So, this is horribly embarrassing to admit, but despite my best efforts I am still getting fatter. I am starting to get to the point where it's interfering with my workout routine, which makes me very sad. I thought, "At least if I have to be fat I can also be fit," but what do you do when your weight gain starts making exercise that much harder?

Here's my routine and the issues:

Mon/Fri - Spin class = good workout but my belly fat gets in the way so it's harder to breathe when I'm leaning forward, in or out of saddle. In other words, through the entire workout! My legs have enough muscle that I can usually out-spin most girls in my class, but the breathing isn't as easy as it used to be.
Tues/Thurs - interval training on the elliptical or day off of exercise (no issues)
Wed - 30-min swim and 40-min hilly trail run. I feel like my belly fat is making it harder and harder to run or walk up steep hills. I have great aerobic capability on moderate hills, but steep hills have gotten increasingly hard.
Sat - 8-mile flat or 9-mile hilly run - no issues
Sun - 4 to 9-hour hike, moderate to steep climbs, low to high altitudes. On moderate or easier, I can keep up with my hiking group. But whenever we do steep climbs, I fall behind. It's not my legs; it's my lungs. I'm the fattest one in my group, and many of them don't run, so it has to be the extra weight holding me back.

:-( If I don't wear shorts or pants that are at least mid-thigh length, my thighs will scrape themselves raw and take days to heal. I miss wearing shorts on hikes in hotter weather.

I am hoping--PRAYING--the weight gain turns out to be my thyroid, because I don't know if I can keep doing the things I love if I'm too fat. It's easy to feel motivated to exercise if you're at least staying at maintenance level, but it's making me feel sad even while exercising, because I feel like my own body is betraying me... How do you deal with depression that affects you even while doing something as zen as exercise???

You keep going. LOL. That's all you do, when you are still "too fat" to "do things"... And in all honesty, you are not too fat to do ANYTHING that you mentioned. Not to poo-poo your efforts, but this is one of those posts where I was all 'i wish I weighed 170!' and at this point, if I DID weigh 170, I'd hardly call myself fat. I'm a big (lol) supporter of talking about myself in a nice and confident way. If I don't let others call me names, I'm sure as hecks not gonna do it to myself.

IMO, stop calling yourself fat. RIGHT NOW. About 75% of this weight loss stuff is mental, at least I think it is. They also say that abs are made in the kitchen... What are you eating? You can work out till high heaven, but until you change what/how much you eat, you won't see as many results.

Also? I don't think your belly fat has anything to do with how your lungs are performing. If you feel THAT out of breath when you do certain activities, but can run an 8 or 9 mile run, and be okay with "no issues" then I would see a doctor about more than just my thyroid.

Good luck. Sorry if I sounded harsh...

I no longer weigh 170lb. I forgot to update the ticker. Now it's 177lb. I've gained 7 lb in a year of increased exercise and dieting. In December, I felt that I'd plateaued, so I started assuming my calorie intake for maintenance must be lower than normal people. I was assuming 2000cal to maintain; now I am assuming 1800cal to maintain. On most days I eat 1800-2100cal but burn 300-1200cal exercising and working at an active job. I get one fast food meal per week--1200cal--and I make sure it's on a day when I've hiked 4+ hours or run at least 8 miles. I do drink, but I make it myself, so I know exactly how many fluid oz and calories are going into my mouth. Any given cocktail I make is always half fruit juice, and is 400-500cal.

I hate sugar and sweets, love vegetables, and never snack between meals. I've forgotten what it's like to eat dessert--I don't think I've had dessert in a year. I also spend 30-90min cooking my dinners from scratch 6 days a week. I weigh my meat portions--sometimes twice, because it's the most fattening thing I eat. Lunch is always....ALWAYS....a 300-400-calorie salad and a piece of fruit. I hate salad. I miss being able to eat lunch out like my coworkers, who eat pizza and sandwiches and Thai food and pasta.

