Idk what I'm doing wrong

For some background. I am 25F 5ft 4 and started last July at 220lbs. I work 12 hour health care shifts on my feet 3 days a week overnights.

I had oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth and it went horrible. Had a abscess in my jaw and he got a facial nerve so for a month I was on pain meds and unable to eat solid food and even then not much. Immediately after I got sick with pneumonia for a month and didn't eat much then either. Between the 2 events I got down to 196lbs. In the month since I have been maintaining between 1500 and 1700 cal a day. Trying to reduce carbs which has been incredibly difficult on my budget (I eat a good bit of rice as filler because it's cheap)

Trying to increase protein is hard.

I've been doing okay staying in the calorie goal. The low carb leaves me starving during the day. But eating higher carb I feel fine with the same calories.

But I haven't lost any more weight. I stay flexing between 196 and 198lbs.

I have increased my activity on my off days with light workouts that I can tolerate because I also have POTS and PCOS. My dog has been loving the walks on off days now 🥰

I want to get down to roughly 150lbs. I don't know what I'm doing wrong to have hit such a plateau so quickly. I can't just survive on 500cal a day like when I was sick because that's not healthy.

I also have been trying to increase my water intake because I suuuuuck at drinking enough water.

Any advice or just motivation is welcome. Recipe ideas good to meal prep on a severe budget. It's just taking a toll on my mental health at this point to feel so stuck.