I have not lost a pound - and iota been a month

Open your diary. Also, you are very close to your goal weight, so if you set MFP to 2 lbs per week it's likely not a realistic goal. Try 1 lb or .5 lbs per week. You also need to eat back at least part of your exercise calories if you aren't doing that already. Other than that, we need to see your diary to offer good advice.

your diary is private...could be anything ...food choices..sodium etc

If you have been strictly sticking to your diet and exercise goal, try shaking your body up a bit and have a couple of days off - otherwise known as a spike day (but don't eat so much that you put on more than 1lb). It should help your body realise you're not 'starving' and it will 'lower it's defences'...as it were. When you start diet and exercise again, you should find you'll lose a couple of lbs quite quickly.

Good luck!

Go back and check again. Your weight is governed by a simple formula:

Calories in > calories out = weight gain
Calories in < calories out = weight loss

If you are not losing weight, you are missing something, or miscounting something.

Without seeing your diary I don't know what.

One possibility is that MFP is over-counting some of the exercise you do. I think its estimates for both walking and running are extremely generous.

Some other suggestions:

Eat real food. Nothing processed. Get five portions of fruit and veg a day.
Go through your cupboards and throw out anything high in fat and sugar.
Check you're not getting ambushed by things you thought were healthy but are really calorific - olive oil, full-fat milk, bread.
Check you're not taking in more alcohol calories than you think. Booze can play havoc with your targets.
Make sure your portions are the size they think you are.

Also, try to build a margin of error into your diary. If hitting the target isn't doing it, try to hit 10 per cent less than your target to give yourself a bit of space.

you probably are not eating enough. Make sure you have calculated how many calories it takes to power your body. If you go below that, you won't lose efficiently.

Same problem here. After some initial loss I've been fluctuating like crazy, but I haven't lost an ounce in two weeks. If anything, I'm trending up. 1200 kcal, daily exercise (cardio & strength). I've tried both eating back and staying slightly under 1200--neither makes a blind bit of difference.

I need some fresh ideas, because I'm at the point of throwing in the towel--not least because this is only the latest in a string of identical diet experiences. Diary is open.

I'm aware of that, Mallory. If you look at my diary you'll see that I've been trying both eating back calories and sticking to 1200. Neither works.

I'm 5'6" and currently 157 lbs. And yes, this is within spitting distance of my normal weight range, so I've been expecting a slower loss, but not what's happening now

sabine the best thing to do IMO is choose one strategy and stick with it awhile, at least 3 weeks or so, to see whether it's working before you switch. You won't be able to tell whether eating back your calories is working or not unless you give it a decent amount of time. Also make sure you're logging both food and exercise as accurately as possible and taking measurements. Stick with it!

I am doing the insanity program. My goal is to loose between 25 and 30 lbs. My diary is "public," so check it out and let me know your thoughts if I am on the right track...I am new to this, so trying to do my best, but there is so much info out there that it is hard to figure out the best method. I purchased a Heart Rate Monitor to check my calorie burn during work outs and have been eating 5 small meals a day (generally between 200-300 calories each). MFP recommends 1500 calories a day for me.

Any advice on how you've achieved your goals will be a huge help!

Like you I have now opened up my food journal. I have been eating some of my exercise calories which I may have to rethink. I am almost 49 and going through some hormone changes - I hate to think that weight gain is just a natural and unavoidable consequence!

While the hormonal changes make things tough, you're not helping yourself by averaging 1,000 - 1200 calories a day. Your goal should be to lose about a half a pound a week, no more. Take it slow. You're not overweight, so cutting too many calories will result in more muscle/bone loss than actual fat loss.

You should be eating about 250 calories below your TDEE.

TDEE calculator:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Just by doing a rough estimate, swissmiss, I'm guessing you would have more effective weight loss eating about 1700 calories a day.

sabine the best thing to do IMO is choose one strategy and stick with it awhile, at least 3 weeks or so, to see whether it's working before you switch. You won't be able to tell whether eating back your calories is working or not unless you give it a decent amount of time. Also make sure you're logging both food and exercise as accurately as possible and taking measurements. Stick with it!

Thanks for this. I've not been eating back *all* exercise calories according to the fitness tracker here--seems to me that the program is being overly optimistic in its allocation of calories burned --but I've been eating back some. I'll stick with that then.

Thanks!!

Eat more fat, the diary shows a lot of food that is low fat and needs to be processed to remove said fat.