Trying to maintain but struggling

Well, we don't really have a lot of info about you......if you stay with your maintenance calories for a month and still are gaining, then maybe your weight is too low.

1400 calories for a 31 year old 5'8" woman is way too low. How much do you weigh?

How quickly did you adjust your calories from a deficit to maintenance? You should do it quite slowly so your metabolic rate, as well as hormones that regulate it, have time to normalize. Dieting over time slows down the metabolic rate - so if you eat too much too soon, you'll gain excess since you're feeding your body too many calories for your metabolism to handle until it balances itself.

Yeah, I agree with geekyjock. Stay at those maintenance calories for a month, or ease up to them from your 1400. Trying to go from 1400 to your maintenance all at once will cause a temporary gain. Stay with it. But raise your cals by 200 this week, then two weeks from now raise it by another 200 etc, until you are at maintenance.

I feel your pain, I maintain at 1500.

Two words: Primal Blueprint!!

I maintain my weight by tracking the quantity and quality of my carbohydrates. I eat high-fat. I hit my weight goal of 120lbs (the lowest I saw as an adult) and was sick of counting calories and logging and weighing foods.

As long as I keep an eye on my carbs, eat real food and get PLENTY of healthy fats (coconut oil, butter, olive and avocado oil, eggs, animal meats, etc.) I maintain. I have to eat a hell of a lot of fat to maintain my weight. I try and get more than 100g a day. If I don't then my weight will drop below 110lbs. Protein is satiating and fat is filling. I no longer have to eat every 2-3 hours. I can go all day without eating and actually get more energetic as the day goes on (rather than weak, shaky and drained).

Think about it. Protein (amino acids) and fat (fatty acids) are used for more than just energy (also for repair and maintenance). A calorie is a unit of energy ONLY. So you might be eating 1400 CALORIES (energy) but the majority of protein and fat isn't going towards that so in reality you getting far less calories (energy). Since you are getting less ENERGY (calories) your body is doing what it can to hold onto that ENERGY (calories) by storing as much as it can from the ENERGY (calories) you eat.

And carbohydrates are an energy source (fill up glycogen stores - energy) and nothing more. Sure the brain needs glucose but the body is perfectly able of making glucose from dietary protein and the brain actually runs more efficiently on a combo of glucose/ketones.

(When I went Primal, I backed off of exercise - I follow PB Fitness. I lost 4-5" off my natural waist within a month. I have seen 108lbs (I lost fat and water, not muscle. My body didn't like 108lbs, though - I hover around 110lbs). I was 136lbs at puberty. Back in 2009 I was almost 140lbs.

(My mom was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland!! Had to throw that in there).

My average calorie intake is probably around 1600 but I'm not sure. Some days are higher and some days are lower. Some days I pig out, some days I eat light. It depends on how active I am. I pigged out this weekend (well, since Thursday and quite a bit of it was carby stuff like ice cream and dried fruits/chocolate in trail mix). The scale is up 5lbs. I don't care. I'm not hungry today, haven't eaten - although I put coconut oil in my coffee for energy. And the majority of that is fluid and will be gone overnight. The rest by Friday.

My energy levels increased immediately and tenfold when I went Primal.