Getting very, very frustrated!

Two things come to mind here. One is yes, your age. Your metabolism will slow down and it will be harder to lose weight. Two, you don't have that much to lose so it will take longer.

My suggestion would be to switch up your workout routine. Try something new and see if that helps.

Muscle is 7x as dense (I think that is the # I have heard) as fat and also if you are not getting enough to eat your body can go into what my nutritionist called "starvation mode" where it adjusts to burn less because it feels like it is not getting enough to sustain itself.

Your eating looks pretty good I agree with the other poster you might have more lean muscle that is replacing fat leading the weight gain. You might try varying your workouts try something new perhaps to try and jumpstart weight loss. Depending on your height you may be at a good weight now and not really loose much in the way of pounds. Keep at it you should see results eventually.

You seem to be very active and I have to wonder if it's muscle weight that is counter acting the potential weight loss. You might watnt o try increasing your calories into the 1200-1500 range to see if that helps, because if you aren't fueling your body with enough calories, you maybe counteracting the effects of weight loss.

It's really, really annoying actually. I run 4 miles a day, and I was logging EVERYTHING I ate, to the T. I specifically only ate things that had the exact calories, no homemade anything because I didnt want to be off on my calories. I still didnt lose weight, I was running 4 miles a night and only eating 800 cals per day, following the logic that OK, if I dont eat enough I should lose weight.

After killing myself like this for 3 days, I stepped on the scale. UP ONE. I wanted to tear my face off. That's how frustrated I was. Then I decided, that is not the way to go. I DEFINITELY WAS NOT EATING ENOUGH. The whole eating too few calories works, yes, AT FIRST. But then your body gets used to it and conserves its calories and you will not lose weight.

You HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO count your calories, almost be obsessive about it if you want to lose weight. My guess, in all honesty, and especially having 4 kiddies, is that you are eating too much. You arent logging that handful of chips, or that one little cookie here and there. It really does add up. I am meticulous about counting my calories, and sometimes I forget one or 2 little crunch bars I had as a stupid snack. BAM, 140 cals that I forgot about. This is all very very annoying, BUT, HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?! If you want it, you will do it. Don't give up, so not worth it. Hang in there momma! Good luck.

Are you using a heart rate monitor to get an accurate picture of how many calories you are burning? You didn't mention it, but if you are eating your exercise calories and those are based on the MFP estimates, that might be part of it.

Having said that, I agree that you have likely replaced fat with muscle. Your clothes fit better...you look leaner...you don't have far to go to begin with...those are all good things. Actual lbs lost is misleading anyway. I have lost 37lbs, but that is not an accurate measure of what is really going on. I could retain 5lbs of water tonight. What really counts are the other ways we measure. I have moved up 3 notches on my belt, my endurance level is waaaaay up and I feel really good most of the time. That is a HUGE improvement over where I was when I started in January. We put far too much emphasis on the actual number on a scale. It pretty much is meaningless if you think about it.

Stick with it! I bet all those logged in meals has kept you focused and that is important. I got really fat by not keeping track of it! Good luck!!!

I do not mean for this to sound rude AT ALL but if you don't really look any different and all your clothes still fit the same then why are you so frustrated/ worried about the gain? Maybe the gain is just a hormonal or age thing? Also, with your height, 128 might just be too low for your body! That's very lean for 5' 7. I know everyone is different and has their own comfort zone for their weight so I am not judging you at all but just trying to encourage you that maybe you shouldn't worry so much about the acutal number if really everything else is seeming ok. Hang in there and good luck!!

Without going into your diary I will repost what has helped many make it happen, this comes from my blog;

1) Eat breakfast try to gun for 30% protein, the reasoning is that it will raise the metabolic rate and get you started off right. Look at my diary to get an idea of what I do to make that happen. If you are pressed for time do a protein shake with some fruit and fiber mainly flax seed. Add a slice of rye or really nice grainy bread with some good peanut butter and you are off to a great start with a 5 minute breakfast. Make sure you eat this within 30 mins fo waking.

