I know you said you didn't want maths, but it can't be avoided.

11lb of fat is 38,500 calories. For you to have gained that in fat, that's what you would have needed to overeat by. If you ate the 1600 every day for the last 4 weeks, you've only eaten 11,200 calories more than you were at 1200 a day. So you haven't gained fat. You also cannot gain fat while eating at a deficit.

It's completely normal to gain weight, however, after upping your calories. How long were you at 1200 for? If you've been eating that for a while, your body can take time to adjust. You also mention that you've upped your lifting and cardio intensity. That in itself can make you retain water.

I know it's hard but you need to stick at it, I would give it 3 months before you start to worry. it will level out. And what's the alternative? Your TDEE is 1200 calories and you have to eat this for the rest of your life or you will gain?

What are your stats? How did you calculate your TDEE?

Oh sweetie, so sorry that you're having a rough time. :sad: Most of us have been there, and we totally understand.

No, it's not a crock. Unfortunately, the diets that we've done before hand, that let us to this point are.

Not only have they damaged our metabolisms to the point that eating a semi-normal amount of food causes us to gain, but they've also skewed our vision and expectation of how long these things should take (while, at the same time, making them take even longer when it comes to rehabilitation.).

You're definitely not alone… And we've tried our best with the stickies, videos, website, e-book, and resources page, to make sure that everyone goes into this process with eyes wide open. It's not going to be a walk in the park. That part of the process is for certain. This is in no way a quick fix.

I truly encourage you to check out some of those resources before continuing (all links are on the website, and the front page of this support forum). You need to be completely sold out on this process. You have to understand why you were doing it, what doubts you may encounter, and decide if the results are worth it to you. Those of us who have made it to the other side can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that is it. But only you can decide that for yourself. And it's best done with full knowledge and understanding of the process.

This process does not play by your typical "dieting" rules.

If you look through the resources page on the eat more to weigh less website, you'll see that this is not a flash in the pan concept. The certainty of this has been widely known and excepted for longer than you would imagine. On that page you can find links to articles and videos written by *others* that verify this process, you don't have to just trust us.
http://eatmore2weighless.com/faqs/resources/

While you're there, why not check out some of the success stories, and stories of ladies that are still on their journey, so that you can see the process (and it's ups and downs) in more "real time" - it can be encouraging to hear it from those who have walked the path before you, or are still on it
http://eatmore2weighless.com/category/testimonials/transformations/

We try not to get overly focused on the math either, but you do need to know if you're truly eating enough, and where you're trying to get with your level of intake in the beginning. Although it sounds like you're doing a good job of slowly increasing calories, (which is usually best to avoid too much shock to the body upfront), it still sounds like you may be nowhere near your true intake levels should be.

Which I'm sure you don't care to hear right now, LOL.

Once you know those things and get into the right habits, the numbers won't matter as much. But, again you should go and check out all of the above mentioned resources and decide for yourself if this is for real. We do hope that you'll stick it out. It's so worth it!!


~Kiki

I made the same mistake as you, I increased my calories to 1600 and thought woo hoo let's see this work. After a month I was discourage went back down to 1400...then I started training even more because that's how you lose weight right? WRONG. I did this from September to December. This extended my plateau that I've been stuck in for about two years.

Finally, I really read and I really followed the process. Over the last 4 weeks I have upped my calories by marginal amounts until I got to my TDEE which is about 2500 (based on my fitbit). I decreased my workouts during this period because I had been over training (working out twice a day; lifting for 2 hours, doing HIIT, and endurance 6 days a week) too. In the last week I started back heavy lifting and while the scale is up a few pounds, I look leaner than I have in a while. Also, I have finally gained muscle/or lost fat for the first time in 7 months because my bodyfat is down.

Everyone is different, different strokes for different folks, but for me this is the first thing that has made sense in a while. Plus, it is manageble. I now eat more by breakfast than I used to eat all day and I'm not gaining weight. I plan do to an extended reset before I go into cut.

