1200 cals + exercise= GAINING WEIGHT?!

Although it is completely counterintuitive, eat more=lose more, especially if you are working out a lot (or a little). I got stuck at 205 lbs (49 lbs loss) and could not bust through for many months. I tried going low cal (average 1400 cal / day) and actually gained weight and inches. And felt like crap. How could that be? I think my body went into starvation mode and lowered its BMR to compensate for my stupidity. It thought it was starving and took action. That's when I started tracking calories via myfitnesspal and decided to up the daily intake to 2,000 cal. That has restarted weight loss and now I'm on track again for my goal weight of 185 lbs.

For the lean gains question, you should eat right after your workout. Eat a lot. Waiting until noon completely screws up your metabolism and will make you loopy.

Wow. I could have written this. We are weight loss twins. I have been stuck as well but now working with a person who gave me a Metabolic Assessment I am eating MORE and losing again. go figure

Newbie here.... Please educate me. What do TDEE and BRM mean?

The simplest answer is that you're eating more and exercising less intensely than you think.

Here's the problem with this religious mantra 'eat more to lose more' - this *might* be the issue if she is not losing but just maintaining her weight. But she says herself that she is GAINING weight.

There is no possible way she can gain weight (actual mass, so excepting transient inflammatory weight) by eating less than her total daily energy needs. None. That would be violating some fundamental laws of physics.

The refrain 'you're not eating enough!' is MFP dogma, but it cannot apply when someone is gaining. I have my doubts it applies when people are maintaining, too, but that's not relevant here.

To the OP - perhaps you have a very efficient metabolism and you don't need as many calories as you think. Another MFP dogma is '1200 calories or DOOM!!!'. But if you're eating that, working out and still gaining weight, you are not expending more than you're consuming. Simple as that. Perhaps you're eating more than you think.

If you have a history of undereating you may have minimal muscle mass, rather than a 'broken metabolism'. I would suggest you see your doctor and discount a medical reason for your weight gain, then start working on rebuilding your muscle mass. Transient weight gain might be necessary in the short term to permit your body to gain some muscle.

But I would not to leap to the conclusion that increasing your intake further will result in weight loss. It doesn't add up.

Contrary to the suggestions that you're not eating enough, I'm questioning the calories in the foods in your diary.
They may be correct, I'm not familiar with a lot of the brands but...

The low fat mayonnaise. How much is a serving? Although the Hellmans website says how many calories per serving (which matches what you have) it doesn't tell me how much a serving is (useless info in that case imho) and if the jar itself does say, how much are you actually putting on?
Same goes for the chicken deli slices. I'm more used to seeing 30cals per oz so 3 slices for just 25 grams total seems too good to be true to me...
The same goes for a lot of the other foods...

This^

There is a lot of foods listed in the database here that aren't anywhere near correct, So if you're adding them to your food log without actually checking to make sure they are right you'll be off your calorie count which could explain the weight gain.

Her diary is open and she is def not starving herself. So let's not say to eat more just because she said she is at 1200 cals. Most days she is eating more than 1200, and it doesn't look like she is netting under 1200 either...... The answer is not always hey you need to eat more!! Check out Road maps or whatever. Some people are actually just different.

Not sure what it can be, maybe your metabolism needs time to change? How long have you noticed weight gain? Are you doing Strength training? This could be temporary.

Actually. In place of a road map would say no, some folks aren't different. And would say: know how many calories you need to eat. In most cases, it's more than 1200.

Her diary is open and she is def not starving herself. So let's not say to eat more just because she said she is at 1200 cals. Most days she is eating more than 1200, and it doesn't look like she is netting under 1200 either...... The answer is not always hey you need to eat more!! Check out Road maps or whatever. Some people are actually just different.

Not sure what it can be, maybe your metabolism needs time to change? How long have you noticed weight gain? Are you doing Strength training? This could be temporary.

Actually. In place of a road map would say no, some folks aren't different. And would say: know how many calories you need to eat. In most cases, it's more than 1200.

Without wanting to sound rude, you are 47 Sabine the OP is 19? so you may have different calorie/macro quotas?

`We` can not all work/function in the same way. So the other reply was true, folks are different.

I agree with Smiley, I've been on 5:2 diet since beginning of year, and does not take exercise calories lost into consideration. There is a group on mfp and we are losing weight. I consume around 500 cals on fast days and as near as I can to between 1200 and 1500 on feast. Hopefully will have lost a stone by end of week. Well I'll have to now I've said it!

hey, thanks for the response, this is what i struggle with my boyfriend thinks that as my stomach isnt toned there must be weight to lose but i wasn't sure if it was more of a body fat percentage issue!! if i was to focus on lowering body fat percentage would that be more of a training regime than a diet restriction? thanks again for the help