Returning member

Nyrissa

Hi, I started MFP late 2011, and ended up quitting in April 2012. Now I'm back.

The reason why I left last time:
I had lost most of my goal weight, about 15 out of 22lbs eating 1200 calories a day (plus any exercise) and was doing pretty good. I decided that I didn't need to stay at that low anymore and bumped my goal to 1300 cal. Well, that's when the problems started.

I started gaining weight like mad crazy, I wasn't eating like a piece of cake for my extra 100 calories or anything, just like an extra serving of carrots here, and more grapes over there. Stuff like that. So I ended up gaining about 60 lbs, way higher then I've ever been before.

I think the problem was that I was eating too little at first, and when I added just a little it made me hold onto everything. So right now I have it on 1300 calories, but I want to make sure that doesn't happen again. So I was hoping someone could give me advice on where I should set my goal.

I now weigh 180 lbs, am 5'5''. Trying to get down to somewhere between 120-130.
I have a desk job, so I'm not super active, but I do exercise at least 3 times a week, usually for 30-50 mins. When the weather is better again I will be riding my bike to work (0.5 mi) again on to of that.