When will the weight start coming off?

This is a very helpful flowchart created by @lemonlionheart. Perhaps you might find some help here.

at 5'3" and 138 lbs you are in the healthy BMI range for a woman.

what is your goal?

When you're eating at a true deficit. Maybe look into tightening up your weighing & logging of foods.

megan4709 wrote: »

Or maybe you are not eating enough? 1000-1200/ day is under what u need to lose weight. Try staying around 1300 and add a little exercise?

You're actually telling someone that isn't losing to eat more?
OP, NO. This is wrong.

I can share what's been working for me so far. I'm five feet tall, 56 years old, and in December was 134 pounds. As of today, I'm hovering between 111 and 110 pounds. It took the half year to get this far - 110 is my goal. It's been slow but very steady. I'd say that at the start, about .5 - 1 pound per week or so. I started to notice things getting nicer at around the 127 pound point.

The logging on MFP helped a great deal. I confess I have no scale, so I must have just been lucky so far . I have kept my portions on the small side. What I have been doing is trying to get as much protein and fiber as possible, as well as minerals, vitamins, etc. This was important to me because this journey started with a very unsatisfactory blood test and pretty high blood pressure. Both procedures are much more stable now!

1. Fear not the calorie: Keep to the caloric allowance but don't go crazy.
2. Enjoy the meals. For me, this is very important. I don't eat while working or when under stress. I schedule a time to eat; I bring my Kindle, or join my family and friends. For me, food is about nourishing on as many levels as I can build in.
3. Learn about the ingredients, and cook/prepare your meals: play! It turns out that I'm very interested in seeing how and where the food goes: "wow, look at that salt in there, and lookie, there's a nice heap of fiber"; "ooh, balancing A with B ends up with some tasty and nutritious stuff".

I would suggest cutting down on your carbs and increasing your exercise. You could try walking each day, doing a online fitness video or just running up and down the stairs a few times.

jumping rope is excellent cardio.

And I would say eat a few extra calories, I lost 60 lbs and it wasn't from eating bare minimum calories, although you're petite you still need atleast 1200 calories if not more for your body nutritional needs and function. Hope this helps

ajc1309 wrote: »

Unfortunately I can't afford to be too picky with what I eat. Processed food is a lot cheaper. Yes, I weight what I eat.

I have previously lost 4 stone by not cutting foods out and just exercising daily on an exercise bike. I found that cutting out food that I ate daily didn't help at all.

I can feed a family of five, healthily, for £45 (£9 per head) per week. A year ago, I wouldn't have been able to say that! I didn't believe it was remotely possible but with clever meal planning and conscientious purchasing, it is. If you're not confident in cookery, taking a course in nutrition and cooking might be a positive way forwards?

ajc1309 wrote: »

Unfortunately I can't afford to be too picky with what I eat. Processed food is a lot cheaper. Yes, I weight what I eat.

I have previously lost 4 stone by not cutting foods out and just exercising daily on an exercise bike. I found that cutting out food that I ate daily didn't help at all.

We change. Besides, without exercise, you body is likely to use those calories and nutrients you do eat in a different way and more slowly than when you are exercising.