gfsdg]
werw
gerterte
dhdfh
rtert
dfgdfh
No clue about hormones, that’s the medical field, so no comments there.
But based on your story, you have been embarking on the classic “diet to gain more weight down the road cycle”: starve your body, fool your brain into thinking it needs to go into “store as many calories as possible because the body is being starved” mode, lose weight due to the sheer deficit in caloric intake, then rebound with a vengeance when you return to normal eating because your brain has now shifted into the aforementioned weight gain mode. Over time, given your metabolism is slowing gradually as well, a higher and higher “set point” for weight is inevitable.
It’s been a while since I studied for my now expired training certifications, but I believe 10 times your bodyweight is the absolute minimum calories your body needs to maintain a normal metabolism. If I was trying to lose weight, that is the lowest I’d go on days I am not working out. Forget the cardio (edit: the long slow endurance type stuff), build as much muscle as possible, and you will lose fat weight slowly, gradually, but Effectively. And on workout days, you will have to give your body the protein it needs to recover/build muscle, i.e., you need to eat more on workout days before/during/after your workout.
My .02.
I hate to sound obnoxious, but it’s very simple. You’ve gained weight because you are exercising less and eating more. If you want to maintain at 205-210, you can’t train less (you said work takes up more of your training time) and be less strict with your diet (“I tend to snack on bread, pasta sushi, cheese, nuts or jerky”).
The body always wants to get back to a previous higher weight and amount of body fat. If you want to consistently maintain a leaner body, you have to be consistent with your diet. You can’t just eat super-low calories for a few months, then relax and start snacking. You can’t snack on fattening, calorie-dense foods. And if you have less time to train or less time to just be active/on your feet, you have to adjust your calories down accordingly.
Before you even entertain the thought that “other factors” like hormones are to blame rather than diet, you should prove to yourself (and to us) that your calorie intake is as low as you think. I guarantee you, if you weigh and measure EVERY SINGLE THING that goes into your mouth and log it on fitday, you’ll see there are no other factors. It’s the food, period.
Also, keep in mind that even if a person has supposedly messed up his hormones, energy balance still rules. No matter what your hormones look like, if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you WILL LOSE weight.