I feel like I'm going crazy (hence the measuring my food intake twice).

The running is okay because I'm not bending over while I'm doing it. I have to lean over for spinning, and that's where the belly fat gets in the way. Having a large stomach does press on your diaphragm. I feel like it's just overall weighing more that is making climbs harder to do all of a sudden.

You mentioned thyroid, and I wanted to chime in because your struggle sounds so similar to what I went through.

When I was 27 I was living a super active life- I ran, biked, rock climbed, hiked, etc. and I was very healthy with a low body fat percentage. I turned 28 and started gaining weight- 10 lbs a year. All the exercise, dieting etc. didn't help. I gained 10 lbs a year for 9 years. One doctor tested my thyroid but he was using old, outdated lab values and didn't understand I was hypothyroid based on the newer standards. Finally after 9 years, my thyroid labs got to the point that by any standard I was considered hypothyroid. I got put on replacement thyroid hormone and since then I can lose weight. It's not effortless by any means, but I can finally lose! And when I'm not losing, I can maintain without gaining!

I hope you are able to find your answer!

You're eating too many calories which is why you aren't losing. For your height/weight you need to be at approx 1,535 a day even with exercise.

I was just going to say that. I'm 5'7" too, and I'm losing at 1350... I got my BMR from here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I don't eat back my hour of elliptical, my 25mins of running or my weight lifting burned calories, or my 3-times-a-week-zumba.. For you to be THAT active, and measuring things that closely.. I'd have to agree that you are eating more calories than you think. Do you have any idea what you burn a day?

And if it makes you feel any better, I'd like to be 177 too, lol. I can't seem to break the 100-lost-barrier!

Is there anything that you might not be accounting for in your diet?

Er, my BMR is 1603cal. However, you are supposed to put that number into the Harris Benedict Equation to figure out what you should eat based on your activity level.

With my activity level--medium-distance running, spin classes, hard-core hiking, and an active job as an engineer--I fall under very active. In that case, if the site you linked me to is to be trusted, I would multiply 1603 times 1.725. This gives me the off-the-wall number of 2765 daily calorie intake needs! **** no, I couldn't eat that much if I wanted to. So I try plugging my BMR into a "moderately active" level. I get...drum-roll...2484cal! Uh...even on my hardest exercise days I don't eat that much. That, for me, would be a severe cheat day. Like, a day I went to Disneyland or something. I'm pretty sure this site is not a good dieting source for me. If I ate that much I'd gain even faster.

If you're only using your BMR and exercising, you do need to eat back some calories if subtracting your exercise makes you below 1200cal total. At that point your body would go into starvation mode.

Personally, I couldn't eat 1350 and do the exercise routines I do plus my job. If there's a day when I'm too tired to work out, I do eat 1300-1500cal and am fine. However, if I work out my muscles need food. (I do have lots of muscle, despite being overweight.) Here's a specific breakdown of what I burn:

Monday - 60-minute spin class, 150-200watts, and about 20 min of warm-up/cooldown at an average of 115watts. 540cal
Tuesday - interval training on the elliptical, at levels 8/10. Using HR monitor rather than the elliptical's cal burn meter, I burn 375cal. HR stays over 160 the entire time.
Wednesday - swim 30 (I am fast), and run 40 on a hill trail. 700cal
Thursday - 375cal, same as Tues, though sometimes I will take this day off exercise if too tired
Friday - 540cal, same as Mon
Saturday - run 90-100min (8-9 miles). assumed 900cal burnt (the rule of thumb is 100cal/10min for running)
Sunday - HARD hike. 4-9 hours, sometimes at 10,000ft, with 1500ft-elevation gain at the very least. a 4-hour hike, excluding hard climbs, burns 1900cal.

In all of this, by the way, I don't include my job, which involves at the very least 60min a day of walking, carrying heavy equipment and climbing stairs. I spend at least 15 min a day carrying 135-lb cryogen containers, and at least another 30 rolling 300lb+ equipment around. On a busy day, I'm on my feet doing this for 6 hours. I eat dinner out once a week, so I'm also on my feet cooking 30-90min every day.

