I need help...I'm not losing anything :(

I think a lot of people underestimate their serving portions or are just not honest. You can purchase a really inexpensive food scale at Walmart for aroudn 5 bucks.

Practically no protein and a lot of processed/fast foods. Plus not enough food (as you mentioned in your post).

Holy crap-you are not eating enough. You should never ever eat below 1200. You are doing that way too often. Then you are getting a lot of sugar on some days. Your body will go into starvation mode and not want to release that fat. It will start taking from other sources. Please start getting more calories.

I agree with what's been said...you're heavy on the carbs and low on the proteins. I'd try to reverse that. I try to start my day with 30g of protein and at least 20g at each meal with low carb. Check out my diary and see if that will help. And definitely eat more calories in the day!

more water and protein and veggies

what are you doing for exercise?

Add more fruits and vegetables. They provide fullness and little calories. You should also eat something every 2-3 hours. not full meals. Snacks like fruit, veggies, whole grain foods. My health coach turned me on to Triscuit Thin Crips. They only have 3 ingredients and they don't taste too bad. Add a little non fat cheese or a homade veggie dip and it is a great snack and filling. I am all about feeling full. Good luck

Where are the fruit and veggies? Also, you should be drinking more water, especially with your sodium intake being as high as it is on some days.

You're not eating nearly enough. You need to meet your calorie goal every day, you shouldn't be under it. and you need to eat your exercise calories as well. Your body isn't getting enough nutrition to function properly so it isn't letting go of any fat. You are starving yourself. Work on meeting your calorie goal first, then work on adjusting your diet to get more protein.

I was doing pretty much what you're doing - eating 1200 calories per day, plus exercise -- and not losing anything, either. I learned two things from this site: one is that I needed to eat more (about 1400 calories a day), and that I needed to eat 1400 NET calories a day, not absolute calories -- in other words, if I did 300 calories worth of exercise, I needed to eat an extra 300 calories, too. When I started doing that, I started losing weight again and got past the plateau I'd been stuck at for two years.

Until I tried it, I never would have believed that I could be 30 pounds overweight and my body would be in starvation mode (slowing down my metabolism so that I would not lose any weight). But it's working, so I'm converted.

The food is important: it tells your body that you're not starving.

The exercise is also important: it tells your body to burn its fuel, not store it as fat.

Use the program's calculators to find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is; eat at least that many net calories per day (mine is about 1400, which is how many net calories I try for). You're actually burning more than your BMR (your BMR is how many calories you would burn lying in bed all day doing nothing), so eating your BMR puts you in a calorie deficit (more calories being burned than being eaten) but not one that your body equates to "starving." Then maybe you'll start losing weight again.

In other words, stupid as it sounds, you might try eating more, and see if your body starts burning more as a result.

One other note: I don't try to be too exact about calories in/calories out. I figure if I'm within 50 either way, I'm good, and it seems to be working.

Hi; I am in the same boat; I average ll50 to 1300 a day as I can't hit the mark EXACTLY
I have been doing WWatchers sinc e Jan 3rd and gained 9 lbs.
I could have eaten my regular food and stayed the same, but NOOOOOOOOOOO...I had to
eat my 21 points worth and still gained 9 lbs.
So I am trying this log to see if I can spot just what the heck it is that I am
doing wrong and I am UNDER in calories. Go figure.

So if a person is in the desert and not able to eat well, he gains? Thats ridiculous....
I am getting a bit tired of slicing; dicing; measuring and not getting any reaction on the scale.
I walked for 9 days on the beach for an hour each day and just got back and the scale
stays the same.

So buddy; I'll be glad to share your ideas too
Anyone out there?
Dolores

no but eventually his body will stop burning fat and carbs and start eating the protein out of his muscles. So he will continue to lose weight but will be losing muscle and nothing else. And if your are burning through exercise but not eating those calories back you will end up with a deficit going under 1200 for too long. (1300 day in food but burned 400 walking for an hour will put you at 900 net calories - not enough)

A few questions:

What do you drink?
Are you drinking 8 glasses of water?
Are you alcohol free?
Are you exercising?

You are right. You are not eating enough calories. If you do not eat enough calories you body will burn stored glucose, which becomes fat. This is not what you are going for, but you already seem to know this.

Uhhhhhh.... Where are your veggies and fruits?

You are eating a lot of processed foods, which are much harder for your body to utilize. Not eating enough of the right foods, such as lean meats (fish, chicken), veggies, whole grains, fruits, and low fat dairy, will make it difficult for your body to do what it needs to do for optimal health.

The best thing for portion control is the plate method. It's easy... half of your plate is veggies/fruits (preferably green leafy veggies), 1/4 of your plate is lean protein, and the other 1/4 of your plate is whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal, barley). The lean protein should be about the size of a deck of cards, the whole grains should fill half a baseball (or 1/2 cup), the veggies can really have no limit.

You can make it work. It's hard... you know that, but it's doable!

I think everyone has said it.
-More protein
-Eat more
-Less carbs
-More fruit
-More vegetables
-More water (unless you just aren't logging it)

first of all, stop being so scale obsessed, THATS NOT HEALTHY!!!!!!!!!!! Your body from day to day will fluctuate its weight, thats just the way it is. Also, please please please eat more calories. You may not know or feel it, but you are starving youself so your body is holding onto all it gets. Also, since you like the pre packaged or things that already made for you, instead of getting that meal that is microwaved how about taking a walk in the produce section and picking up a fruit bowl. It's already done for you and you will be getting your daily servings of fruit as well.

And on the water note. Now, I'm not going to say go ahead and do this, but I love tea and hate the taste of most bottled, purified, and tap water. My solution is simple. I buy lipton flovored tea bags. They are low in calories and one bag makes a whole pot of tea. I boil my water in a small pot then put the hot liquid into the kettle, drop in a tea bag, let it brew, add one tsp. of sugar and pour me a cup. Thats about 3 cups of water I drank from the tea alone.

And it doesnt have to be tea, there are pleanty of flavored waters out there as well, just got to find something that works for you. Its like when we were younger and our parents wanted to give us some medicine that they knew we would hate. If they could mask it with something else, they did and we never knew the difference.