2) Carbs and fats are not your enemy, refined carbs and saturated fats are, these 2 create a vicious cylce that peak insulin response which you do not want to do. You want a steady slow release of sugars to keep your energy up and cravings down. Carbs coming from lentils, legumes, veggies are your friends. There are great links that list all the slow releasing carbs I do not have room here to list them all.Get good fats into you, nuts are great for that as well as olive oil, macadamia nut oil and fish. I highly recommend getting omega 3s into you as well as salmon and tuna, all great foods.

3) Every meal should be a carb and protein, it will satiate your apetite longer and keep the body happy. However with that said I gun for at least 3 servings of veggies a day, spinach, broccoli, green peppers, mushrooms (this is a fantastic one especially for women but make sure they are cooked for the max vitamin D)

4) Snacks, get almonds into here as well as peanuts and pumpkin seeds, the pumpkin seeds have many benefits including a positive libido hit. Flax seed is also fantastic I recommend getting that into your shake in its ground form or into an omelet.

5) teas or coffees, get cinammon or honey into them if you need sweeteners both are far better choices than creamers (these can contain some deadly crap in them that I would not dare let pass my lips) honey has huge health benefits and cinammon is a natural blood sugar stabilizer just do not exceed 1.5 tsps/day.

6) go for quality not quantity in the diet, remember feeding muscles requires that you keep an excess of protein, good fats, and vitamins in the body, building muscle needs even more of the basic building blocks. Eating to few cals makes it turn on itself for these needs which you want to avoid at all costs and is the sole downfall of 90% of the diets out there, they deprive the body I want you to feed it and do it right.

Clean eating, I made no secret of the fact that I advocate it, it has all the building blocks needed for a healthy body even without exercise, consider exercise to be the icing on the cake. It will help you improve upon the basic building blocks you have and if you built a strong foundation the rest of it will be strong. So get that into your head that to succeed you must feed the body.

Helpful links that I use regularly;

http://www.beachbody.com/category/michis_ladder.do

eating off the top 2 tiers makes you a saint so long as 80% of the diet is in there then the last 20% will not hurt you, do not treat that as a licence to go nuts though but I highly recommend splurging once every 3 weeks unless you have hit a wall in that case do it once every 2 weeks.

http://fourhourbodysupplements.com/2010/02/slow-carb-diet/list-of-slow-carb-foods/

list of slow carbs for you to resort to.

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/body-fat-percentage-calculator.php

bodyfat calculator, get it into your head that the scale is not the way to track fat loss measurements are. The scale is the greasy car salesman of the weight loss world, it only tells you half the story. If I had to recommend one thing to do when you start its take measurements and a before pic. I recently replied to a post about eating your exercise cals I think it may be beneficial to those who are unsure about eating back the workout cals.

think of it like driving a car, you have a limited amount of gas before the car starts to break down. The calories or fuel that mfp gives you will get you to your destination driving at 80 mph. Now think of exercise as getting you there at 120 mph but not stopping for fuel means that the tires get worn down faster, the car will break down easier and in the end will explode. The body is the car, the calories are the fuel, the tires are your muscle without proper fuel they break down and in the end the body feeds off itself. The point of the exercise is to increase the metabolic rate (the speed at which you can safely drive) not to burn off the fuel (calories)

Just 1 year ago I was at 128 (I am 5'7") and now I am at 138... a good 10 lb gain. I am 41 years old (maybe that has something to do with this??)

Your BMI is in the really healthy range, so I'm confused as to why you want to lose 10lbs. With your age and the fact that you said you feel leaner, I think you're doing great. Just using some different BMI calculators online I feel like if you lose 10lbs you'll be underweight. I am no expert, but I'd focus more on toning than losing weight since your BMI is already pretty much the ideal.

Why do you care about the number on the scale if you look and feel great?