Changed goal to TDEE but gained!

Give it time. Your body is adjusting to having more calories.

Pretty much proves how much you were undereating previously.

Think and do the math.

If you were losing 0.5 lb weekly, and we assume fat, that means a deficit daily of 250 calories.

If you eat 200 more daily, you still have a deficit of 50 calories, so obviously not gaining fat.

But what it proves is you were very depleted on glucose stores, your body finally got what it needed for the exercise type you do - and loaded up. Glucose stores with water, to the tune of 500 calories is 1 lb.

But that is also LBM, and that means increased metabolism.

And now you know one reason why metabolism drops quickly when you diet, almost instant less LBM.

I'm always surprised when I see someone who has been on MFP for a long time and lost a lot of weight get surprised/frustrated by what is completely normal weight fluctuation...? I "gain" and "lose" 1-3 lbs 3 times a week. Anyway, if you ate 1400 more calories this week than last week (200*7), that is not enough to cause a 1.4 lb gain. A 1.4 lb gain would need an extra almost 5000 calories. My guess is that you will "lose" 1.4 lbs in the next few days. :flowerforyou: good luck.

ETA if you were losing 1/2 lb per week on your previous level, I would expect to lose maybe 1/2 per 2-3 weeks if you up your calories by 1400 per week

It's okay. I was undereating as well, and it took 3 or 4 weeks for my body to adjust to normal eating again. The weight started to slide back down again. Patience, Padawan. Patience.

Same here. 1200+ eating back some exercise calories is how I lose .5 - 1 lb per week.

Eating TDEE-20% is actually maintenance for me, regardless of the fact that the math and physics there don't really make sense. if I raise my calories to my TDEE, I start gaining. C'est la vie, I guess.

Gain what exactly?

And since TDEE means maintenance, if it really was fat being gained, then that means you guessed your activity level wrong and had TDEE wrong.

Oh, it would take 250 calories daily over TDEE to gain 1 mere pound of fat or LBM in 2 weeks. Anything faster is water weight.

I upped my calories from 1200 to nearly 1850 and I DID NOT GAIN. I initially gained a pound, and that one was gone after a week.
It is scary and it seems so counter-intuitive at first, but if you are hungry and feel starved (as I did) your body is telling you something. Don't forget that if you're close to your bodyweight, you can't(shouldn't) loose as fast.

I also think I have been undereating. I have stuck to 1200 calories for 8 months and finally raised it to 1370 this month. If I go over, I gain "weight". If I go back to eating my normal 1370 or under, I lose it in just a couple of days. Lately I've taken a week off from MFP (for the first time since I started). I refuse to weigh myself more than once a week. It makes me a little less obsessive. Just give it time.

Gaaah the body is odd. Haha

I'm really confused by people suggesting that the OP is under-eating. She is a relatively small person and she says she was eating 1200 plus exercise calories and is now eating 1400 plus exercise calories. Her TDEE without exercise I'm guessing is around 1500 (using TDEE calculator and guessing age)? And it seems she was losing at the 1/2 lb per week level which makes sense to me. Maybe she was eating around 1500 (1200 plus exercise calories) and her TDEE was around 1800 with exercise?

What? If the TDEE is 1500 and she is eating 1400 PLUS exercise calories then she is eating above the TDEE and thus gaining.
I understood the OP to eat 1400 without exercise calories back, because that is the TDEE method.

I'm really confused by people suggesting that the OP is under-eating. She is a relatively small person and she says she was eating 1200 plus exercise calories and is now eating 1400 plus exercise calories. Her TDEE without exercise I'm guessing is around 1500 (using TDEE calculator and guessing age)? And it seems she was losing at the 1/2 lb per week level which makes sense to me. Maybe she was eating around 1500 (1200 plus exercise calories) and her TDEE was around 1800 with exercise?

What? If the TDEE is 1500 and she is eating 1400 PLUS exercise calories then she is eating above the TDEE and thus gaining.
I understood the OP to eat 1400 without exercise calories back, because that is the TDEE method.