If I tried to follow this routine eating only 1500cal, my muscles would give out and I couldn't complete the workouts. I'm only fine eating 1500 if I'm not working out. This, I suppose, could be another symptom of hypothyroidism. I have the extreme fatigue issues that go with it, along with almost every other symptom, and the fatigue might be why I couldn't eat 1500cal and still do what I do. Either way, I'm hoping the bloodwork next week yields something, so my hard work will actually start paying off.

:-( I am tired of people assuming I pig out when I don't. I account for everything, and I am not one of those women who can't pass up candy at work or potato chips at home. (We don't even have any snacks available at home.) As an engineer, I'm actually rather number-obsessed and I sort of enjoy calculating what I've eaten.

p.s. My body temperature, even after being awake and walking around, is 97.6 degrees F. I'm pretty sure that's indicative of something being physically wrong with my metabolism. I spend most of my day wanting a nap, and only really feel awake while doing something physical. But as soon as I stop, I go right back to sleepiness.

Be that as it may, your body is telling you that you are eating/burning about the right number of calories to to maintain your weight. If you want to lose, you'll need to cut back a bit. (You're very active, so burning more seems like the wrong approach.)

I'd start by skipping the juice in your alcohol. A gin and diet tonic or a glass of wine has way less than 400-500 calories! Juice is just empty calories: personally I'd rather have more booze or more real food!

The one thing about cocktails, though, is that drinking hard alcohol undiluted is harder on your system. Fruit juice diluting the alcohol is easier on your stomach and liver, and replenishes electrolytes you're losing when you drink. Also, fruit juice does have vitamins and (sometimes) potassium. We mostly use unsweeted apple juice, orange juice w/ calcium, or lemon/lime juice. Also, I mistrust diet sodas and artificial sugars, to the point where I just don't drink soda at all. If I'm ever out in a restaurant, I get water or unsweetened iced tea.

Your body is telling you that whatever you are doing isn't helping you lose weight.

You've gotten some suggestions here, and now its up to you to decide what to do. Coming back with a reason why everyone is wrong, isn't going to help you lose weight.

I am going to try the BMR method for a couple months to see if that works. I found a BMR site that had a slightly different calculation of it that gave me what seemed like a more reasonable number. (2300 cal burnt each day; "moderate" lifestyle setting) In the meantime, hopefully my blood work results will give me a way out of the constant fatigue, so I can have hobbies in addition to working out and working.

OK, first of all, a rising/first morning body temperature of 97.6 is normal for women, especially pre-ovulation. it's probably a bit higher post-ovulation, dropping a bit before TTOM. It if were in the 96 degree range upon waking, then you might have reason to be concerned.

Second, unless you have a SUPER tiny frame, no way are you 'fat' at 177 and 5'7". That is almost a slap in the face to me and many others who weigh about the same and are fit (my body fat percentage is around 25-29%). And too fat to exercise? Spinning? Your belly fat is slowing you down?

Your fitness level is probably not at their level. Sure, hauling a bit more weight will make it harder, but not so much so that you can't compensate for it with improved fitness. This is mostly a mental thing in your head.

And anyone saying that eating 1800 calories a day with all the exercise she is doing is too much is WAY off. She should be losing if her calorie count is accurate and she's working out/pushing herself hard. There is no reason to have to cut calories back to lose weight. it will just be a slower loss at 1800 than at 1500. Going lower than 1500 with all that exercise is not reasonable, in my opinion. and not necessary.

I'm 185 and 5'9" and my belly fat gets in the way during biking. I think we can just let each other have our own experiences in our own bodies and not start judging who is allowed to want to lose weight or change their body.

No one is slapping you in the face. You say you are fit, then you are fit. If QueenofThorn and I say our bellies are in the way during biking, then they are in the way during biking. Our bodies are our own.