I got down to 163 in Feb last year by going low sugar, counting calories, and exercising. Then I got sick over the summer and super busy at work and gained back 20.

Now I'm feeling the same thing isn't working...I've been stuck and or gaining/losing the same 3 pounds for awhile now.

ARRRGGH

Change it up. Are you tracking intake accurately? Either you are eating too little and exercising too much or eating too much and exercising too little.

Try tweaking the diet or upping the workouts.

How many calories are you eating?

I had to make major modifications. Some of me regain was due to some metabolic shift and I had to kick it harder. It took me awhile to embrace that.

MTA: I had an extended illness last year and something about that put my metabolism to sleep. Once I revved it up for a period of time I feel like it is slowly starting to awaken and I will eventually be back closer to what I was before as far as program.

Thanks, ladies. I don't know what it is. It's very unlikely I'm eating too little , but I do exercise quite a bit. Part of the problem, I think, is that when I do a lot of exercise, I get very hungry, and so I eat. It's literal hunger, not emotional hunger or thirst. I know that for sure. I have to be *really* careful to eat particular things that fill me to combat this, and I don't always succeed in battling the hunger. For example, I know that steel-cut oatmeal works, and brown rice and beans work to fill me. Usually I succeed in keeping my calorie count with those even if I get hungry. But on those days when I don't, LOOK OUT. 1800 calories has worked before, and with the riding/running I do, I really cannot go below that or I don't have energy for the longer rides/runs. That is what I am trying to keep to, and I start dropping when I do that, but then I get HUNGRY.

OK - see this is a whole other problem of which I know!

Instead of trying to do continuous 1800 you may need to really start to focus on fueling specific workouts and specific days. I burned 1800 calories from exercise last wednesday. Trying to stick to 1800 calories that day would be both futile and not beneficial to future workouts.

Making sure you take in adequate recovery food immediately following a long ride or run can do a LOT to stave off hunger the rest of the day. I was amazed at how much less I ate overall (and better quality) if I didnt skimp the post long workout recovery meal(s). 3-1 carb/protein. Minimum 3-400 calories, but lets be real here. If you just burned 1500 calories in one workout it needs to be more than that or the glycogen stores will not recover and the body will clamor for food. The difference for me between coming back from a 20 mile run and eating 7-800 recovery calories and 400 as far as what happened at dinner that night is enormous. PLAN more calories so you dont get into "DAMMIT I AM HUNGRY what's lying around?"

Likewise, fuel for the big workout. If you know you will be having a big workout, the meal before (either dinner the night before or breakfast, whatever) might have a couple hundred more calories in carbs than you might otherwise do. On low or recovery days, then you can eat slightly less (not a ton I find, but a little)

On the other hand...be aware that if you are eating to lose, you WILL have less energy for the workouts. You cant run a deficit and not feel it. So pick and choose. Not every workout every day is important to what you want to achieve. It feels icky but going out for a medium length medium effort workout underfueled isnt going to kill you. It can actually squoosh your appetite. Fuel for the 3 most important workouts of the week and let the rest suffer energy if need be.

And if you create a steady deficit eventually you adapt and after about 3 weeks, your body adjusts to the underfueled workout and energy improves. You just gotta get through those 3 weeks.

There are a lot of times on here people will advise "Dont eat back your exercise" meaning they dont eat more on days they workout more. But at some level of training you have to to a certain extent. I started focusing for awhile on trying to maintain a specific deficit, not a specific calorie count. That gave me a LOT of calories on days like last wednesday, actually more than I wanted to eat. But if my deficit goes over about 1000, then the workouts the next day suffer and so does the appetite. That is setting up for a binge situation.

Ennay: Hmmm. That's interesting. Maybe I will try thinking of deficits rather than calories. So far so good this week...I wasn't terribly hungry yesterday despite biking a ton of hours over the weekend, but on one of those days I did eat quite a bit. I suppose I could fuel for the group rides and then run a deficit for my runs on my own. That way I won't be straggling behind the group (more than usual, lol).

It seems counterintuitive to think that a person would gain weight while training long hours for stuff, but I know it often happens.

Thank you, ennay! I have fingers crossed for at least one pound lost this week!