you need to eat less - if you are comsuming 1800 cals per day you are more of less breaking even with what you eat and what you burn - You are over estimating what are burning with the running plan -  you have to cover about 4 - 5 miles to burn 500 calories - even the last day of the C25K is only 3 miles - about 300 - 350 cals at most.

You have to weight / measure everything you eat to count the calories - to loose 1 lb per week you need a DAILY deficit of 500 cals - 1000 to loose 2lb per week. I would suggest you eat 1500 cals per day -  High protien low carb / fat - you are not doing that much exercise that you need a ton of carbs, eat 6 - 7 meals - every 2.5 - 3 hours you should be eating something. Don`t skip breakfast, drink lots of water

I`ve been following a 1250 - 1500 cal per day high protien diet for a few months and have lost a lot of weight and maintained all my muscle mass as swell as being able to run 15 mile training runs

Jay:

I am assuming you are male based on your name, correct me if I'm wrong. According to the online calculator I use, a 41 y/o male who is 5'11" and weighs 209 and exercises five times per week needs about 2745 calories per day to maintain weight, 2196 for "fat loss" (their term). It sounds to me like you aren't getting enough calories so your body is storing what you consume. You also burn more calories than someone like me, a 48 y/o woman who is 5'2" and weighs around 102. In thirty minutes of running at an 11.5 minute per mile pace you will burn around 450 calories. I only burn around 220 calories at that pace in 30 minutes! (and I only need a little over 1500 calories a day to maintain my weight). I'm constantly having to remind my husband of this when he questions why I say no to foods when he doesn't. I keep telling him I don't need as many calories a day as he does! I'm no nutrional expert though so hopefully someone else can help you out with the breakdown of protein, carbs and fats.  Good luck and keep running, it will pay off in a lot of ways.

I was reading through this thread and then found this article from Cool Running. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/162.shtml "Cool Running: The Runner's Diet." It says:

A healthy diet is one that is high in carbohydrates, low in fat, and

sufficient but not excessive in protein. That translates to about 60

percent of your calories coming from carbohydrates, 25 percent from

fat, and 15 percent from protein. As in all things, of course, every

individual is different and may respond better to slightly different

proportions. There is a significant minority of people, for example,

who are insulin resistant to some degree. For them, a diet of 60

percent carbohydrates will create big swings in insulin levels and too

much fat storage. In that case, a diet of 50 percent carbs, 25 percent

fat and 25 percent protein may make more sense.

The rest of the article has a bunch of really good information. Check it out!

Hope this helps!