Not eating enough?

Oops, my post above may not have been relevant! Sorry!

If you want to tone up and you are exercising, you need to fuel your body for that. It's possible to add muscle at a deficit, but I'm not convinced that is what you want (or need). My guess is that you want to replace some of the fat with muscle. This would likely result in minimal weight change, but with a noticeable change in how you look.

Make sure you are fueling your body.

Well, I started my plan at 1400-1500 + I was eating back all the calories from my work out (so like 500~800). That was 3 months ago.

Then a month later, I lowered to 1200 because I wanted to lose weight. I did that for a month and now for the last 3 weeks ish? I've just been not setting a limit for myself. I eat when I'm hungry. But I still never hit very high.

I weight 117 right now, and I'm 5'2ish. So I know I'm in a healthy weight, and I have hips (not like fat on my hips, I just have semi-large hips), so I can't be like 105 or something or it won't look right. It'll be too skinny. But I do wanna tone up. Because it's a bit flabby all over right now.

I did think maybe it was because I was eating little for a while, but I am trying to push in as many calories as I can without making myself feel sick, but it doesn't seem to be working. Granted it's only been 3 weeks.

That sounds like a good weight to me. What kind of running do you do? I do HIIT (high intensity interval training) at least 2x per week on the treadmill in addition to long runs. That helps a lot to tone. I also do lots of crunches and some weights (just started reading the New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women) I noticed a LOT more energy to do these things once I ate a little more.

Again, that's not for everyone and you have to do what works for you. But some targeted exercises might help re: toning. If you can afford it try a trainer, they help so much! Even a few sessions can teach you some exercises that you can use for months/years.

Re: calories, I felt weird eating more at first. I eat stuff like nuts/peanut butter or chocolate (in moderation) to keep my calories up to a healthy level. Also cheese/non-diet bread etc. Eating more definitely doesn't mean junk, although it does give freedom to enjoy! My diary is public if you want to look at it.

Here's a group where a lot of people are trying this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Hoping to get some ideas I also have trouble eating enough and feel sick if I try to eat when I'm not hungry.

this was me to a T! and well sometimes still is. if you're like me (which kind of sounds like you are) your body is use to the little amounts of food your allowing it. (not necessarily because you're restricting yourself but like you said you arent hungry) and now your stomach has shrank. up until last month i was content with maybe eating 1000 cal. per day if that & then running about 3-6 miles. never ate back the calories never was hungry and well got to skinny.
after seeing just what my bmr is (1324 and then with doing nothing 1580) i tried to set a small goal of aiming for that 1580 (really i need 1800-2000 for my running) and i felt sick to my stomach from trying to eat.

best solution for me was make protein shakes. it was easier on my stomach to drink rather than eat but it helped get calories in and then i started adding more solids. once your stomach gets use to having food frequently itll stretch back out a bit making the sick feeling start to go away. im still a bit sensitive sometimes but its nothing like it use to be, hopefully that idea can help you a bit

Taryn, thanks! So funny, because I am drinking a smoothie right now I need to get some protein powder to add. I dont work out too hard, and am just over halfway to my goal weight so definitely not too skinny.

This is totally me and I finally went to see a nutritionist over the weekend because I was so sick of working out and not seeing results! I'm only on day 1 of my plan but the things she told me make sense so I'll give it a try. She didn't really change my calories but did have me change my nutrients - lower the grams of fat I was getting, increase my fiber and protein. I asked about protein shakes and she said it was better to get my protein from food or even a bar (we both liked the think thin ones). She said that your body is looking for fuel and when you give it protein in liquid form it doesn't work as hard since its already liquid then if you were to give it actual food. I don't know yet if any of this will work yet, but I thought I'd pass along the info I got from a professional!

you have to eat to feel hungry and when that happens it means your metabolism is finally kicking in and it's an amazing feeling ie ' I'm so hungry' so then you feed that hunger every 2-3 hours. It's so important for glycogen levels and to continue losing weight. Once that efficiency kicks in and you increase your lean muscle mass you'll need to increase your calorie intake to continue that weight loss. Make sure you're on enough calories in the first place eg: 150-200lb should be between 1500-2000 calories with protein being 113g-150g at each meal-at least 4 meals but 5 is more desirable so break the total protein down even more to suit 5 small meals......remember this changes as you get leaner