If you increase exercise, you are going to experience more hunger-- that is just how it is. It is the body's way of trying to keep you from starving. When I was tracking calories, I allowed myself to "eat back" half of the calories I burned. I did not have any issue with stalls or anything by doing so. Also, it was around the 7-9 month mark that my hunger in general (and my ability to eat more food) kicked in. So it could be that is happening, too. I understand it can be anxiety provoking to increase calories at all. My suggestion is to continue to keep your choices protein/veg based and eat when you are hungry. I doubt you will have to worry about weight gain if you stick to those guidelines. Enjoy your exercise!

P.S. I also tended to play around with my calories to keep my body guessing-- I had lower days (14-1500) and then a few higher ones (1800-2000) and even occasionally had total "blow out" days where I went as high as 2500 (very infrequent). Doing this seemed to keep me from stalling. Of course, everyone is different so I am not sure if that would work out for you.

This is pretty common. A recent study showed that people training hard for marathons were mostly gaining weight. They were burning a lot of calories, but they were eating even more.

I think it's a bad idea to eat back exercise calories. You usually aren't burning nearly as much as you think, and even if you think you are being careful, you are eating more than you think.

Until you are at goal, don't mess around. Get the weight off as quick as you can. The further out you are from surgery, the harder it gets. You'll have the rest of your life to experiment.

I agree with not eating back exercise calories but instead just built it into your base calorie allowance, then look at weekly averages so you can eat more when you desire.

For example, if you were eating about 1500 before, increase to say 1600 (or higher) to account for the increased activity (assuming it is regular). But look at it over the week, so your goal is to average 1600. So if you eat a little over one day because you are more hungry, you can eat a little less other day(s) to make it average out. I find that easier than having different target goals every day - I aim for 1600 daily, but keep a 7 day rolling average. If my 7 day average is higher than 1600, I try to eat close to 1500 that day, and if it is less than 1600, I am free to eat maybe 1700 that day. I dont actually micromanage it like that, but the concept helps keep me from worrying about a single day's intake - "its not what you do on one day that matters, its what you do every day that matters".

I am 15 months out from surgery. I have not lost anything in 6 months. I run 3-5 times a week 2-4 miles. I feel like I'm starving most of the time. I eat. 2 hours later I'm hungry again. I can eat 1-2 cups of food at a time and am really worried that eventually I will gain if I continue this every two hour process.