I gained 4 pounds this week....

Read the stickies at the top and start eating.

What??

+1

Has anyone actually looked at the OPs diary before responding?

You're training 1000+ calories a day. ASSUMING that's accurate and HRM supported, then you're undereating massively.

You usually only come in around 1100 cals meaning you're netting a measly 100 cals or so for your body to live on.

Read the stickies at the top and start eating.

What??

+1

Has anyone actually looked at the OPs diary before responding?

You're training 1000+ calories a day. ASSUMING that's accurate and HRM supported, then you're undereating massively.

You usually only come in around 1100 cals meaning you're netting a measly 100 cals or so for your body to live on.

^^ This- exactly what I said. One day you ate just over 1300 calories and evidently burned over 1600 calories. Your doctor may say to just eat when you're hungry- but does he know how much you're burning during exercise??

Of course, this is all assuming your food and exercise are correct.

Some of them are calculated on cardio machines- I enter my weight and age and it adds them up for me. Then I do crossfit workouts which I log as circuit training- and I always log 20 minutes less than what I actually do because I think MFP overestimates calories burned during circuit training. My workouts have been very intense lately- my gym owner picks them out. They last almost 2 hours and with my weight, I do think the calories burned are near accurate.

Cardio machines are innacurate (as I have compared them to my HRM results, and they can be off by over 100 calories in one workout). There are inexpensive HRM available online (ebay), so if you can afford it, it`s the best investment. It`s the most accurate way to calculate calories burned.

If you have been exercising it could be muscle increase and not fat.

No, it couldn't. For several reasons.

Assuming her diary is being correctly filled out, she's undereating by hundreds and sometimes thousands of calories a day. It is literally impossible to gain weight from either fat or muscle if you are on a calorie deficit. You can lose fat and you can gain muscle, but you cannot have a net gain between the two.

To the original poster. There are many days where you burn more calories from exercise alone than you eat. Do you really think this is a good idea? (Hint: No. It is a terrible idea and you are causing severe damage to your body). Read the stickies at the top and start eating.

this

yeah, this.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY she has gained ANY muscle. In fact, what muscle mass there is, is being eaten away at.

OP, you need to reassess your goals ASAP.
RUN, don't walk, over to the TOOLS section and calculate your BMR.

NEVER EVER EVER eat less than that in a day.

MFP has set you up with a goal to MEET, based on a deficit YOU have chosen (1 lb, 2 lb, whatever you chose). That GOAL is to ACHIEVE that loss.
But leaving another thousand (or more) calories on the table each day, you are forcing your body to survive on less than it takes to sustain your body EVEN IF YOU WERE IN A COMA.
That's right, your BMR is the amount of calories they would put in your IV/feeding tube/whatever should you be in a coma. Do you really think you can survive on less than that while up and about AND working out?

If your body is forced to survive on so little, it decreases your muscle mass to compensate and forces your BMR LOWER, so you can survive on less, and not DIE.

Once your BMR is screwed up and too low, if you go back to eating what should be "normal", you will GAIN weight. That is "starvation mode", or "adaptive thermogenesis", when your body lowers your BMR or "metabolism" if you will, to compensate for underfeeding.

MFP adds calories to your BMR based on your lifestyle (active, sedentary, etc) and gets your TDEE. This is your MAINTENANCE amount. The amount to eat to stay the same.
Then they SUBTRACT from the TDEE the deficit you chose, and there you have your GOAL. You EAT THAT GOAL to achieve the loss you chose.
Eating way less is killing you.

I never went over any of my calories, carbs, or sodium this week. I burned 3,000 calories in workouts this week. Yet this morning on my weekly weigh-in, the scale went up FOUR pounds!

I am really feeling discouraged about it because I have no idea what is going on. Can anyone offer any insight?

Thanks

*I do want to say that I am allowed 1,950 calories per day but I usually keep it down at 1,200-1,400.

If you exercise daily you are supposed to eat it back and make sure your net is AT LEAST 1500 ( since u said you are allowed to eat 1950 per day) however, if you do not do that you will not lose weight and like what happened you, u might even gain weight. this actually happened to me before. I didnt gain weight but I stayed the same despite my crazy workouts. so here is the deal
1) you can exercise every day but make sure your net is 1500 cals , meaning eat back your calories!
2) if you do not want to eat back your calories dont exerice! just eat 1450 - 1500cals a day ... try this for a week and see the result....
* Remeber to eat REAL FOODS.... Whole grains, veggies, fruit, nuts, protein, eggs etc

I am thinking your calories burned calculation must be off. Dont rely on machines they are not accurate. Get a heart rate monitor it is the most accurate way to calculate.

I had the same problem this week. Bump till I can go back to read all the responses.

At times if your not eating enough your body goes into starvation mode & holds on to everything you eat because it believes your starving it. diet is tricky. want to stay in the negative calric intake range but not at the cost of your body going into starvation mode or you will be stuck & can even gain. its weird but the more you work out & burn the more you have to eat. also may want to increase your protein intake. carbs makes you stop loosing weight. your body waist/burns more energy/calories off when you eat protien then it does when you eat carbs & even less when you eat fats. high protein, low carb is the name of the game to keep that metabolism firing all day long. i went from 467 pounds down to 198 in a year & 1/2 following this way of eating & still lossing. body fat dropped from over 50% to 15.5. still have lots to go but just so you can see. cardio is king when cutting weight as well as a good balanced diet. good luck to you.

I am thinking your calories burned calculation must be off. Dont rely on machines they are not accurate. Get a heart rate monitor it is the most accurate way to calculate.

THIS IS TRUE TOO... make sure you use MFP calculations. let MFP do everything for you. the Machines at the gym are absoultely INCORRECT.

This would be easier if this was an exact science, but it's not. And everyone's body responds differently. I can tell you that I have lost more weight by eating more rathern than eating less. So, try more smaller meals throughout the day to keep your metabolisim burning and don't put your body into starvation mode by under eating calories. Most of all, hang in there. Be patient. Stay postitive. And drink your water!