1200 cals = weight gain?

It's probably water weight or you are gaining muscle. But if you are concerned about what your daily amount really should be, go see a doctor. A lot of people on this site like to throw back the "1200 calories is the minimum for women, never eat under that or you'll go into starvation mode" story around here, but honestly I have a very hard time believing that. Everyone is different. I can't imagine my minimum calories before entering starvation mode-land as a small boned 5'3 woman is the same as a large boned 5'11 woman. I would clearly need to be consuming FAR less calories than her before we both reach starvation mode. The BMR and TDEE calculators will give you a decent idea, but I'm not sure how you would get a solid answer without consulting with your doctor as to what your maintenance calories would be.

Your basic amount of daily calories will depend from one person to another one.

There are many factors to be included.

Its based on age, height and your lifestyle.

I think that the calculator provided by this program gives you a great idea of how much you should eat in a day. It is also recommended not to lose more than 1 or 2 lbs a week.

Eating not enough is almost as bad as eating too much, as your body will retain the food you eat and create reserves for harsher times.

I hope this helps.

Smileyve
Good luck.

I am 4'11' and my maintenance is 2000 calories a day and that include my exercise.

Eat at maintenance for a few weeks than come back down by 250 calories, it should give you a diet break and help you lose again.

If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for women over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I am a living breathing example of that. I went from obese to now under 12% BF and I've maintained for one year and built muscle the whole time. You don't BUILD muscle in starvation mode, so I proved everyone wrong.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale though: water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations

Only you can decide calories, base it on how you feel and what the scale trend is doing, not what anyone here tells you to do. You can always gradually notch your calories up or down by 100 and see how you do. It takes some experimentation to find what works for YOU. What worked for the next person may not work for you just because it did for them. For the most part, if you have fat reserves eating more to lose weight is just plain silly, think about it.

You should be eating at least 1500 calories a day. Increasing your calories from 900 to 1200 led to an increase in glycogen and water storage, not fat. Glycogen is a good thing, because it is your muscles' energy source, and it's also required for efficient fat burning. I'd bump up to at least 1500 calories, maybe even eat 2000 for a couple weeks, to get your metabolism back to normal (eating so low for so long slows your metabolism dramatically, which can lead to long term complications.) Based on your age, height, and weight, your maintenance calories are roughly:

Sedentary - 1800
Lightly Active - 2000
Moderately Active - 2325
Very Active - 2600
Extremely Active - 2850

Obviously it depends on how active you are. Starving yourself is not the way to go. I wouldn't recommend less than 1500 calories if you are less active, 2000 calories if you are more active.

From one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.