Can anyone help me understand why I am not losing weight?

I see a lot of meals where you are eating what I consider "snacks" for the entire meal. For example, Lara bars are a great snack or part of a meal but they will not give you the right balance of carbs, protein, and fruit/veggies. I would try to have 1 serving of protein, 2 servings of fruit/veggie, and 1 serving of carbs at every meal. I use the separated plates for kids that keep the food from touching. They are visual reminder of what needs to be on my plate. The carbs and protein go in the quarter section and the veggies/fruit go in the half section. It's easy to do. For example, I may have whole wheat pasta with turkey sauce and a salad for a meal. It also seems like you're not eating breakfast every day. Some people say it's not necessary to do that but I find that the scale gets stuck for me if I don't eat breakfast.

I peeked in your diary, and I agree with adding more water, but I would also take a look at your sodium levels. A lot of the energy/supplement bars have higher sodium than we think, and I notice you like those. MFP sets the sodium default at 2500mg, but I've read you only need 600 mg a day (more if you exercise). I wondering if increasing your protein intake would help. Your carb:protein:fat ratio seems pretty high, and protein would help repair muscles if/when you work out, as well as keep your body fuller longer. Good luck!

Hiya, I agree about the sodium - it's a kicker! Up your water and do your measurements rather than your weight for a while - if you're exercising you may notice the difference in your measurements where you're firming up.
I doubled my water intake and the difference was astounding.
Don't give up! Good luck - we all know it's really hard work x

I think you may want to incorporate more greens and fresh veggies, and lean protein, and less processed foods and meats. in addition, make sure you are eating plenty of dietary fiber and drinking plenty of water. i take kelp to support my thyroid function and also drink yerba mate and green tea to promote some weight loss. aside from weight loss, i suggest truvia over splenda since truvia is also a no calorie sweetener but much healthier.

I started at 196 and have lost 20lbs as of today's weigh in. I'm using MFP to track but my calorie allotment and approach comes from a doc and nutritionist I'm working with. Here's what I've been doing, and it's helped me lose about 1-2 lbs a week.

Daily calorie goal: 1800
3 meals and 3 snacks daily (eating every 2-3 hours)
minimum 300 calories per meal and 150 calories per snack
protein every time I eat

I don't count my carbs or track sugar but have found that focusing on protein and ensuring that I have plenty of lean protein and fresh veggies has helped a lot with the sugar cravings. When the cravings do hit, I try and make healthy choices. I still enjoy wine and beer regularly, even though I know if I cut that out I would lose more. My doc's advice is to make sure I am living the life I enjoy; that way any changes I make will be sustainable. I don't eat back my exercise calories although I am exercising regularly.

If you eat out a lot, you might find there are hidden calories - I travel and eat out a lot for work so this has been the most challenging part for me. I make sure I have some nuts at work so I don't miss my snacks and am tempted to overeat at meal time.

Looking at your diary my advice would be to try eating more lean protein and veggies and making sure you are eating every 2-3 hours. I restructured my settings so I could track morning, afternoon and evening snacks. Although MFP considers my 1800 calories to be maintenance, it is actually working for me.

Right no offence but what was the point of mfp giving you a target if you arent going to follow it? It says 1200 to lose 2lbs a week. I was 191lb at 5"7 and ive stuck to 1200 religiously upping it to 1300 when i had totm. I am now down to 180.

Those numbers are there for a reason, being given 1200 every day and eating 1800/1900 a day isnt going to help.

Yes coming down from 2800 a day must be a shock but it has to be to lose weight!

Dont ignore the formula, its worked for many others and if you want to eat more, exercise more!

Thanks for starting this post. I've been frustrated since I've been at this for about 6 weeks now and have only lost 6 pounds (3.5 in the first week). I looked back through my diary and checked how much sugar and sodium I was having and it was off the charts on many days. While I met the calorie goal (or came in under b/c of exercise) and stayed in check on fat and carbs, the other little things that don't show up in the online diary unless you change the settings and don't see something else weren't within reasonable limits.

you should have you thyroid checked that might be why your not losing weight