"maintenance" or "last Ten" turned into 20 lbs over weight!

CorvusCorax77

I'm in a major WHAT THE FRAK place. I'm not sure I gained 20 lbs of fat, per se. But the scale *is* 20 lbs higher than it was in January. In january I began lifting so I switched from 1200 + exercise cals to something like 1500-1800 cals per day, depending on exercise (1500 Plus exercise cals). Problem was, I was so in the habit of "eating my exercise cals" that I basically kept doing that. And when I stopped exercising regularly (because I went on vacation-which was rock climbing and back packing and surfing, don't get how that was so bad, and because i got some fresh tats that needed time to heal)...

anyways, point is, maintenance is in some ways harder than the initial losing of weight. Life was so easy when I knew what to eat. Now I'm totally confused.

Anyone else have similar confusion about how to adjust cals for maintenance and for weight lifting (heavy lifting).

I really want to see 123 on the scale again, and see my abs. I'm simple to please. Abs and under 130 = happy me.

CorvusCorax77

p.s. I had my BF % checked in June and it was 19.2%!!! At that time I weighed 135 so I think the weight gain from 123 to 135 was in large part muscle. But I'm still miserable about where I'm at right now.