STARTING TO WORRY

I scrolled through your food report. You have many days where you are eating under 1000 calories, some where you don't track at all, and some where you're not netting over 1200 once you factor in exercise.

You should start by finding out your BMR and TDEE and then eat between the two.

Further to that, sodium is over by a lot on some days. If you're weighing yourself right after that, or after working out, of course you're going to retain more water.

And I would rather see myself shrink than see a scale go down.

I think you need to get your priorities straight. So if you dropped 15 lbs but your measurements all stayed the same, you'd be happier??

No, not at all, but I need to drop the pounds for insurance etc. If my BMI was better, I would be ok. Its more about 50 days with limited success, and I am overwhelmed with information.

MY PRIORITIES...? Getting through graduation with my only child!

10 inches in 50 days? I'd love to see that kind of results. Hell, right now, I'd just be happy with the measurements going in the right direction.

As for the insurance, see if there are other ways to deal with it other than BMI, such as body fat percentage. I'm in the same boat (my insurance and its accompanying "health incentive program" frowns on my BMI score), and nothing's more discouraging than seeing the stupid "your BMI says you're too fat," despite the fact that I've already calculated that it's impossible for me to reach a "healthy" BMI range for my height without losing a crazy amount of lean body mass (if I had nothing but lean body mass, I'd still be 15lb over the high end of the "healthy" level, according to the BMI).

I think you need to get your priorities straight. So if you dropped 15 lbs but your measurements all stayed the same, you'd be happier??

No, not at all, but I need to drop the pounds for insurance etc. If my BMI was better, I would be ok. Its more about 50 days with limited success, and I am overwhelmed with information.

MY PRIORITIES...? Getting through graduation with my only child!

I understand the insurance thing. Even though I am healthy, I still have to pay a higher rate because I am 3lbs over what they think my BMI should be. They have no idea what my body is made of and how healthy I am.

I know this feeling all too well. I admit ... I'm a SLAVE TO THE SCALE ... and IT'S WRONG!
After 7 weeks, I'm only down 5 lbs - to me that's pretty insignificant, but I've lost inches. I haven't taken my measurements again yet, but my face is thinner and my mom says she's noticing my body change so the inches have to be going somewhere.

I hit the gym 4-5 days a week, doing strength/lifting 2 days and cardio the other 3. I find I'll walk in the morning before work or go do the elliptical or treadmill and where I started noticing a difference was when I changed my cardio to try and work out a bit less but do interval training. I find I get more of a workout doing 20 minutes of interval training (treadmill or elliptical) than I do doing 45 minutes to an hour on the treadmill. Plus if I can't get to the gym, I'm working at home doing pushups/lunges/squats and planks etc. which is also helping me.

As much as I still like seeing the number go down on the scale it does mess with my mind - ALOT. I'm noticing I'm toning up in my legs and arms and my clothes are looser. I was just visiting my cousin who I hadn't seen in a few months and the first thing she said to me was "Es.... oh my gosh, you've lost weight" ... that to me was worth more than any number on the scale.

It sounds like you're on the right track and are doing great ... forget the number, if you look better and feel better, then you are better despite the number!

To you OP

And, I also want to apologize for all the people who get off on being mean. I will just never understand that.

I agree. Everyone deals with different struggles and just because yours isn't the same doesn't give you the right to be hateful when someone is asking for advice.

Good luck in getting the results you want. Congrats on your progress! You are doing great.

Point is being misunderstood.
Shouldn't my weight go down?

Not necessarily, especially if you do weight/strength training or high-impact workouts, which not only build muscle, but also increase bone density, and can contribute to water retention (the body uses water to help protect itself from injury).

you are probably replacing fat with muscle, muscle weighs more. so you won't see a loss in weight, but inches. I would think that is a good thing

WRONG. Muscle does NOT weigh more
1 lb of muscle = 1 lb of fat , it is still 1 lb

however muscle is leaner so you will look smaller.

So you've gotten physically and visibly smaller, right? But the number on the scale, which no one sees but you, hasn't changed? I don't see a problem here. Water weight is probably masking any fat loss.

I think this is a new favorite quote and way of thought. Thank you for making a snarky comment that makes complete sense.