smaller portions???? i don't understand?

You should figure out your BMR so you know how much you are eating exactly... For example I used to run XC and wasn't "fat" but wasn't as thin/toned as I would have liked, being that I busted my *ss every day running. I knew I needed the energy so didn't really restrict calories, but just started eating healthier. I still didn't lose anything. My problem was that I felt that if I ran all day I could eat whatever I wanted if it was healthy, but in reality I think I was eating more than I needed to. I was worried about eating too less though because I would pass out if I didn't eat enough before practice.

If you know anything about calories and nutrition maybe you can try to calculate how many cals you burn a day and figure a couple hundred from that a day, eating small meals early in the day, biggest one hour or 2 before workout, and eat light the rest of the evening.

What eating smaller portions does is keep your metabolism going for the whole day. Like, if you only have 3 big meals a day, you'll feel hungry in between those big meals and be likely to snack (probably unhealthiliy). You can be a runner and eat small meals too - just spread out, say, six smaller portions throughout the day and keep them pretty high in calories (calories are a measure for energy, which you obviously need), but keep them low in fat.

You can find the fat/calorie content of most foods here: http://calorielab.com/

You run 7 miles, so you need more calories than an average person your height and weight.

You need to eat MORE. For the calories you burn daily, your body probably thinks you are straving because you are eating normally, and not up to the fitness level you are at.

Up the calories a little and you might actually lose some.

Or maybe your body is ideal and doesn't want to lose anymore.

Just a thought.

If you run the same distance at the same pace everyday your body and your muscles have just adapted to that and settled in for the usual workout. If you want to loose fat you need to change up your work out. Try throwing in some sprints with your cross country runs, or some other type of high intensity cardio to shock your muscles and get them working again.You need to keep changing the routine so your body doesn't settle in!

It could be that your body is naturally 136 at 5'7. My wife is about 5'6 and about 135 and she's a size 4. She complains about being fat but she has a very negative opinion of herself. She looks amazing.

You probably don't need to lose weight, so your body isn't letting you take it off.

it depends what you're eating and when you're eating it....you don't need to eat a 600 calorie meal to go on a run 8 hours later...eat big before you're run...anything else should be light