Need help and friends

Hi Sheri!

So sorry about your diagnosis, but I think it's awesome that you're here.

What the scale says isn't always reflective of the amount of fat you've lost, because as women, we tend to hold on to water weight. For example, I had a night of heavy drinking right before my period and I woke up the next morning a whole 8 lbs heavier than the day before! The phenomena of "whooshing" is very real, where you can hold on to water weight for a time and then suddenly get rid of it all in a "whoosh" for a noticeable drop in weight.

Weighing yourself daily to calculate an average for the week is the way to go. Don't stress the fluctuations.

That being said, it sounds like you're not eating at enough of a deficit. A calorie deficit is %80-90 of your weight loss. Exercise is secondary and not even nescessary. If you've input all your stats here on MFP, and it's given you a caloric goal for the day, and you're not exceeding your limit, you need to either lower your goal by lowering your reported daily activity level, or take a really good look at what you're logging and making sure it's accurate. One of the biggest barriers to weight loss is self reporting, and unless you have a food scale and are weighing and measuring and logging everything, it is REALLY easy to underestimate the size of your portions. It's also really easy to snack on something minor, not log it because you think it's insignificant, and have all those little snacks add up to a large amount of calories every day. Additionally, the cream in your coffee, the marinade on your chicken, the oil you use to saute your veggies all have calories and need to be logged.

I tried to see your food diary, but your profile is actually private.

Good luck!

And pick up a food scale!

Hello Sheri, I looked at several days of your diary. I see a lot of cups and spoon measures. Are you actually using a scale to measure stuff? Using a scale correctly can reveal the truth, whether it be that you are eating too much or too little. The truth is that if your log is accurate and you are consuming less than 1200 calories per day, then you are dieting too aggressively. Dieting too aggressively leads to mental exhaustion, nutrient deficiency, eating disorders, massive hair loss, and loose skin. Or, and most likely, it simply leads to diet failure and weight gain.

Please evaluate your goals rationally. Have you asked myfitnesspal to give you a calorie target for a 2 lb per week loss? This is appropriate only for people who weigh more than 200 lb. That is because weight loss of more than 1% per week is too fast. I don't know how much you weigh, but in your "about me" comments it seems likely that you do.

Please do eat all the calories mfp recommends to you. Use this early phase of your myfitnesspal journey to become expert at logging and using this community to learn more of the intricate relationship between your body, your brain, and your food.