Gained 6lb from increasing my intake from 1200 to 1400?

I increased my calories about 8 weeks ago. I was always at 1200 and then I hit a plateau for a very long time. I bumped up to 1800-2000 calories (my maintenance level). I gained weight. It was expected. It was a shock to my system. My body was used to hanging on to every morsel I fed it --- it didn't know what to do when I was feeding it more.

I gained about 5 pounds. I probably gained most of that within the first 4 weeks and then leveled off. BUT --- I will tell you that with exercise, I have lost inches.

I LOVE eating at this higher level and having more energy and losing inches!!!

Don't worry about the weight gain too much.....your body is just adjusting.

Sometimes the body gets used to the type of workout you do. Try changing the way you do cardio. If you walk, do an eliptical. If you bike, try the stairs. You can also try doing cardio cycling using a 10, 20, 30 method - for 10 seconds go hard, 20 seconds go medium, then the last 30 seconds you do normal effort. Repeat 3 times and then take 2 minutes of normal effort before starting the next set. You can also do this in minute intervals (1 min hard, 2 min medium, 3 mins easy - repear 3 times and space with 2 minutes easy until next set of three).

Also, if you have trouble adding exercise to your day to day life in chunks, research shows that just trying to increase your activity in simple ways throughout the day can really help. Park your car further away from the store. Take the stairs (up or down) whenever you can. Every hour or two, get up from your desk and do a lap of your office (or if it's too obvious, go do 2 flights up and down). Walk around the block when you get home. Doing 5 minutes here and there (even if you don't track it) really helps.

Good luck!

So your TDEE is calculated at 2010 and you were grossing 1200 a day? That's a rather large deficit of 40% and you maintained that for 6 months? Deficits that great by most average persons at your weight should only be maintained for a week or two at the most. After that you should have increased your calories to a more moderate deficit. By prolonging your large deficit, you likely lowered your resting metabolic rate among other things. You will gain some of that weight back but it will level off once your metabolism and hormones get normalized - ie by eating closer to maintenance for two weeks then doing another deficit cut.

I increased my calories about 8 weeks ago. I was always at 1200 and then I hit a plateau for a very long time. I bumped up to 1800-2000 calories (my maintenance level). I gained weight. It was expected. It was a shock to my system. My body was used to hanging on to every morsel I fed it --- it didn't know what to do when I was feeding it more.

I gained about 5 pounds. I probably gained most of that within the first 4 weeks and then leveled off. BUT --- I will tell you that with exercise, I have lost inches.

I LOVE eating at this higher level and having more energy and losing inches!!!

Don't worry about the weight gain too much.....your body is just adjusting.

I am stuck at around 72-73kg and that was just eating what I wanted and sporadic exercise at best.
I started using MFP and more recently FitBit in anger at the beginning of August, and for the first time since quitting athletics 13 years ago with injury, I have felt motivated to do some exercise almost every day.
This is the first week that I have just below my calorie intake (1200) every day with specific food planning.

BUT I had never thought of the inch-loss aspect as opposed to the weight loss aspect.
So I am going to do that tomorrow when I do my weigh in and thanks for the suggestion.

It's water weight. Read this...breathe easy.. and be patient

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience?hl=upping+calories+what+to+expect

eating too little calories can slow your metabolism... which causes you to gain weight when you eat more than your body is use to...

This is the same for me too. You can't take for granted the recommended calorie intake. I would reduce back down to 1200 if it were me.

Uh, no. The last thing she needs to do after maintaining a massive 40% deficit for 6 months is to go back to it and depress her metabolism and resting metabolic rate further.