I've been logging for 25 days and am usually at or below the daily calorie limit. I gained 2 lbs. He

floatn

What am I doing wrong?

nannernate

Are you gaining muscle?

AnnPT77

Double check all of your MFP profile data, for starters.

If that's all correct, there are three general possibilities that could explain what you're seeing:

1. MFP or any other calorie calculator - even fitness trackers - just give us calorie estimates. Basically, they give us numbers that are the average for people who are demographically similar to what we told them about ourselves. Most of us are close to average, but a few can be surprisingly far off, high or low. Once you stick close on average to the goal for 4-6 weeks (or one full menstrual cycle if you have those), you can use your average weekly weight change experience over that whole time period to adjust - personalize - your calorie goal.
2. If you do have menstrual cycles, you'd want to compare body weight at the same relevant point in at least 2 different cycles to figure out average weight change. It's not the most common pattern, but a few women have reported here that they only see a new low weight once a month, at a particular point in their cycle. Hormone-related water weight fluctuations can potentially be that weird.
3. Logging food is a surprisingly subtle skill, with a learning curve. It's fairly common to under-log food intake, and to over-estimate exercise calories. Using a food scale is more accurate than using cups/spoons, let alone more accurate than eyeballing. (It's quicker and easier than cups/spoons, too, once you know the tips.) Be sure you're logging every bite, lick, taste, condiment, cheat meal/day or oopsie day, beverage, cooking oil, etc. Don't use other people's recipe type entries in the food database (stuff like "ham sandwich" or "meat lasagna"), because there's no way to know what ingredients they used. Especially don't use ones with serving sizes like "one plate" or "one piece": There's no real indication of portion size with those, either. Instead, input your own recipes or ingredients when you cook at home, verify entries you use against the label for packaged foods, and if you must use the more generic entries to estimate when eating at a friend's house or something, pick a middling-to-high entry that has some useful serving size in the ballpark. There's more, but that's a start.

Unfortunately, none of us are gaining a scale-observable amount of new muscle mass within a two-week period, no matter how much I wish it were otherwise . . . and I do. Muscle mass gain is worth pursuing, but it requires work, time, nutrition, and a lot of patience. It's also not very likely to happen if actually in a calorie deficit, and if it does it'd be even slower.