someone please tell me where I'm going wrong

I looked at your food diary for the past week. While your calories are within the goal, the food itself is not helping you. I noticed a lot of refined carbs. Now, I am not a fan of low carb diets, and I don't believe all carbs are bad for you, but refined and white carbs tend to be more calorie dense and nutritionally deficit that many other foods.

I saw very little in the way of fruits and vegetables. You should be eating 2-3 servings of fruit a day and 4-5 of vegetables. These foods will fill you up with fewer calories, and will add a LOT of nutrients to your system. When you go for carbs, try to find whole grains as much as possible. My favorite breakfasts are cereals: Cheerios, Wheat Chex, cracked wheat (a hot cereal, like oatmeal but wheat), oatmeal, etc. But look for the ones that have whole grain and not a lot of sugar. I cut a fresh peach or banana or toss berries into my cereal for extra taste without adding processed sugar. Add a vegetable in to your lunch - a carrot, some broccoli, sugar snap peas, even a salad are great options. I don't count white potatoes as veggies, or anything that has been fried - that leeches most of the vitamins right out. I try to have fruits and veggies for my snacks, too. I snack often, but eat less at meals. Maybe that would help you feel fuller throughout the day.

Some lean proteins and healthy fats can help you too. Lean cuts of meat, olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc - in small portions.
If you don't already take a multivitamin, you might want to add that in. It helps make sure you get enough nutrients. Look for one formulated for women, with iron and vitamin D. But don't view it as a substitute for eating a variety of nutritious food.

IMO, when a body isn't getting enough vitamins, etc, it is going to want to hold on to everything it has. Plus, when your diet is full of the stuff that is good for you, you'll be able to feel satisfied with how much you're eating and not feel like you're punishing yourself. It's okay to treat yourself once in a while (I'm a sucker for chocolate), but you can also retrain yourself to enjoy eating more healthy, and at some point some of those treats just don't look good any more.

I can understand the whole working thing and wanting to rely on processed food. It's very convenient! I will admit that I LOVE to cook...so I realize what I do is not everyone's cup of tea but maybe it will help you!

I do all or most of my food shopping on Sunday. (I'm a couponer which is why Sunday for me, because I like to have that week's coupons if I need them). Anyway, As I'm getting my list together coupons organized I have www.myrecipes.com (for cooking light magazine recipes) open and foodnetwork.com open and also my fav. recipes that I save on my computer open.

I then Come up with a meal plan for the entire week, Sunday-Saturday. Mostly I just worry about dinner's as my husband and I do leftovers for lunches most of the time, and I just keep the standard breakfast stuff on hand at all times. I write the week's menu down on a piece of paper and I keep it on my fridge. I buy all my ingredients that I don't already have on hand for my meals on my big shopping trip so that I have everything on hand when I get home from work during the weekdays. I try to keep it to easy meals that won't take more than 30-45 minutes to prepare. I buy 1 or 2 types of fruit in a volumn large enough to cover snacks for myself and my husband Monday-Fri at work. I always get salad ingredients as well and sometimes on that Sunday I will chop it all up and have the salad ready, just add dressing when it's time to eat

I'm not going to pretend it's easy...it's not. A good chunk of my sundays are dedicated to this....although because of the couponing it makes the day longer, if you don't coupon it won't take nearly as long lol, as I go to several different stores. I've only been on this site since last thursday, but you can look at my food diary and see the type of meals I make...it's nothing diffucult by any means, it's just a matter of commiting to organizing your menu for the week and commiting 30-45 minutes after work to cooking.

Hi there,

I had a quick look at your diary and you are not eating enough and not enoug of the right stuff.

My diary is open if you want to take a look. I'm living in meath BTW, hi!

Breakfast should be your biggest meal as it sets you up for the day. My food isn't 100% clean but I am ok and I lose min 1lb a week.

If your doing aerobics your probably burning fat and building muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat - keep it up.