Seemed to have plateau'd/valleyed

It's the exercise. Your body gets used to what you're doing after about 30 days, that's why you gotta switch it up. Add resistance training, add one HIIT a week to start, go swimming, etc.

At least you haven't peaked! Without geography, you're nowhere.

tamaeus wrote: »

joinn68 wrote: »

You are 210 lbs, you eat 1200 calories per day and you are not losing? Very skeptical. You are not off by 70/100 cals here. I don't know your stats (gender, height, age) but you are probably off by more like 1000 cals.

You had some issues a while back
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/39107679#Comment_39107679

You should probably go back to the basics OP - Getting started on your path to sexy pants is particularly helpful
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

No, I never said that. I said 1200 is my minimum limit. You know, like if you log your food but don't eat enough, then the app will tell you to eat more before it will let you complete the diary page. For me, that's at 1200. As long as I eat at least 1200, it will let me complete my day.

1200 being your "minimum" so you can complete your diary doesn't really mean anything.. How much are you actually eating? That's the only important number.

If you're not losing weight, you're eating too much. If you're not logging your food accurately, you don't even know how much you're actually eating, but it's obviously too much.

Weigh your food. Log your food. Eat the calorie goal MFP tells you. Viola.

tamaeus wrote: »

I don't weight my food, but I use the food to the best of my ability to guess the calories. Like if I have a cheeseburger from Wendy's, I know that that's about 500. What I eat for dinner I add to that.

That's ... not how this works.

Do you only eat fast food? That's the only way I could see this working like you describe.

tamaeus wrote: »

collectingblues wrote: »

tamaeus wrote: »

I don't weight my food, but I use the food to the best of my ability to guess the calories. Like if I have a cheeseburger from Wendy's, I know that that's about 500. What I eat for dinner I add to that.

That's ... not how this works.

Do you only eat fast food? That's the only way I could see this working like you describe.

No, I don't only eat fast food, but most of the time I do, sadly. I grab a quick bite to eat on the way to work, usually it's a chicken sandwich since I know those are healthier for you than cheeseburgers, though I do occasionally buy a single from Wendy's.

I know, I should avoid fast foods when I'm on this diet.

You don't have to avoid fast food. You do need to understand that the nutrition facts estimates that the restaurants give aren't terribly accurate. A sandwich that's supposed to have 550 calories may have quite a bit more if, for example, the person assembling it used more mayo than the sample sandwich had. Even so, look up each individual thing that you eat and use that website calorie estimate rather than guesstimating. Not all sandwiches are about 500 calories. A chicken sandwich may not have a better nutrition profile than a cheeseburger. The information needs to be researched rather than assumed.

You are consuming more calories than you think you are consuming. It's that simple. How do you get a more accurate intake estimate? Follow the suggestions that have been given. Get a food scale and practice using it in situations where you can. Try to limit the situations where you can't, at least until you get a handle on more accurate calorie tracking.

Counting calories isn't exact but you can narrow things down to be close enough. You aren't there right now but you can get there with practice.