Your BMI is under 21, which is low-normal. I'm taking a presumptuous guess that you have a history of restricting calories and maybe disordered eating? I could be totally off-base, and I apologize if I am, but I've seen several times a (typically) woman change to a low carb diet in the hopes that they could stop the painful restriction, and they immediately start to gain weight. My theory in these cases is that they are starting to rebuild lean mass that had been compromised. Since this happens faster than fat loss, it causes a net expanse of size, too. Very few people who are already very intolerant of weight changes stick it out to see what happens next. If this does not fit your case, then forgive and ignore the above.

As to the fat percent, I would say that it is a reflection of a lower water retention. When on a low carb diet, which is a diuretic, you store less water, and that is known to effect the accuracy of those impedance scales. [Edit: That is, dehydration will increase the reading.]

Hey, add some carbs! Im serious. You seem to be stressing over this a little to much. An apple or some berries wont pack on a pound of fat! Im sorry to be so upset about this but I cant stand when I see people think that carbs are the enemy. Sure you can eat to much carbs but you can also eat to little! EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT and the paleo diet is not a exact diet, it is a base for which you build YOUR optimal diet. What you eat depends on your current body type, your background, health issues and what your goals are. Just because some people eat low carb and it works does not mean it will work for you. As long as your diet is CLEAN there are much more important factors then you macro nutrient ratios such as sleep, stress state, when you eat... etc. Check out perfect health diet and jackkruse.com for different variations. Please do not get stuck on low carb because it does not work. Ive experimented with pretty much everything and that is what you need to do to find success. Find what yours for you and stick with it until it doesnt then try something new.

Sorry for the rant but that is my 2 cents.

If you are 5'9" and 140, your BMI is around 20 ... which is certainly in the right range. So if you are visibly fat, what that says to me is that you need to stop worrying so much about the number on the scale and start concentrating on increasing lean body mass. That is what will drop your body fat percentage, and over time, will also help you drop excess body fat.

Check out this SuppVersity post, especially the section on Stanley Smith. Oh, and check out the Strong is the New Skinny blog for inspiration!

The only thing that any of us can really be sure about is that we are not equipped to consciously judge our calorie needs. Counting calories is great and all, but if you have the wrong target it can only end badly. Relax, have a big satisfying meal sometimes, eat the next one when you're hungry. If you're really storing fat then there's something amiss in your calculations, and as pointed out there's any number of things that could be. So let your body sort it out for you.

We always start by asking what kind and how much protein/fat you're eating, as well as any stress/fatigue issues you may have.

If I go low-fat, I have to stay at or under 1200 calories per day. On high-fat high-protein moderate-carbs I don't measure anything and my appetite naturally allows a one-pound weight loss every week or two.

Protein has to drive the whole thing--protein shuts down the appetite, the fat just makes the protein taste good and go down easy, and 60-80g of carbs per day slows the weight loss but doesn't stop it. You don't need to eat fat for it's own sake, just to balance the protein (for me, about 2 grams of fat for each gram of protein including the fat I use with some of the carbs.)

That's the kind of info we need from you.

EDIT: I know the fat gain is troubling; is this measuring tape or scale measurement? Many of us distrust scales because weight fluctuates so much for reasons having nothing to do with diet. Have you tried intermittent fasting at all? Or eating different amounts of carbs from day to day? Eating carbs only in the evening? Those are all things that work for some people.

aside from the important statements that

a) chances are that your are eating not enough, and

b) defining "not enough" by counting calories let alone using calculators, will get you no-where but into eating disorders

i have two additional things to add

1) throw away your body fat scale. The figures it is showing you tell you nothing, follow Beth's advice and read my blogpost on how to lose weight healthily and take to the heart what I am writing about using a mearusing tape instead of a scale to measure your progress.

2) reintroduce reasonable amounts of carbs to your diet (for a rational on what is reasonable read this blogpost of mine > http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2011/06/carbohydrate-shortage-in-paleo-land.html - for you, I would start with ~80g NOT from GRAINS, but rather from fruit and higher carb veggies like carrots etc.; if you are working out at least 3x a week go to 100-120g of carbs (and if you /for whatever ideological resaon/ insist on being hardcore paleo, have part of those from tubers)

3) if you insist on going even low(er)-carb (which I have found works mostly only as long as you are pretty chubby, which you are not / don't trust the scale) then PLEASE do me a favor and understand that LOW CARB MEANS HIGH FAT and what you are eating is almost only protein. The result is that your cortisol skyrockets and your liver spills out TONS OF GLYCOGEN it is making from the proteins you ingest so that you do not starve, because you do not give your body enough energy in the forms of FATs or CARBs.

kind regards

Adel aka Dr. Andro

How's your sleep? -if youre not getting AT LEAST 8 hours a night, you won't see fat loss. Period.

Are you working out? -If not, what do you expect?

If you are, are you overtraining? -This is probably worse than not training at all.

STOP COUNTING -this could cause you to chronically diet and damage your metabolism

I'm gonna go against the paleo grain here and say you're not eating enough calories. Admittedly, I have a history as a chronic calorie-counter so I'm a little biased, but based on my own experiences and anecdotes I've heard from others, particularly those with a high activity level such as yours, I know that sometimes eating too few calories can stall weight loss. A temporary increase in calories can help to kick-start things again. (Don't ask me about the mechanism behind this because I'm not even sure there is one!)

That said, I think you're at a fantastic weight (:

Beyond making sure you are eating at LEAST your daily caloric allowance, I would check to make sure your macronutrient ratios are in order.

Log a day or two of your calories (every bite that goes in your mouth) on fitday.com. It's free. Then check to make sure that protein is the HIGHEST % of calories going into your bod. That's the stuff that's going to help you lean out and build muscle. Next, look at carbs and fat. If your fat levels are through the roof, your body isn't going to be able to get rid of it's own fat very easily. Same goes for carbs. I try to keep those two percentages even with each other on the fitday chart, and try to score as high as I can with protein by eating lean cuts of meat, chicken, fish, etc.

Also, are you lifting? Lift! It's the best way to tone up and tell your body to let go of the squishy bits.

Get your beauty sleep.