UGH so fed up with myself

You don't need any meal replacements. Create a deficit in MFP, get yourself a food scale and get to counting and logging. That's all it takes. Weight loss is more mental than it is anything else. Don't feel down and don't feel gross. It's not helping. Just get to work.

Just Start Right NOW.

Let go of whatever you did yesterday, and last week and five minutes ago, and just reset.

Log everything. I struggle with the end of the day, after I put my son to bed. I try to make good choices but I always want to eat junk food. On the days I completely mess up, I force myself to log it anyway.

I also try to drink lots of water. It fills me up so I am less hungry. Good luck!

First, it's not WHAT you eat it's how much. So learn how to manage your cravings/hunger/etc and learn to say within your allotted calorie range. This comes with trial and error.

Once you get this under control THEN add in exercise since you don't NEED to exercise to lose weight, it just helps create a larger deficient.

It won't happen instantaneously. If it was easy everyone would be average weight and no one would need MFP.

I agree. It is a mental thing. We have lived so long eating the wrong way that it is not easy to change overnight. Don't give up! I know you said you don't have time to exercise, but the time to do it is when you grab that bag of chips or the rice crispie bars. As soon as you grab wasted calories tell your brain to put them down and then do 100 jumping jacks. I scour exercise forums on instagram and I find exercises that seem fun to me. Consume your time with anything exercise. Get off facebook, put the remote away and study, study, study every which second you can on how to be a success at losing weight. Don't let your mind focus on anything else. YOU CAN DO THIS. We will support you! DON'T give up. Feel free to add me as a supporter. GOOD LUCK!

The only issue I have with this is that those items weren't logged. I see a beautiful log for yesterday, and a complete log already for today that also looks really good! But nowhere were the chips and krispy treats? Eat chips and krispy treats if you need that. There is nothing wrong with eating chips or krispy treats as that is your personal choice. Try working them into your log if you know you want them. That way you can either see how well they can fit into your day if you plan to, or how adding them effects your goal. Chances are you ate them before you started here, and chances are you will eat them again. So log them, put your chin up because you wanted chips and ate chips, and move on! Be accountable to yourself and lose the gross feeling about yourself. I believe the point here (my personal point and mfp) isn't to feel bad about your food choices, but to make you aware of them. That is all, no judgement. I have a friend here (I don't remember which one but if you want you can look through their diaries) who eats pizza, burgers, and shakes practically every day! A few days back another one had ice cream for breakfast! YES! BREAKFAST! ICECREAM! And they are still losing weight! FANTASTIC! Great job for them to work their favorite foods into their goals! Try doing the same! Be kind to yourself, remember that you are already making progress, and congratulations for realizing the shakes aren't working for you. What works for one doesn't always work for the other. Focus on how good it feels having lost 3 pounds, and move forward with your chin up! You can do this!

If you're frustrated by lack of progress, the best thing to do at first is just log what you eat. Don't change your diet, but faithfully write down everything you eat, and if at all possible, weigh it (for solid foods) or measure its quantity (for liquids). Make sure that you choose an accurate item in MFP's database; since users can enter items, there are a lot of inaccuracies.

Once you have an accurate log for three or four weeks, you can look over it for patterns. My log showed me that if I had 300 calories of cereal with lowfat milk for breakfast, I was hungry again by 10:30, but if I had 150 calories of buttered toast, the fat in the butter kept me sated until lunch. That was an easy way to save not only 150 calories at breakfast, but also the extra calories that I would snack on in the morning. You'll find other patterns, too. And you might find surprises, such as the total snack calories you eat.

Armed with your log, you can see about making small, sustainable changes. I used to have a bit of cheese after most meals. Now I have it less often, and I weigh it to ensure it fits in my calorie goals. I would often eat my main course at dinner too fast, and take seconds because I still felt hungry; now I try to eat slowly and take seconds only if I am truly still hungry when the plate is clean.

Big changes are hard to sustain, especially in the long run. Small, incremental lifestyle changes are much easier to deal with, because you're not depriving yourself of anything.

As for exercise: it's not necessary for weight loss. It allows you to eat more without slowing down your weight loss, and it has a slew of benefits for your health. But again, incremental change is good. Park on the far end of the parking lot, or a block or two from your destination. Walk with your kids to a park, or to run errands, or visit their friends. If you're on an escalator, walk up it, or take the stairs. While your kids are at cheerleader practice, walk up and down the bleachers (when that gets easy, you can run up and down them). It's great if you can make time for formal exercise, but adding in those little bits of daily activity can make a huge difference.

Good luck!