another upping calories question, help please!

Maystar80

i've been eating at half a pound loss per week for about a month now.

my history:
I've been dieting since I was 11. When I turned 13 i did 1200 cals/day for a couple of years. I did sports all throughout highschool. It was swimming in the fall, wreslting in the winter, and waterpolo in the spring, and working out at the gym during the summer. practices were 2hrs/day 5 days a week plus game times and extra workouts I did on my own. gym time was typically 1-2hrs. Since highschool I tried for 1200 cals/day but was usually more like 1500 except when i would binge occasionally on the weekends.

summer in between junior and senior year i didnt have as much acess to the gym, only worked out maybe 30-60min/day 3-5 days/week and was exposed to lots of cafeteria food and ended up gaining 15 pounds in 3 months!
I started college fall 2010 at 150 after training for a triathlon, went up to 160 in 4 months, went back down to 154 in 3 months, back up to 168 over the summer and lost 8 pounds between this past november and february. as you can see, I've yo-yo-ed ALOT!

Now:
I hit a standstill the whole month of february (staying between 159 and 161) so decided to up my calories in march to a loss of half a pound per month so that I can finally lose weight the healthy sustainable way. Before I was trying at 2lbs/week. I'll admit my workouts weren't as consistent as usual this month as school was more hectic than usual, had finals last week, spring break this week, etc. But I've definitely been working out 45-90 minutes/day 4-6 days/week. Normally, I aim for 60-90 minutes/day, 5-6 days/week. Overall, I've been doing great netting the right amount of calories.
BUT I'm up 3-4 pounds by the end of march.

I know this is supposed to be normal, but how do I deal? How do I know if I'm doing it right? And most importantly, how long until I should expect to start losing again? Getting kind of worried and reaally confused.

dieseljay74

Are you weight training? If not, make the basis of your workouts challenging weight training sessions. Generally, in my experience over a ten year lifting program, if weight training is incorporated, upping calories is beneficial. I question cardio alone would warrant a calorie uppage.
Weight training is going to keep your metabolism elevated for much longer afterward when compared to cardio.
Not to mention give the added calories a place to go!
I add by about 250 at a time and monitor closely for a few weeks to see how my body reacts.