easily be hidden by water retention.

Maybe try the TDEE method and try keeping intake as accurate as possible for the next month, you should see a change then. Best of luck and congrats on your success so far!

Yeah, I was out of town this past weekend - no real access to the tools I usually have. I also don't usually drink that much either

I actually swam for over five hours. I logged three of them. I don't think that's unreasonable - especially since a bit of that was swimming laps, and most was horsing around with my kids. I wasn't just sitting on the edge with my feet in.

You asked so a few of us have tried to answer. We can agree to disagree but swimming laps and playing in the water will burn but not that much. I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger and unless you are Michael Phelps you are not burning that.

You said you have only gone over sodium a few times, that does not mean your intake is not high....it just means the goal may be high.

you are on these forums often so I know you know the answer is " if you are eating at a deficient, you lose weight...if not, you don't"

Now it is either miscalculation, not logging everything, high sodium causing water weight to mask fat loss or somehow the birth control pill drastically reduced your TDEE. Those are the only options unless you developed a metabolic disorder and need to see the doctor.

If something stops working, you step back and try something new. TDEE would be a valid option to try.

It could possibly be the birth control since your body has just had a new hormone added to it. Yes, your body makes the hormones, but you've increased the levels in your body by adding the birth control. Your body should start to adjust to the hormone levels it has been experiencing this past month.

You mentioned you hit 1200 a day, is that net or total?

It's total. I know that's not good, and I'm actively trying to bump that number up and eat at least part of my exercise calories back. I have hunger/appetite issues that I'm getting better handling (I'm on medication that has a side effect of suppressing my appetite). My net is usually between 900 and 1000.

You're eating too little to sustain your activity levels.

Yeah, I was out of town this past weekend

your fridge was broke, you ate out, etc. etc.

I'm not trying to be a pest, really. But if you want consistent results, you have to be consistent with your habits and logging. I know life happens -- and frankly that's what makes life worth living -- but "estimating" your activity and not eating more consistently is something that could cause issues with not getting consistent results, no matter how "good" you think you've been sticking to your diet.

Just FYI. Try to not be so hard on yourself if you haven't been consistent. Patience. Try to be consistent. Eat a little more. You'll be happier, I promise.

My refrigerator broke on June 22. The replacement got here on July 1, and we went out of town July 3. So yeah, I had a rough two weeks in there. Lots of other stuff happened in there, too - a stroke, water line break, stove broke, had to replace a breaker, etc. It was a really bad time in general.

You guys have to understand that I have people on here telling me to drink my calories, eat whipped cream, eat a candy bar, etc because meeting my goals is SUPER important. Then I have people criticizing the choices I've made based on the advice of OTHER people on here. It's really actually shi*ty - and I feel like I can't win. Follow the advice of one, get the criticism of another. I lose either way. I'm just trying to do the best I can with the information I'm given.

The point is, I'm under my calorie goal every single day - and I'm active. On the calories in vs calories out formula everyone talks about here I should be losing weight - no? That was really my whole question. Well that and will I adjust to my birth control or should I get off of it.

I know I need to drink more water, I know I need to get back on track with my fruits and veggies, I know I've eaten too much fast food in the past two weeks - but the above calorie point remains.

You really are over complicating it. It is calories in vs calories out for fat/weight loss. You made this post, had a bad 2 weeks.....maybe those 2 weeks are the cause of the stall. Without weighing and measuring you have no idea if you are under calorie goal, then if activity is over estimated that can cause numbers to be even more off. When ever a stall happens 99% of the time a number is off somewhere.

Serious question, you do not seem to be a vegetarian but going back a month I saw very little meat. Having your macros in check can work wonders for fitness, health and body composition.

Nobody is trying to insult you, you posted....people answered but you have a reason for why everyone is wrong. You may not have heard what you wanted, that doesn't mean everyone else is wrong.

As for listening to advice, research on your own. A calorie is a unit of energy, energy follows certain laws. Your body works on thermodynamics. If you eat at a deficient and your body needs more energy to function it will pull what it needs from reserves (fat & or anything else it can burn if needed). If you consume maintenance calorie, your energy expenditure vs consumption equals out....weight stays the same. If you consume extra your body will store the rest to use when needed, you gain fat.

Not eat TDEE consume TDEE minus 750 calories to lose 1.5 lbs per week. Do not eat exercise calories back, that takes out the room for error with logging exercise.

She's right and has given you tons of great advice.
I can easily gain 10lbs of weight in 2 weeks time, so it's definitely possible it you weren't logging accurately/stressed/out of town/whatever.
I can tell you that you need to be eating more than 1200 calories a day. Some days it may seem as though you don't go over, but you might actually go over because some entries in MFP are bad. Always add up your carbs, fat, and protein to get an accurate calorie count.

Carbs = 4 calories/gram
Protein = 4 calories/gram
Fat = 9 calories/gram

So say you ate 200g of carbs, 50g of protein, and 75g of fat one day. 200*4= 800 calories from carbs 50*4= 200 calories from protein and 75*9 = 675 then add them all together to get 1675 total calories.

Just something helpful if you find that you are stalling. Some great advice has been given already though.

I've never been a big eater. I would eat a light breakfast, and then eat a regular dinner, and that was it. I got fat by drinking my calories, so this is all very new to me. I'm trying.

So drink some more calories. Milk. Coconut milk. Protein supplement shakes. I love me some homemade green juice. So chock full of vitamins... I don't know what to do with myself.