Staying under 1,200 cal. Walking 2-5 mi/day. Gaining weight

Eating fat does not make you fat, and failing to eat fat does not cause you to lose fat. Fat loss is 100% caused by consistently being in a calorie deficit, not by which macros you eat. Eating no fat at all is a bad idea unless your doctor told you to do this in order to treat a specific, diagnosed medical condition. Your body needs a minimum amount of fat for your health.

This also means that the number of carbs you eat is not directly relevant to fat loss. You do not have to eat low carb unless you prefer to eat that way, or unless it is required to treat a diagnosed medical condition.

This ALSO means that the specific food you eat doesn't have anything to do with fat loss. It doesn't matter if you get some calories from wine or meat.

You lose fat by consistently eating fewer calories than your body burns. You can ensure you're in a calorie deficit by:
- weighing ALL of your food using a food scale
- ensuring that your exercise calorie estimates are reasonable and not inflated
- eating as close to your MFP calorie goal as possible, including eating back all exercise calories assuming they are calculated accurately. You should NOT be eating less than 1200 calories.
- after making any changes to your eating or exercise, sticking with them for 4-6 weeks before expecting the scale to move, since normal water fluctuations may "mask" fat loss for several weeks.

macsmom1205 wrote: »

It sounds like you may need a more balanced diet. Your body absolutely needs carbs, fats, and proteins 1,200 calories sounds really low (depending on your size) because your body will retain more if it thinks it is starving. Try looking online for a macro calculator and find out where you need to be. Invest in a food scale it makes it so much easier to accurately measure foods and log the correct information. If you are already food logging really accurately, maybe reevaluate your foods- For example : Apples are healthy but the sugar in apples needs to be paired with a protein so your blood sugars don't spike and crash. Pair it with a protein like natural peanut or almond butter (read the labels- there should be very few ingredients & you should know what they all are). Now it is a healthy filling snack that keeps you satisfied and your body happy. Fooducate .com is a great website that can help you pick healthy foods. ♥

Good luck to you, I'm sure if you do a little research and keep at it things will turn around for you!

"Starvation mode" is not real. Your body does not stop losing weight "if it thinks it is starving." There are many risks to undereating; starvation mode is not one of them.

We do not have enough evidence to know whether 1200 calories is too few for the OP. 1200 before counting exercise may be appropriate for some people who are very short, older, and/or have very little weight to lose. When following the MFP calorie calculation, a reasonable estimate of exercise calories should also be added to the calorie goal.

Blood sugar "spike and crash" from eating a piece of fruit is only relevant if OP has a diagnosed problem with insulin function.

Whether or not you know what an ingredient is says nothing about how "healthy" that ingredient is or isn't.

If one is not losing weight, the answer is not to eat different foods, but to ensure a reasonable calorie deficit and be patient long enough for normal water weight fluctuations to subside.