Can't eat enough without gaining weight again.

[Vicissitude]

So, I have an issue... I thought I might reach out here to see if there's anyone who can help me with this, or anyone who has similar experiences.

So my personal problem is easy, in principle. Whenever I attempt to eat like a normal person, that is, reasonably sized meals, snacks here and there, sweets and treats from time to time (not in any form of abundance, though), I seem to gain a lot of weight immediately. 5 kgs in a matter of weeks was the last horrific realization... I ate roughly 3000 kcal per day during that time period, but I am male and exercise quite a lot (20 miles a week running) so even if I ate above my TDEE (unlikely), I can hardly believe that I ate 1000 kcal-1500 kcal above my maintenance (I just did the math) every day for a month. Add to that the fact that I was probably below 3000 a lot of those days (still finding it hard to shake the dieting mentality) and the results are baffling to me.

If I try to diet, weight seems to decline at about the predicted pace, assuming a 3000 kcal-3500 kcal daily expenditure. So what on earth is going on? I should be dropping weight eating that much... The reason it's depressive to me is that if I want to continute exercise at this intensity (which I actually really like if I eat that much) I need to eat that much in order not to go insane from hunger. It's either that or diet mode, which ultimately makes me less hungry (but instead makes me feel more like crap).

I don't know what the bubbles to do here. I have been overweight for almost my entire life, so I have no idea how I should approach this...

 

[allcdnboy1]

Using those calculators are just rough guidelines, as everyone metabolism is different. Are you weighing yourself first thing in the morning (before any food)? Your weight can fluctuate a lot and the amount of water you are retaining can have a huge impact. Also, how tall are you and what is your current weight? For me, I'm 6'1" (183 cm) and 180 lbs (82 kg) and I vary about 2-3 kg on a regular basis.

Also, if you have been at a certain weight for a long time, it's very hard to break that and very easy to fall down or jump back up to that weight unless you maintain it for a long time. I've been 180 lbs for 10 years and it is very hard for me to gain weight or lose weight. In a given month, it can go up 5-10 lbs, but I always yo-yo back. It is also quite interesting that I can not go to the gym for a couple years so I have very little muscle and then hit the gym hard for a year and still be at 180 lbs, but have significantly more muscle.