Weight gain

We're going to need a lot more info 😉

How long have you been trying to lose weight?
What are your stats (sex, age, height, current weight) and goal weight?
What have you been doing to lose weight? What is your calorie goal/what weight loss rate did you enter in MFP?
Are you logging your food, weighing your food and making sure you're using correct database entries?

Take a deep breath.

Forget the various things you keep hearing as to what *should* work.

And start to test things that you believe could work for you long term.

12lb gain in 5 weeks when trying to lose weight is not optimal. But there could literally be dozens of things going on.

First of all how often do you weigh? Do you weigh at the same place, at approximately the same time, and under similar conditions? Is your scale placed on a hard solid surface? Did you use the same scale both times?

Do you have visible water retention (swollen extremities for example), muscle pain, have you been going to the bathroom regularly?

Lastly but not leastly it really doesn't sound from your description as if you're actually logging your food (by weight not portion) and preferably before eating it!

Before even making wholesale changes in terms of what and how you eat, I would encourage you to explore the concept of logging your intake as accurately as you possibly can!

Trust me from personal experience when you're first starting to log and learning how to do it properly this simple act is enough to encourage you to cut down on calories just to save you some work 🤣

Jokes aside, there is a learning curve, you do get faster and it really does get way easier as you learn the ropes and your recent list populates with valid and confirmed entries

And it is more than worth the effort that you put in when you discover what food, drink, or condiment items are worthwhile enough for you to consume and which ones you would rather skip (in a relatiely impactless manner) in order to better and more easily meet your targets.

It's a trade-offs game. And being able to make and keep making the trades helps you win

One of my first MFP revelations was that I would gladly trade the oil-based dressing I was using in my salad for a second can of salmon. Increasing satiety with no increase in calories! That's a win❣️

Much later on I discovered that there were other things that I would trade for those 620 calories as they were even more filling for me and/or allowed me to save calories for chocolate!

But the process was established. Log. Review. Evaluate if it was worthwhile and if it helped you achieve the goal of sustainably continuing to head towards your goals.

And then go back and make even more choices that encourage sustainable success!