Eating well within my calories but gaining weight

1- are you WEIGHING your food with a food scale? Anything that is NOT a liquid should be weighed. Liquids you can measure. NEVER just take the values off the package of food. Use that information to compare to your entry on the diary, but you have to know the weight of what you ate.
- for example, a serving a chips is 14 chips (28g) - if you count out 14 chips - and weigh them, I bet you $1,000 they don't weigh 28g. (this is just an example)

If you aren't this is most likely the problem. You are eating more than you think.
Also, when you log, be sure that you use the correct item from the database.

Can you open your diary? Are you using a food scale or measuring cups, as the latter will be more inaccurate and you're more likely to be eating more than you think.

You maybe under eating 1200 calories is not much and you have stated you do under eat (1100 calories)

Have you set your weight loss to 2 pounds a week? (this could be too aggressive, you may have to change it to 1 to 1 1/2 pounds a week.

or you have not logged things right, and have eaten more than you think.

LollerskateDJ wrote: »

mumblemagic wrote: »

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think#latest

Have a look at that post. Make sure you are logging everything you eat and drink - a latte can be a couple of hundred calories.

Are you eating back your exercise calories? If so, try only eating back half of them.

I'm not eating back my calories.

I eat mine back, because I like cake, but some people underestimate their calories and overestimate their exercise

If you only started on 26 Dec it's likely you haven't given your body enough time to do its thing. Continue eating as you are for another couple of weeks, being obsessive about weighing food, and if you are still gaining weight it may be time to nip to the doc.

Your diary is still closed. With the exception of newbie gains, you do not "gain" muscle in a deficit.

• Water retention
• You're still eating more than you think
• You're consuming a lot of salt (see point one)

Weigh your food, measuring cups and eye balling can be incorrect which means your food intake is not accurate.

We cannot help you if you do not open up your diary.

One other possibility is that your starting weight time differed from your last weigh-in. I don't know about others, but I weigh myself as soon as I get up after I pee for consistency. I am at my lightest then. After food and hydration from drinking liquids, I can weigh an additional two or three pounds. Another big factor is salt (is high in many "diet" foods including cottage cheese, canned tuna, non-fat feta cheese, canned beans, almond milk, broth, salad dressings...) which results in water weight or edema. For a day or two, try getting your 1200 calories from ONLY unsalted fresh fruits, vegetables, and pure protein (that doesn't contain added salt). The best are fresh pineapple, watermelon, citrus fruits, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, and chicken breast. Just eat those items for a day; nothing else. Drink lots of water to facilitate your kidneys in ridding your body of excess water weight. I can drop 3 or 4 pounds overnight doing this and keep it there as long as I avoid too many salty foods.