the rule I think is no more than a 500 calorie defficet between what you eat and burn.

Your body may think you are starving it - up the calories a 100 at a time.

I can't help with food choices b/c I live on beef but I'm sure other people can :-)

How long have you been on a 1200 calorie diet?  This could be a huge factor.  I have veggie friends and it seems that they eat less than the average person.  Even though they don't consider themselves on a diet, they're only eating around 1200-1500 calories a day.  Your "Burn Meter" is a generic number based on your body proportions and doesn't take into account your diet history.  Its assuming you put down your cheeseburger and fries yesterday and you are totally new to the game.  If you've never been a big eater, then chances are you're metabolism has slowed down to match your calorie input so that you're body once again achieves homeostasis.  Someone on a 1200 calorie diet for the rest of their lives are not going to continue to lose weight until they widdle down to skin and bones.  At some point their weightloss will stop and their body will adapt so that all it needs to function is 1200 calories.  At this point, any increase in calories is going to result in weight gain since the person now will have a surplus of calories compared to his/hers adjusted needs.  After a while the metabolism will speed up to compensate for the surplus and weight gain will stop.  Now consumption of 1200 calories will once again create a deficit and weight loss will continue.  I know it sounds like treading water, but it seems as though your metabolism has an easier time speeding up than slowing down.  It could take someones metabolism4 months to adjust to a 1200 calorie diet, and in contrast only 2 months for the metabolism to speed back up to match a 1700 cal diet.  This is just a thought and theory, and I'm by no means an expert.  I have however dieted incorrectly in the past and noticed that weight loss had stopped even though I (as a 5'10" 180lb man) was only eating 1000 calories a day.

Yes Jarredwayne......U are right no matter how much I eat I just barely touch 1200 mark. I eat fruit bowl for snack which fills me but has very few calories.

I tried eating nuts but then my weight increased so i stopped eating them

this has nothing really to do with this post but im really curious as to what you eat that you stay around 1200 and you are full!!! I want to do that but i am always so hungry...

I am a vegetarian may be that's a reason that I m barely able to eat 1200 calories.

I start my day with a cup of coffee and cookie before hitting Gym

B/F - 2 cups cereal and fruit bowl

Snack - Yogurt

Lunch - Sandwich and cup of coffee

Supper - Salad (I don't use fat free dressing as I hate it)

Dinner - Lentil soup, boiled vegetables with some rice or chapati( Its Indian bread)

Dessert - some chocolate (I cant resist chocolates )

To top up my calories I do eat some nut

Thanks Bernst31 I didn't know that egg and nuts retain water in body,I used to think that I have gained weight because of hight fat percentage in nuts. Its a very good piece of information for me.

I will start eating nuts again to increase my calories intake and hope will start loosing again

Hummus is really not high in fat! Tribe hummus is 40 cals for 2 tbsp. It's such a good protein! Chickpeas in general are a really good protein, very low in calories. A few tips for you:

Increase the intensity of your workouts and make sure to do weight lifting at least twice a week. It looks like you aren't doing any and when I hit my plateau that was the thing that pushed my metabolism back into gear.

Some great veg protein/ higher calorie suggestions include:

drinking more milk/ soymilk (good proteins there), adding sunflower seeds to cereal or yogurt, peanut butter or nutella for sandwiches or snacks, and eating nuts on salads is one of my favorite things, or as a snack - 200 cals per 1/4 cup, which I find plenty filling as a snack. Also I water down my hummus some and use it as a salad dressing. Recently, I made a Kalamata olive hummus watery so I could toss my salad with it and it's very tasty plus a good protein to my salad of spinach, carrots, celery, and almonds. Yum!