Shouldnt I be losing more?????

Is 1200 cals per day what MFP recommended for you?

From looking at your food diary, it looks like there are several things you can tweak.

1) You should not be skipping meals.
2) You are hardly eating any fruits and vegetables. Add these to every meal.
3) Your meals are very heavy in starchy carbs and processed foods.
4) You need to drink alot more water.

Good luck. Don't give up!

I noticed a few things you could work on:

1) Don't skip meals
2) Eat some vegetables (not sure I saw a single one in the past week)
3) Try not to have so many sugary snacks (chocolate bars, marshmallows, etc.). Instead try yogurt, cheese/crackers, fruit, veggie.

1/2 pound weight loss per week is perfectly acceptable by the way. My thought is that if you lose too much, too fast it's harder to keep off.

You're sugar intake is almost always in the red...try cutting down on sugary foods as they are just empty calories... hope you start seeing more losses soon! Best of luck!

I kinda noticed your sodium intake is in outer space, and thats whats doing you in............so much processed foods,you have very llittle vegetables and fruits, and when you continue to eat processed foods, not only are they laidened in salt, but lots of sugars.......

you have to eat more fruits and vegetables. I had no idea that processed foods had so much salt/sodium and sugars............Best of luck, Lloyd

The 1200 seems very low for someone that has 84lb to lose. You might want to check your settings.

No matter what your size, MFP will only give you a maximum to lose 2lbs a week. Are you weighing and measuring your portions or eyeballing them? Are you capturing every little thing? This won't have to go on forever, but you're adjusting the way you think about it. The little things add up to a lot and for the the first 3 months I weighed and measured everything - ketchup, etc.

You will see more progress for sure if you change to whole foods - and cut out a lot of the bad stuff, but I've seen people do it on junk (you won't be healthy though...the healthy foods give us vitamins and minerals that the junk is lacking). You'll be more tired, more moody and won't be able to tone effectively without the right balance of foods.

Water is the magic cure that helps us rid our bodies of toxins and things that are in overabundance in our bodies. It is really important to the way you look and feel to make sure you're drinking at least half your body weight (lbs) in ounces. I'm at around 230 and so I try and get in 14 glasses every day (at least, that's my goal. I'm happy if I get at least 9 and as much as 18).

Just from quickly glancing at the past several days of your diary, I can offer the following advice:

Try to get in more fruit and vegetables. It is recommended to get at least 5 (1/2 cup) servings each day. If you are not a veggie or fruit lover, that is hard. Even if you are eating just a few different fruits and veggies that you like, that is better than none at all.

Water, water, water. Drinking water is one of the best things you can do for yourself. You will feel better, and staying hydrated will give you a more accurate weight on the scale from day to day (or week to week) because your body will not be holding on to as much water weight.

If you are not already doing so, Weigh and Measure everything that you can. Portion sizes tend to creep up on us and before we know it, what used to be a cup serving is now two!

Try to choose high fiber, lower calorie foods. You will find that you actually get to eat more food this way. I always try to determine what is the best bang for my buck calorie wise. Would I like to eat a plate of french fries and then starve myself the rest of the day, or opt for the baked potato or steamed vegetables and still be able to have a nice dinner? All in all, like others have said, the less processed the food, the better.

Also, since our stats are kind of similar, I would up your daily calorie intake to 1300 or 1400 for a week and see what happens. I know it sound counterproductive, but you might just need to eat a little more.

Finally, you didn't put these pounds on overnight so it will only be a let down if you believe that they will come off that fast. 1/2 to 1 pound is a great goal for each week. I've also found that just setting pound goals rather than an actual time limit has been much better for me. That way I am not feeling overly disappointed - I know I'll get there eventually.

Good luck. You can do this!

Lots of great feedback here so the only thing i'm going to add is that you might want to change your settings so that you see how many carbs you are consuming daily. It's good see to see the carbs, proteins and fats. I know you can only pick so many things and you have your sugar, fibre and your sodium too, so you'd probably have to drop one of those out. The only one I can think of that would be fibre as you do need to watch your sugars and sodium with your current diet. I switch mine up every week or so, always keeping my carbs/proteins/fats and then adding a couple of others to see how i'm doing. and you can also just switch it, then run back through your diary to review and switch back. Just a thought. Keep at it, you'll get there!

Lots of great information on here as I am new to this as well. I especially found it helpful all the comments about water intake! I didn't know you should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in ounces each day!

Thank you.