Good luck and trust the process!

I'm sorry that you are going through such a rough time. Please keep in mind that EM2WL is a process and not really a quick way to lose weight. It actually takes a long time, especially if you've been eating low calorie for an extended period of time. I also found it to be more of a mental challenge than anything else!

I had to do 2 metabolism resets to get to the point that I'm at now. I started doing EM2WL back in May 2012. I gained approximately 25 pounds in the process. Since January I have managed to lose about 8 pounds eating at about a 15-20% cut. I realize most people on here don't recommend more than a 15% cut. However, given that I love to eat I was getting really close to my maintenance when I was eating at 10-15%. It's all about figuring out your personal numbers and what works for you.

I hope that helps!

Athena

I made the same mistake as you, I increased my calories to 1600 and thought woo hoo let's see this work. After a month I was discourage went back down to 1400...then I started training even more because that's how you lose weight right? WRONG. I did this from September to December. This extended my plateau that I've been stuck in for about two years.

Finally, I really read and I really followed the process. Over the last 4 weeks I have upped my calories by marginal amounts until I got to my TDEE which is about 2500 (based on my fitbit). I decreased my workouts during this period because I had been over training (working out twice a day; lifting for 2 hours, doing HIIT, and endurance 6 days a week) too. In the last week I started back heavy lifting and while the scale is up a few pounds, I look leaner than I have in a while. Also, I have finally gained muscle/or lost fat for the first time in 7 months because my bodyfat is down.

Everyone is different, different strokes for different folks, but for me this is the first thing that has made sense in a while. Plus, it is manageble. I now eat more by breakfast than I used to eat all day and I'm not gaining weight. I plan do to an extended reset before I go into cut.

Good luck and trust the process!

Totally love this! Thanks for sharing your success.

One of two things can be happening:

1. You have suppressed your metabolism from chronic dieting.

2. You are eating more than you think you are. Which is quite common and not done intentionally. Here is a link to a study that shows Registered Dieticians underreported their calories as often (though not by as large an amount) as untrained women.
http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=379

So you ate in total 1500 calories along with exercise taking some of that off the top?

And then you ate in total 1200 doing the same?

Or that was NET 1500 and 1200? Just to get a scheme of damage done to your body. If you treated it as gross, what were the calorie burns you think?

And you saw no weight loss or inches lost?

Ya, when you jumped up to whatever level you have been eating at, that was all in surplus until your body decided to start adapting energy use up.

Just the opposite of when you were losing weight and it adapted down, causing the weekly loss to get smaller and smaller until no more loss.

You besides the probably max 3 lbs water weight because of finally storing more glucose, and the 2 lbs with doing your workouts, you were probably easily 750 over actual TDEE for who knows how long, so 1.5 lbs a week.

Now, with a strong lifting workout, that won't all be fat, but women can't gain muscle that fast, so yes, much was fat.

Should have increased calories slowly as many suggest. Well, lesson learned for passing on advice to others now.

If you are still gaining - drop the calorie back down too, no need increasing your weight until it causes your TDEE to match what you are eating too. Because at that point with enough weight, your potential TDEE is actually higher.

What was your gain last week, and what did you eat that week on average, or at least log?
Current TDEE for that week can be calculated then, and you can hang out at that level for a week, before increasing again if need be.

Also, with that extreme of a diet previously, you probably lost some muscle mass, I didn't see how much strength training you were doing during that whole time, so maybe not.

But suggest getting a bodyfat estimate and using Katch BMR as basis to the math.

Oh yeah, for a good a read of what you did to yourself - especially your comment as to no loss, so ate less and exercised even more.
http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage

Everyone can lose weight on a reasonable deficit. It's merely eating less than you burn.
But instead of blindly accepting a calorie goal you don't understand how it got there and have no idea if good for you in the scheme of things, it encourages an understanding of how your body works.

I'm still shocked by how many people get a daily activity tracker and had no clue they burned calories all day. Boy do our schools fail to truly educate on some important stuff.