skeptical....

skeptical about whether myfitnesspal will actually help.

You wont know if you do not try.
Your choice is to carry on as you are, getting nowhere at all, or to try something new.
Seem to be a vast number of people on Mfp who have had amazing success using Mfp, and to me, that is testimony enough.

You CANNOT lose 2lbs a week with only 14 to lose. You are KILLING your metabolism. When you stop "dieting" you are going to balloon up like crazy.

Wow I left for 2 hours and came back to a WHOLE Lot of info!! Thanks so much for all your suggestions! It would be too much for me to quote and respond to everything, so I will try to respond to what I can.

As for carb intake, I am speaking of bread, starch, sugar, etc. I swear, I eat a sandwich, I gain a pound the next morning weigh in. It does make sense that maybe my body is starving. I am hungry a lot, but like I said, when I do eat, I gain weight. So I end up going back to 1200 cals a day. I am very strict with it and have a lot of willpower, so yes, I truly eat 1200 or less a day normally. Yesterday I ate 1068 calories.

I do eat pretty healthy for the most part. I stay away from processed foods, bad fat, and usually even sugar. I only drink water and black coffee. I don't eat fried foods, I use stevia or agave nectar for sweeteners. I try to eat lots of fruits and veggies and lean meat and fish. I do occasionally eat red meat, and if I am really hungry I will eat small amounts of carbs in the form of pasta, crackers, or bread, but I always regret it since I put on a pound from it.

When I set up my profile, I put my goal at 2 pounds a week, and mfp told me I need to eat 1200 calories a day. Since that's what I was already doing, I was somewhat skeptical. But I guess I need to lower my expectation to 1/2 to 1 pound a week. I did weight about 150 a few yeas ago and was getting married so I went on a very low cal, high exercise diet, and lost 15 pounds in a month. I wanted to do the same thing this time, but it just isn't working. Ugh.

I will try to shake up my exercise routine a bit. I don't mind at all, as I'm tired of running the same path every day pushing the stroller

Thank you all for your advice and well wishes. I really hope I can turn that 0 to a 10 on that scale down there!

I would definitely look into upping your intake. Do you log your food and exercise here? If so, you need to be watching your net calories for the day. If you eat 1200 but burn 300 in exercise, that really leaves you with 900 net calories, which is REALLY low. I agree with chrisb75 too - setting at 2lbs a week isn't realistic. sadly, when we get down to those last few pounds, the progress slows down. Well, the progress of dropping pounds, but if you're exercising & eating well, the all over progress is awesome - fat & inches lost, & you are in better shape.

I'm 44 years old, 5' 8", 140 lbs, and probably fall between lightly active and very active, depending on the day of the week. I am set at 1700 calories per day to lose 1/2 lb a week. And if I go over on calories, I don't sweat it - I eat if I'm hungry and I eat healthy, so if I'm over, no big deal. And like I said before, it's working! I have 2lbs to go to reach my current goal weight of 138lbs.

The fact is, you need to bear with an increase in calories for long enough for your body to re-adjust itself to a more healthy amount of food. Sure, you might see a gain temporarily, but from reading around here and own experience, your weight will start dropping after this initial period, as long as you continue to exercise and focus on eating 80% of your diet as healthy, unrefined foods. Bread does the same thing to me, so I only have it perhaps once a month and that's it. Same with pasta. I stick with fish, cottage cheese, beans, tofu, quorn, eggs, sweet potatoes, potatoes, brown/wild rice, quinoa and lots of veggies, as well as some fruit and greek yoghurt and as a treat, chocolate rice cakes, sometimes chocolate if I am craving badly.

I am almost 5'10 and am netting around 1850 calories, and if I exercise for an hour a day, that brings it up to around 2300+
You need to slowly up your calories until you are at least up to 1500/1600 and go from there. That is my suggestion.

Are you breastfeeding? If so, the body really tends to hold on to that last 5-10 pounds until you wean.

Again, I am only skeptical because nothing seems to work. But I am willing to try anything at all!! I just wish the answer wasn't a resounding "Eat more food." Ugh

Understandable to some degree. It seems you've got more awareness of how much you've been eating, at least in terms of calories, than myself and many others did before starting to use this website.

Don't worry about offending people on here. It happens. There are a tremendous number of very helpful people on here who always try to offer support and suggestions and they far out number the attitudes I've seen on here. Some people like to believe that what worked for them is exactly what everyone else should do, when we are all different. Relax and concentrate on finding what works for you.

Couple suggestions....
-gradual changes. Shocking your body with sudden changes to diet will not get it to give up holding onto fat.
-Portion sizes. I used to think I had a good eye for how much I was eating and I was completely off. I highly recommend you measure and/or weigh out everything for a while to accurately track everything.
-Exercise. I highly recommend weight training in addition to the cardio you've been doing. Weight training means building lean muscle mass, not adding bulk. A lot of women on here have been following the New Rules of Lifting For Women, and it might be an interesting read if you're open to weight training. Lean muscle mass also boosts your metabolism because muscle requires a lot more energy to maintain than fat even while resting.
-Be patient. This means don't weigh yourself everyday, or if you do at least don't over react to putting on a pound one day and restrict your eating. Body weight varies constantly. You have to take a longer term view of things and give your body time to react to changes.
-Don't use the scale as your only judge of success. In terms of overall health, weight is only one factor. Body composition measurements, progress photos, and body fat % measurements are all good ways to track progress. You can reshape your body and get thinner without losing a pound, but you'll need weight training do that.