Wrk out 5x's a wk eat 1200 cals but gaining lbs HELP!

There's no way you're only eating 1,200 calories and working out 5x per week. My guess is that you're seriously under-estimating your food intake.

Plenty of women lose weight while exercising eating 1,800 to 2,000 calories or more per day.

Just to give an alternative view, I was on 1200 calories for the first couple of months and losing pretty much 2lb per week.

IMHO 1200 calories is far too low. You are likely stalling your metabolism and making further weight loss difficult. I would add more calories but look how your macros (protein, fat, carbs) are coming into play. Keep protein high to support muscle (more muscle present means more fat burned) time your carb intake to right when you wake up or right before/after you workout, and keep fat to under 20-25% of your total caloric intake.

Being smart about what you are eating can often be more important than how much you eat. Good luck!

Agreed. Eating smart is better than blindly following an MFP calorie quantity. Fuel your work outs and take in protein. No carbs late at night.

Eating carbs late at night has no impact on weight loss if you are in a deficit.

For the past 4wks I have been busting my butt trying to lose weight and at first it was working. Now I'm at week 5 & instead of the scale going down it keeps going up. I am super discouraged and don't know what to do. I am working hard just to get the opposite of what I'm working for (such is life for me)...

Does anyone have any advice that would help? Please be nice, I'm already down on myself enough ????

Reading OP's post carefully, she HAS lost weight - 5lb in 4 weeks which is pretty good progress.
Now she has had 1 week when she gains.

This does not mean her plan is not working or she is eating more than she thinks - it just means weight loss is not linear and some weeks show slight gain while others show loss.
As long as the overall trend is downward, then what you are doing is working fine.

Are you sure you are measuring and/or weighing your food intake? Another possibility . . . you may need more calories due to all the exercise. Your body may be in "starvation mode". Try upping the calories a 100 to 200 per day for about a week and see if there is a change.

IMHO 1200 calories is far too low. You are likely stalling your metabolism and making further weight loss difficult. I would add more calories but look how your macros (protein, fat, carbs) are coming into play. Keep protein high to support muscle (more muscle present means more fat burned) time your carb intake to right when you wake up or right before/after you workout, and keep fat to under 20-25% of your total caloric intake.

Being smart about what you are eating can often be more important than how much you eat. Good luck!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for not saying starvation mode . . . I cannot stress this enough!

OP - so basically if you're running on 1,200 calories/day and you made this switch from - let's say - 3,000 calories/day then at first you shocked your body into loosing a lot of weight because your body just isn't use to running on that little and of course you'll loose a lot. However, over time (and the amount of time is different for each person) your body will adapt to running on these calories so it's more efficient and works just as well without needing that many calories; your body learns to do basic, daily functions on 1,200 calories rather than on 3,00 when, at first, it was used to doing it on 3,000 calories so when it only got 1,200 there was a huge amount of energy needed to live and that resulted in a drop in weight.

What will then happen is if you increase dramatically for any reason, your body won't have a need for any extra calories and it'll be a gain for you, over your TDEE.

Further - are you sure you're eating what you track you're eating? No one will know but you, however being honest with yourself will give you the results you're looking for. If I eat a whole can of pringles, no one is going to come and scold me for it but I am scolding myself because the next day at the gym I feel so sluggish. You're only accountable to yourself, but this should be the most important thing you do. If you aren't honest about what you're eating, it just won't work. I am not saying eat this, not that - what you eat is up to you. But just be honest about it, log it, see how you feel about it in relation to the other things you eat and move on. Don't dwell on it and say since you ate that on Thursday, the whole week is done might as well wait until Monday. Naw - I've had days where I ate McDonald's for lunc and did spin at 5:30; those are the days I probably need it the most, too.

What kind of exercises are you doing? I also find MFP grossly, grossly over estimates the amount of calories it says you burn from various exercises.

Also, are you weight training? Simply put more muscle = more calorie burn, even at rest. So if you have more muscle you will burn more calories doing the same exercises. This can be helpful, depending on what your ultimate goal is; like if you want to run a marathon, weight training is pointless but some kind of cross training can be really helpful.

Last - but definitely certainly not least - it takes time. The weight didn't go on over night did it? Probably not (although it might seem like it some days), so it's not going to come off over night. It took me 2 years to lose and keep off 80 lbs (which was stage 1) and I still have 80ish to go. It takes so much effort and constant attention to your health to get back into it once you've gained it and I know it's hard because you think "Well it definitely didn't take this much effort to gain all of this, why does it take so much to lose it?" It's really hard to stay healthy sometimes with all the distractions and "cheats" out there, but stay positive - it will happen if you stick to it

Edited for my bad spelling

When you workout do you do the same workout everyday? I did that one time a long time ago, and your body gets used to the same workouts and they no longer work for you. Make sure you are changing it up everyday

Are you sure you are measuring and/or weighing your food intake? Another possibility . . . you may need more calories due to all the exercise. Your body may be in "starvation mode". Try upping the calories a 100 to 200 per day for about a week and see if there is a change.

Starvation mode doesn't exist. Chances are she's eating more than she thinks she is.

I was discouraged also but I brought a measuring tape to take some measurements in my problem areas and found that I was not losing weight but I was losing inches....which helped me to regroup myself and stay the course!!

How can it keep going up?! Its only been 1 week you see a gain on the scale. Maybe water weight. It is not linear and can fluctuate weekly. I suggest weighing yourself once a week, ever 2 weeks or once a month. Give it some time. No need to be discouraged just yet.

Just to give an alternative view, I was on 1200 calories for the first couple of months and losing pretty much 2lb per week.

But you aren't on 1,200 calories now, meaning it isn't sustainable and is completely unrealistic.

Well, no, I hit my target weight. My point was that I didn't need to eat carbs at certain times of the day or worry about my percentage of fat. It was literally a case of calorie deficit.

ETA - so weight loss isn't sustainable, but 1200 was completely realistic for me.

I know what you mean I have been hitting the gym every day and my weight loss has stalled too. However, I measured myself just before starting the gym and have lost 2 inches of bust, waist and hips. Measure yourself you may see the difference there.

#1 - open your diary
#2 - you are most likely not eating 1200 calories
#3 - 1200 calories is likely too low anyways.
#4 - read the sexypants thread (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=sexypants&page=9#posts-20472751)

Scales fluctuate. It happens. Could be water retention.

You can put on five pounds before a period. Is it due? If I take in extra sodium, I'll go up a pound or two.

If you're doing things right, give it a couple more weeks before you determine it isn't working.

IMHO 1200 calories is far too low. You are likely stalling your metabolism and making further weight loss difficult. I would add more calories but look how your macros (protein, fat, carbs) are coming into play. Keep protein high to support muscle (more muscle present means more fat burned) time your carb intake to right when you wake up or right before/after you workout, and keep fat to under 20-25% of your total caloric intake.

Being smart about what you are eating can often be more important than how much you eat. Good luck!

Agreed. Eating smart is better than blindly following an MFP calorie quantity. Fuel your work outs and take in protein. No carbs late at night.

Oh really? And why is that? Please enlighten us.