Intense cardio -> intense appetite -> gaining

I'm training for a half marathon too and have not lost weight even though I've increased my mileage so much. I get really hungry early in the day now. I eat a lot of snacks and don't feel worried about eating every 2-3 hours as long as it's whole foods--maybe giving yourself permission to eat each time you feel hungry and just letting that occur more often would help reassure you?

Also, I've noticed anytime I increase my activity level significantly I gain weight initially, before settling back into my previous range.

hiit workouts...................long cardio workouts will make you hungry.............or drink alot of water and eat an apple after a workout if you feel like piggin out lol

My appetite has significantly increased since boosting my activity level and I don't know what to do with it. I end up eating four meals a day and I estimate consumption is ~1600 cals, but I haven't logged since before The Breakup, so perhaps I'm way off on that. I also eat lots of carbs to help fuel my running whereas I used to minimize carbs as much as possible.

I know I'm not gaining muscle and losing fat because my measurements indicate my thighs and waist are actually bigger than when I was 105 lbs.

To all the athletes out there: how do you manage your big appetites? What types of foods do you eat pre and post workouts? I've noticed a drastic increase in athletic performance after increasing my caloric intake. (I seriously can't believe I ever tried to workout and eat only 1200 calories.)

You still need to log your calories consumed and calories burned so work on that. I have mine set to sedentary and then add in calories for runs and for the most part I try to eat the majority of it back. Some of it I play by ear but I mostly keep track of the energy flow. Carbs are great fuel. I don't go out of my way to eat massive amounts of them but by hitting my macros I naturally eat more as I increase my calorie consumption. Post workout I have a protein shake and on days I have longer runs I try to put in something like a banana post run.

I don't typically eat anything before runs unless they're at around the 13 mile range or more. Typically I just wake up, run, then have a protein shake and breakfast. Yesterday was a 14 mile run so I had 2 waffles with honey before and I had one Clif Shot gel during the run. You'll see a noticable difference on longer runs with better fuel.

Someone has already mentioned it but you can easily have a few pounds of water weight for muscle repair after more intense workouts. My run yesterday was a 2490 calorie burn and even though I didn't eat all of that back I was up 4 lbs. this morning. This happens every week after my long run. It will drop off after a few days. I've also noticed that if I quit running for a week I can drop 3 - 5 pounds with no effort. Don't worry about those things. Just log your calories, exercise, and refuel as necessary. If you keep these up and eat properly you'll get even leaner than you are now while maintaining the same weight. Long distance running isn't just cardio.

Unfortunately, most people training for longer races do gain weight.

Runners World has a great article with tips-- the tl;dr version is basically ditch the post-run snacks and time your workouts so that you can have post-run meals, practice a lot of self-control, and make sure that the foods you're eating are high quality: http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/how-to-avoid-marathon-training-weight-gain

I have heard quite a few fitness trainers say that chocolate milk or protein shake is a great recovery drink. Try that and see if it helps.