Newbie questions from not a newbie :)

DreamOfSunshine

Hey Guys!!

I know that the questions I have might sound really stupid, however I feel a bit lost in all the information I've read in these few weeks and need to hear different points of view.

Basically the situation is the following. I started the journey almost a month ago. Changed my eating habits, joined a gym and I'm much more careful about what I put in my mouth. According to MFP I need to eat 1630cal to lose 2lbs per week. The thing is that sometimes I find it hard to get to these calories ( yeah, it was a shock for me too!! ) And on top of that I go to the gym 6 times per week ( I just loooove it, another surprise for me... ) and every workout is around 700-800 cal burned which makes the full calorie intake so much more difficult! Because I read that it's good to eat back your exercise cal-s.

What I've noticed is that I lose pounds when I get around 1200-1300 calories (net) and I feel quite good with that - no mood changes and I'm full of energy.But this week something strange is happening. I do weight myself before and after workout (just out of curiosity, I record the results only once per week anyway) and it looks like every day instead of losing I gain weight. Which is strange having in mind that I don't get over 3500cal to make a pound, for sure. And, to tell you the truth I don't feel too bad yet, because I can see a change in the way my clothes fit - is much better for sure! I'm down one size in jeans!!

The problem is that I am about to face a very tuff week - going home for Christmas and visiting my two grannys who haven't seen me in like 6 months, so... I really want to know if I'm doing something wrong before that.

Sooo my questions would be:

1. Is it possible that I am gaining muscles and that's why I'm putting some pounds?
2. Is it bad to have dinner after workout?
3. Which model of calorie distribution is better 300-400-500 or 500-400-300?

Sorry for the long post and thank you so much for the help in advance!!!