LOL yes but she says eating exercise calories back with the 1200, so I assumed she meant with the 1400 too, or she'd be eating less now than before. Or maybe the same? (1200 plus exercise calories would be more than or equal to 1400 without adding exercise calories). And she never did say TDEE MINUS anything so I was just assuming that she wasn't speaking about the "TDEE method" the way most people do.

My dietician has told me twice to increase my calorie intake, and I have resisted. The first time I didn't listen, and I only lost 2 lbs in a month. I was eating 1270, sometimes eating back what I exercised. Now I'm going to listen. She wants me to eat 1500-1600 a day, My BMR is 1650, and I've been working out 4-5 times a week. I don't get on the scale at home any more, and I don't go back to see the dietician until Sept 26. All I've been reading on MFP has made me a believer - so I'm going to do what she said, and hope for the best.

When I changed over to TDEE-20% I was told to be patient. There will be some fluctuation up and down before the real losses will start. About 3-4 weeks, and that was right on the money!

Same here. 1200+ eating back some exercise calories is how I lose .5 - 1 lb per week.

Eating TDEE-20% is actually maintenance for me, regardless of the fact that the math and physics there don't really make sense. if I raise my calories to my TDEE, I start gaining. C'est la vie, I guess.

Gain what exactly?

1.5 lbs over 6 weeks at the TDEE from my FitBit.

And since TDEE means maintenance, if it really was fat being gained, then that means you guessed your activity level wrong and had TDEE wrong.

Yeah, I'm not really guessing, I go by my FitBit calculation, which isn't perfect of course but is still a lot more accurate than picking "lightly active" from a checklist.

Oh, it would take 250 calories daily over TDEE to gain 1 mere pound of fat or LBM in 2 weeks. Anything faster is water weight.

That's why I've been experimenting in 6-week increments.

10 months at 1200+some exercise calories = .5 - 1 lb per week weight loss.
6 weeks at or slightly under FitBit-calculated TDEE = an extra 1.5 lbs that wasn't going away regardless of sodium intake, TOM fluctuations, etc.
8 weeks now at TDEE-20% = maintenance.

Meh. It's not so bad.

Then the fitbit is over-estimating your TDEE or you are eating more than you think.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

It's water weight and it is normal. Frustrating but normal. Friday I was 123.6 and today I was 129.6. I ate at or under my calorie limit all weekend. The culprit? BACON. I eat bacon on the weekends, still fits my diet, and the sodium always makes me retain some water. Don't like seeing the heavier weight on the scale but not quite enough to stop eating my bacon!! lol

remember that TDEE, by every method available, is inherently inaccurate. It's a good ballpark, but you can't expect to be right on the money based on an impersonal formula. In reality, there is no real accurate formula. Muscles get more efficient or less efficient based on activity and strength level. BMR changes slightly every day. Water weight changes things. Chemical balances cause slightly different efficiencies in nutrient absorption on a daily basis. It may be only a handful of calories in one direction or another, but when you're talking about a 200-calorie change to hit the bullseye of some mythical number... it just doesn't work that way. Not to mention that your activity level is almost certainly different from day to day, and calorie counting is an imperfect science at best. One cup of milk will have a different calorie count from the next. A box of raisins might not weigh *exactly* the number of grams it says on the back. Chickens from one farm may have a gram or two more or less protein per 4 oz breast... and a breast is almost never 4oz on the nose. again, just it's just a few calories this way or that, but overall it is simply impossible to be perfectly accurate.

You have to pay attention to what you body is telling you. TDEE is an *estimate* and should be treated as such. Don't buy the hype. Use it properly, as an estimate, and remember that calorie counting is also an estimate. If you're not hungry at 1200 calories per day, you're getting enough of the vital nutrients, and you're seeing the results you want in BF%, the image in the mirror, and overall weight... why change it? On the other hand, if your body is telling you it needs more food, then by all means, feed it!