SO frustrated!!! Think it's back to 1200 cals grr.

Yes I log everything honestly and weigh everything!

Sorry, I am working my way up with the strength training. Its one of Jackie Warners dvds and uses strictly weights. I have been doing this for a week now (3days/wk is what is recommended and what I am doing) before that I was doing 30ds. I can use 8 lbs on some of the exercises but a lot of it is shoulder heavy and I am really weak in my upper body...

Age-29
Height- 5'2 1/2"
SW-141
CW-143
GW-130

Also, the 1400 is from my TDEE-20% set to sedentary and only set to that incase I cant get a workout in, however I eat back the exercise calories my fitbit gives me most of the time.

The fitbit calculations aren't the best or accurate for exercises other than walking/running since it bases it's calculations on steps. I tried it and it was giving me numbers way off from my heart rate monitor. I plugged your numbers into the BMR calculator at fat2fitradio.com. It calculates your BMR at 1435 and a moderate activity level (exercise 3-5 days/week) at 2136. Using the moderate calculation since you work out most every day, a 20% cut is 1708; 15% cut is 1815; 10% cut is 1922. My suggestion would be to eat between 1708 and 1922 every day, regardless of exercising that day or not, and do not eat back fitbit adjustments.

What is TDEE?

Total Daily Energy Expenditure

it's the amount of "calories" (actually kilocalories, which is a measure of energy) you burn each day for all physiological processes (i.e., all energy expended by movement and internal bodily processes). if you know your TDEE or can estimate it to good accuracy, then you can plan your dietary intake accordingly. if you eat fewer calories than your TDEE consistently, you'll lose weight and vice-versa. that's the simple, basic science that is often called "the energy equation".

this is often simplified here as... calories in < calories out.

My scale hasn't moved in the 4 months I've been lifting (I like food; don't judge!) BUT my clothes fit way differently and I have less cottage cheese on my legs than I did in February.

This times infinity. My scale has not moved but I have some real nice muscles developing & the cottage cheese is turning to cream cheese :laugh:

Also are you eating back your exercise calories? If you are sticking to 1400 but not eating back exercise cals, your net will be too low. Your NET calories should be that 1400.

I haven't read all the responses so sorry if I repeat.

First of all, getting freaked out over 2 lbs in a month is not a healthy attitude. You are very close to goal so it's easy for weight to fluctuate a lot even though you are not gaining fat. Take a deep breath and think it through.

Second, the 2 lbs is most (like 99%) likely from water weight. When you do new exercise, especially strength, you will retain water.

Here's my POV if it helps: I was recently on a 1 year plateau eating ~1400 calories a day. Then I moved across states, during which time (about 2 months) I ate like crap and gained about 15 lbs. It was terrifying. Anyway, I've started back exercising and calculated my TDEE using IIFYM. I've been trying to stick to that, somewhat unsuccessful BUT I got back into a workout routine.

After starting working out (strength 2 days a week, cardio at least 5 days) I GAINED 4 lbs. I was also scared but I knew I felt healthier and better than I have in a long time. I have been keeping to it and after a couple days finally shed some of the water weight and dropped like 3 lbs over night. And now the scale seems to be creeping SLOWLY down as I continue. And this is over about 2 weeks so not even that long.

So point is, yes you might gain weight doing TDEE at the start, but it will start paying off. Keep with it.

Also I think someone did mention that you are doing TDEE wrong. You do not calculate base then eat calories. I would also like to point out that most things that calculate "calories burned" are terribly inaccurate. Also, they tend to tell you the TOTAL burned calories not NET burned calories, which also makes a huge difference, i.e., (making up numbers here, don't quote me) sitting for an hour burns 20 calories. If you walk for an hour, your meter says you burned 100 calories, so you think "yay I can eat another 100 calories!" WRONG. You can eat 80 calories, because that is your NET over sitting on your butt for an hour. See the difference? If you eat that 100 calories you end up 20 calories OVER. "Eating back" calories IMO is usually a crapshoot at best. Which is why I like the TDEE-X% method.

Anyway - for TDEE you should calculate based on your current activity level (usually somewhere in the average 3-5 days a week for most people) minus whatever % and eat that EVERY DAY. It could be 1700-1900 calories or more depending on your variables. Then do your workouts as normal but DON'T "eat back" calories. This even counts on off days.

Anyway, sorry this got long. But keep with it and good luck to you.

At your weight, a 20% deficit from TDEE is too aggressive. Try 15%. And yes, you can lift heavier, and it will help you more than 1000 reps with 2 to 3 lb weights. I'm smaller than you are, and TDEE-15% for me is 1700 calories. I don't do any cardio. I just lift heavy 3 times per week. At 1700 calories per day, I'm losing half a pound per week, on average.

I'm curious about your lifting routine. I'm trying to get into it myself. Do you mind sharing?

Your BMR is 1428 according to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ You shouldn't be going under this number even if you eat back your all exercise calories with your base calories you are only netting 1400, this is probably why you are stalling.
I agree with others that so close to goal you should be aiming for TDEE - 15% or even -10%

The problem with weighing only once in a while is that for all you know, you've lost weight in the mean time but only gained back temporarily because of water weight.

This is why I'm actually a proponent of daily weighing, at least for a few weeks. By weighing daily, you can actually see these volatile changes people are talking about. Once you accept those as "normal", a +2 on the scale won't seem like a big deal...because you will likely have seen several +2s along the way (and some just as seemingly random -2s).

And some people hate it, but for me it helps me get past those freak outs as well. I do it constantly now (mostly for data collection and not for concern at all). When you start constantly seeing yourself go up 10 lbs and over time you keep losing...you stop getting concerned when it happens and have more of a wicked! Haven't done that in a while I musta killed it approach...that first while can be concerning though. But so is the weekly and monthly weighing sometimes as you can tell by the chart above depending on when you weigh.

I weigh daily also. If it doesn't drive you crazy I think it can be helpful, but you have to go into it expecting daily fluctuations. I actually learned that going to the beach makes me gain 3 lbs, almost exactly.

Unless I'm confused about the tdee method, your tdee accounts for your exercise already... if you eat back your exercise cals you may be over eating...

anytime you change up your routine you will retain water for a while because your muscled are protecting themselves. Give it time

This is true, I flipped a couple of weeks ago after starting lifting because I gained 3 lbs in less than a week and it was just water weight thankfully