Becoming very disheartened :(

Have your measurements changed? ie, are you losing fat and building muscle?

Healthier eating doesn't necessarily mean a calorie deficit. Some healthy foods are incredibly calorific, like hoummus and nut butters. And fruits are high in sugars, so a tropical fruit salad, although healthy, can take you over your goals. Weigh and log your food and see what happens. Good luck.

Hi Helen

If you've gone from virtually no exercise to quite a bit you may be retaining some fluid. It's very early days yet! I know it's discouraging to not see the scales move, but if you are weighing and measuring your food, logging everything, and doing some exercise it will happen. Also, doing body measurements is a really good idea, sometimes the scales aren't moving, but you will be losing inches.

1. go here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html and enter in your stats. Make sure you choose the correct fitness level. Take the number it gives you and multiply that by 0.85, that will be your calorie goal. Go into goals and hit change goals, and choose custom. Enter in your daily calorie goal. Then change your carbs to 40%, your protein to 30-35% and fat to 25% - 30%. And try that for a few weeks. After you lose 5 lbs, recalculate your calories. Since you don't have a lot to go, do it every 5 lbs and see how that does for you. I prefer a higher fat diet, but see what you like and adjust accordingly. Get rid of the 1200, because as you lose you will need to drop calories, and you don't want to drop to nothing.

How close to working out do you weigh yourself?

Working out will "plump your muscles" for lack of a better term and, ancedote, I am always heavier if I weigh myself within two/three hours of a good workout.

Something worth remembering is that your weight can fluctuate due to things such as water retention, food mass and even after you exercise from up to 10lbs. Try not to weigh yourself too often, perhaps only once a week or once a month considering menstruation can also build up water retention, but a reminder that it only tends to be temporary and does not effect weight loss.
I had a similar problem, I was losing some weight and then "gaining" more back although at that point I was weighing myself everyday - not a good idea! But the thing to remember is that if you know you doing all the right things, then generally speaking you can't logically go wrong.
Good protein foods - lean meat and fish (salmon tends to be popular), eggs, non-fat Greek yogurt, cheese (kept in moderation), 1-2tbsp peanut butter and 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese is supposedly ranked one of the best for it's high protein content per serving.