My biggets pet peeve

i hear ya. it's not just simple math.

this has to be my biggest pet peeve...
To lose weight is simple your body needs to use more calories then you eat.< its that simple
if it were that simple i would not be here, and i know several others would not either.

Ok, while I agree that '...is simple' is a bit difficult to swallow, but TECHNICALLY, those people saying 'more output than input' are kind of right. Now, before you prep the stake for burning, please understand that although the essence of that is true, the reality is that everyone's bodies react differently to different things. And since I have yet to meet any human beings that have a 'Calories Burned' readout imbedded in their person compliments of their body, everything we do; all those numbers we come up, with are really kind of guesses. Granted, some are better/more accurate/etc than others, but we don't always really know what the heck is going on with your physiology.

Heck, look at the land of nutrition! Eggs...good or bad? Water...is more always better or is that gallon a day too much? Corn Syrup...evil death concoction or just another sweetener? For all of the amazing technology, when it comes to ourselves...we are kind of in the dark.

Breathe deeply and understand some people are trying to help. Granted, some are just A@!hats.

An active person should probably be eating more than 1,200 calories a day. Also, any person should not be gaining weight on 1,200 calories a day. If you are concerned, see your doctor.

Agreed! I eat at least 1800 calories a day most days. There are on occasion when I eat less and even at times when I eat more but I didn't lose weight eating the minimum calories. I only started losing when I upped them

Or you are under estimating what you eat

Or you shot your metabolisme to hell from years of under eating

Or you have a medical problem

If you eat too few calories in a day your body can go into starvation mode and actually hang on to body fat. Its a delicate balance. And its NOT easy.

I understand your frustration.

Make sure your "lifestyle" in MFP is set to active. I guarantee the site will tell you to eat more calories. What could be happening if your lifestyle is set too low for your daily activity is you're burning way more calories than you're accounting for, which could put you at too much of a deficit, causing your body to go into starvation mode (Your body could be holding on to calories/fat rather than burning them). I know it seems weird, but sometimes eating more actually helps you lose.

This may or may not be the case for you, but from reading your post it's the first thing that comes to mind. If it's not the case, you should definitely see a doctor because there could be another underlying cause.