I hit 214 in May of 2011. I came up to 218 for the summer and quit weighing myself. By Oct. and 3000 more miles I was flat-lined and down 30% in strength over a year ago even while lifting 3 times a week. I was sore all the time and depressed. Farming took away my riding time so I had a month of rest. When Nov came and farming was completed I decided to concentrate on resistance training. The first thing I did was work on my core harder than I ever had before. I slowly started adding strength but It wasn't until I switched to some new rubber band based machines at the Y that I was able to put some power into the workouts. No more aching joints. I've went from struggling to do 10 reps on an 8 setting to over 20 reps maxed out at 12. My quads went from the same 8 setting and 10 reps with both legs to a 10 setting and 15 reps with one leg.
As far as eating I put a "dead line" of Dec 1 to go back to the 1800 C diet I was using until last spring. I'd go 2-3 days and just lose it and eat 3500 C in a binge. This cycle kept going until the first week in Jan. when I finally figured out I couldn't do all the heavy lifting and eat 1800 C/day. So now I'm sucessfully doing 2500 C/day. My strength is holding on and my cardio workouts are intense 3 days a week. I can wear the pants I wore this summer but they're a little tighter than I like. The weight I picked up last fall has been coming off , maybe a pound a week but I'm not weighing myself so I don't know for sure.
I think the difference now is that I finally have the discipline, confidence and patience to see though the setbacks and know that changing strategies isn't failure. I think I know where you're at right now. We'll only get near where we want to be because wherever we are, we'll want a little bit more. For me, I needed a little time off after 26 months of effort.
In a few days I'm heading down to Florida and will lift only if the weather doesn't allow me to ride. I'll probably lose some strength but I think it'll quickly return once I get back.