What am I doing wrong?

Grats on starting... Lets get to work then!

Calculate your BMR here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Calculate your TDEE here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

BMR = How much you burn simply being alive.

TDEE = How much you burn in your every day life.

You calorie goal should be to eat MORE than your BMR, but LESS than you TDEE.

The deficit of calories you are looking for is 500 to 1000. If TDEE - BMR is less than that, you can throw in exercise to up spent calories for the day.

Try not to have too high of a deficit. Also try to eat more than your BMR. Eating lower than BMR for long periods can cause adverse effects on the metabolism.

Thanks for the links!! I did the calculations and my BMR is 1770 and my TDEE is 3693. There's no way I'll be going over my TDEE because on a good day I can do 1200 (lately anyway)...so I should be eating more than 1770 calories? I can't imagine how I could eat that much.

I do think that you aren't eating enough calories. Try to eat all of the allotted calories, at least 1200. I also noticed that much of your food choices are prepared and high in sodium. That could make you retain water. I forgot if you mentioned exercise or not. But adding exercise will help your progress. Good luck! and stick to it!

Thanks! I really do need to work on eating more fresh foods, it's just that I'm so picky. I'm definitely not fat because I'm an emotional or boredom eater... I just love fatty, bad-for-you foods. lol

But to combat high sodium I should be drinking tons of water, right? I haven't been logging my water consumption at all, but I'm positive it's too low as well.

You need to think about the food you eat food not in terms of "Is this gong to make me lose weight?". But, in terms of "Is this good fuel for my body?". Eating 600 to 900 calories even of nutrient rich foods is not going to give your body the number of nutrients it needs. I am trying to get in the mindset that food is fuel. If I want to keep a campfire burning I have to feed it. If you want to keep your metabolism burning you got to give it good fuel. I know you have said you are having energy problems on this number of calories. I eat least 1400 calories and on the days I exercise I eat more. You would feel much better mentally and physically if you up your calories. You would have the energy for more exercise which in turn is going to fuel your metabolism even more and make you feel that much better about yourself. You have taken the hardest first steps in this journey, you CAN do it!

Thanks friend. You are absolutely right. I'm going to stop being so protein bar dependent. haha

Your sugar is very low...that is great! Your protein is also very low...not so great. You should have 1g of protein for each pound of muscle (some say your weight). So you really need to up that. Protein is what feeds your muscles and repairs your muscles after a workout. Also, you really do need to shoot for hitting your calories per day...and with "healthy" calories. The drink at Applebees helps boost your calorie intake, but you could've eaten 2 chicken breasts (260 calories/46g protein) and gotten better nutrition. I'm not saying skip the drink it didn't have sugar so that's good, but i'm saying think about where you are getting your calories from. You can friend me and look at my diet if you'd like. Good luck and know this is a work in progress!

Haha I wondered if anyone would bust me on that drink! I don't drink that often and had they given me two chicken breasts instead of that Bahama Mama, I might have thrown them at someone's head yesterday. I am definitely going to look into better options.

Things I've learned so far: More protein, more veggies, more fruit... carbs are okay in moderation, but stick to whole wheats.... don't skip breakfast... don't depend on protein bars and eat at least the recommended MFP calorie allowance, but possibly more because my BMR is actually higher than MFP's caloric intake suggestion... and move move move.

And for my own benefit... more water. Log water. Love water. Become mermaid.

You are eating way under your calories.
You are eating very few fresh fruits and vegetables.
You are eating a lot of processed crap.
Where is the real food?

and where is the exercise?

I think processed foods are going to be my biggest problem. I'm not a very good cook. I don't think I've ever boiled rice before in my life... and I don't know the first thing about steaming vegetables so it's easy to add seasoning packets and buy bagged veggies that I can just heat in the microwave... and then there's the issue of being invited out to lunch and dinner by co-workers and friends and trying to choose wisely because I don't want to be rude and turn them down.

Fruit will definitely not be a problem. I love almost all fruits and I am more than happy to add more of those. Vegetables are a slight problem... I don't like steamed vegetables without flavoring and I don't like raw vegetables unless I have something to dip them in. I'm incredibly picky. I love a LOT of foods, but they are a lot of unhealthy foods.

As far as exercise goes, I walk. My street has two steep hills that I climb on days that I do walk... the days that I don't walk are usually because I've done a lot of walking at the mall because I have an unhealthy obsession with shopping.

I don't have any way to measure how many calories I've burned by walking though. I guess I know what my next shopping expenditure will be... Hello HRM! I don't trust the one on MFP to be accurate. Yes I walked for 30 minutes at a leisurely pace, but I climbed steep hills which took a lot more effort than walking leisurely at the park.

Thank you for the input. I really appreciate all the comments. I have learned a lot today.