So frustrated. Help?

There is your problem. You are not eating enough for how much exercise you get. Try eating 1200-1300 plus the calories you burn during your exercise. Calories (food) is fuel, your engine will not run right if it is always running on empty. If you eat 1200 and burn 400 calories your body is operating as if you only at 800 calories (1200-400) which is not enough.

PS, I had a chance to look at your diary, you are eating much more than 1200 some days 2000. So your Net calories are 1200-1300 which is good. That being said, how are you calculating your calories burned? If you are not using an HRM you may be over estimating the calories you burn, and if you eat all of them you may be eating too much.

But that's the problem. For three weeks, I have been eating between 1500-2000 calories every day (depending on how many calories I burn working out each day), and I am still stuck at the same weight.

Give it some more time, if you were eating less then all of a sudden started eating more you may even put weight on first. If prior to this increase in intake you were not eating enough your metabolism may have slowed down, so now that you are eating more you burn less than most would at your height, weight and gender. After a few weeks of eating more you will reset your metabolism and your body will get use to the higher intake. Give it time (4-6 weeks) before you make any additional changes.

I just had a look at your diary too .... the thing I noticed most is that "snacks" seem to be a huge portion of your daily calories (often around 750-800 calories with those hershy kisses seemingly a favourite !!). By contrast - your main dinner can often be 300-400 calories.

Whilst I can be "bad" with snacks - I try to ensure that most of my calories are taken up with the 3 main meals of the day.

I just had a look at your diary too .... the thing I noticed most is that "snacks" seem to be a huge portion of your daily calories (often around 750-800 calories with those hershy kisses seemingly a favourite !!). By contrast - your main dinner can often be 300-400 calories.

Whilst I can be "bad" with snacks - I try to ensure that most of my calories are taken up with the 3 main meals of the day.

spreading the calories out evenly is the best for weight loss, large dinners are not so good. I would keep up with the multiple snacks but maybe change what you are snacking on.

I started off at 5'5" and 156 lbs in the beginning of January and am down to 144 now. My main suggestion is to get off the eliptical for a little while and do your cardio in other ways. Dancing (especially Zumba) has been fantastic for me. I walk a lot, but outside where there unexpected steps or obsticles -- I think your body gets used to a certain motion and doesn't exert itself as much. When you start doing different exercises (yoga, pilates, weight training, dancing, lunges/push ups etc) it just seems more willing to burn calories to keep up.

Plus I tend to underestimate the calories burnt. I see people here my size burning 800+ calories in an hour, I don't see how that's possible. My HRMs all say around 200-300 for an hour for different exercises and I'm covered in sweat and can feel my muscles worked.

I started off at 5'5" and 156 lbs in the beginning of January and am down to 144 now. My main suggestion is to get off the eliptical for a little while and do your cardio in other ways. Dancing (especially Zumba) has been fantastic for me. I walk a lot, but outside where there unexpected steps or obsticles -- I think your body gets used to a certain motion and doesn't exert itself as much. When you start doing different exercises (yoga, pilates, weight training, dancing, lunges/push ups etc) it just seems more willing to burn calories to keep up.

Plus I tend to underestimate the calories burnt. I see people here my size burning 800+ calories in an hour, I don't see how that's possible. My HRMs all say around 200-300 for an hour for different exercises and I'm covered in sweat and can feel my muscles worked.

I totally agree! Do something different , you need to keep your body guessing!

I've been been exercising and eating right since about October, and I have lost 14 lbs so far. But since the begining of January, I've been stuck between 155 and 156 lbs (I'm 5'5"). I would eat around 1200-1300 calories each day, and I would go on the eliptical for an hour 2-3 times a week and have ultimate frisbee practice 3-4 times a week. I would also lift weights at the gym 2-3 times a week. But three weeks ago, I started eating my burnt calories back, and I feel better and have been losing inches. The problem is I'm still stuck at 156 lbs! I have no idea what to do anymore. I'm so frustrated. I know losing inches is great, but I really want to start losing weight again. Can anyone please offer me some advice?

Read this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/113609-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner

Listen: if you are maintaining a suitable calorie deficit, exercising regularly including weights and generally eating well then you are losing fat. It may not be at the rate you like or want but it is happening. The fact you are losing inches supports that.

My scale weight fluctuates by about 5lbs over the course of the day due to my hydration levels. Let's say I was losing fat at the rate of a reasonable 0.5lbs per week. It would take 10, yes TEN weeks for the scale number to change to unmask that change. I would look slimmer, my clothes would be looser during that time but the needle would be stuck.

I suggest you use your scale for frisbee practice instead as in isolation your scale weight is pretty much meaningless...

Yes if you were eating too few it probably is going to take more than 3 weeks to get your body's metabolism back into burn mode. Slow and steady replacing fat with muscle will give you lasting results over quick weight drop.

Inches is great if you are weight training you may not be able to go by how you felt at a certain weight because you may weight more at a smaller size if you are building muscle.

My weight is dropping slower than I would expect as well but the inches keep flying off from all the exercise. I'm eating between 1800-2000 calories as well and slowly I'm going back into burn mode. Weeks 1 and 2 I did great 2 lbs each. Then I had two small gains(.4 and .8) before it started dropping again. That is the body making changes to composition which is way more important than what the scale tells you.

I also agree about switching up your cardio. It couldn't hurt.