Scared eating all my cals will = weight gain :(

I'd love to give you reassurance but I am right there with you. I didn't even net 400 calories today but I am truthfully not hungry at all right now. I don't want to eat just to eat so I feel for you!

This is why VLCD suck for people with not much to lose because it makes them paranoid about upping calories - which they'll have to do eventually. Anyway, think of it rationally. You have to recall what your current adjusted TDEE range is to maintain weight. Let's say it's 1400 calories. As long as you do not end eating above 1400 calories, you will not gain fat. You may gain water weight due to taking in more food, but that's it.

weight loss is trial and error. Just give it time for your body to figure out what is going on before you quit it.
I just changed mine to 1/2 pound per week because I wasn't loosing at 1-2 pounds per week. I do work out, eat some workout cals back but not all, but decided maybe I don't have enough to lose to make the faster loss possible.
At around 1450-1500 I am able to lose more. I think because since I don't have to be so stingy I will sometimes have a teaspoon of coconut oil added in to things. I will have more coconut as a snack too.
If purely cutting calories to super low levels worked more people would do that. At 1500 calories, more than I have regularly eaten in YEARS! I finally have a feeling of hunger instead of just eating at mealtime. I see that as a good thing. My metabolism is burning and working. If you aren't hungry your inernal metabolism is probably shut down. I have an egg white (2 yolk) omelet over salsa at bedtime often and am starving at 4 am, drink water but look forward to 7 when I have my oatmeal (microwave oat revolution) with flax and chia seeds.

If you aren't hungry, that may not be a good sign. AND you probably will gain some initial weight when you up your calories. Try it 3 weeks. Drink lots of water. Pay attention to how you feel instead of looking at the scale, I can tell when my metabolism must be revved because I have way more energy, no feeling of being weighed down and can work out much longer. I am hungry at regular intervals as I should be First time I can ever say I eat when I am hungry and understand the concept at it's greatest!

Perhaps it's time to rethink your goals - we (almost!) all want to see a smaller number on the scales but that isn't the only measure of being healthy and fit and looking good.

Level of fitness, measurements, general health are all good measures of "success" - and those things won't happen unless you give your body some energy to work with. That means eating enough good food to sustain your body, to make you feel good and to let you do all the things you want to do in your day.

Stop focussing exclusively on the scale - remember that it is going to fluctuate every single day due to fluid retention, amount of exercise, whether you've just been to the bathroom, monthly cycle - which means that in lots of ways a single daily number is meaningless. It's not untill you can see pattern of measurements over a few months that you can see if the trend is staying the same or going down.

In a nutshell, what I'm trying to say here is - EAT. And don't be scared of the scale.

I agree, there is a world of difference in knowing what to do and actually do it. If we could all do what we know we should do - none of us would be overweight!

If you are happy with your goals, then perhaps you need to rethink your strategies for getting there - starving yourself and developing a fear of food is NOT going to get you to a healthy weight anytime soon.

I can understand that.... but be kind to yourself, you've been sick, so you have to make sure that you are giving your body good nutrients to help it heal so you can get back to being as active as you want to be. Don't think of calories as a problem, think of them as medicine that is going to help you get back on your feet as soon as you can.

Eat little and often, don't fret about what kind of food it is at this stage, just aim to get some fresh fruit and veggies in there if you can, chicken soup is meant to be almost as good as antibiotics, avocado on toast sits well with me when I'm not feeling good. Your metabolism isn't going to shut down after a week of being sick, but I would be prepared to see the scale fluctuate a bit due to increased fluid etc as you start eating again. That's quite normal and isn't going to be long lasting.

I'm recovering from anorexia, and I was eating below 300 calories for 10 months, I started just straight up eating 1200 calories, and my net would be around 1000. I gained at first, maybe 2lbs most, but it was water weight and I've gone back down to my original. Just make sure you eat healthy for the first few days, don't cheat at all.

Oh and make sure you drink a ton of water! 2L minimum.

2 day gain is nothing.

My body gained 6lbs in one day last night. Am I bothered? No, that's perfectly normal a human body.

Your scale only shows your general trend. Don't put too much store by it if it screws with your head too much.

PS GL =]

Just to offer a little perspective, I was eating 1200 cals or less (for the last 16 yrs) and at varying times, VERY SLOWLY losing weight, not losing at all or gaining weight. Not only was the weight coming off slowly, I was tired and cranky as well. Although not hungry a lot of the time. On 9/3/12 I read a number of threads on MFP that made a lot of sense to me and made me question the 'eat less, weigh less' approach. So from that day on I made a concerted effort to eat more (tough for me to do due to medical issues but that's another story). Without changing any of my exercise routine, from 9/3 until 9/12, I gained 3/4 of pound. Since 9/12 I have lost 2.2 pounds. The only cardio I have done is 30 min walk/jog on the treadmill 3 x per week and Taekwondo for 30 min 2 x per week <--which is the same I've always done.

So if upping my calories to 20% below my TDEE while making sure I stayed above my BMR isn't responsible, I'm at a loss to explain what is.

I feel your fear as well. I've been averaging 600 cal/day for the last 9 months. But, I know my body is in starvation mode, meaning losing weight should be very difficult. I fear eating 1100 a day will send the scales sky high. For me, it is due to medication that causes a lack of appetite. My dr had to give me prescription nausea medication so I can eat 800 - 900 a day. I can feel my body not doing well at this level - tired, dizzy, light headed... I know it is 100% necessary for me to have at least 1100 cal b/c of the other meds I am on so I don't go toxic on them. But, I just can't reach that level yet.

Sorry so rambly, I just wanted to let you know I understand your fear and make sure you know VLCD are dangerous.

Ok so two days back at 1200 were fine but now after a few more days I'm gaining which sucks.
See what happens by next week

And that might happen. But it shouldn't be a lot. Give it a fair chance. And to be honest, 1200 is enough. It isn't a sustainable amount long term.