A Few Pounds Here And There

I don't mean this to sound trite, or somehow, for me to come off as not being considerate of other peoples problems considering their weight, but I need to lose weight. I know I'm not overweight for walking around everyday doing my thing. But for me, trying to be a competitive runner again, I need to lose about nine pounds. And I am having a very hard time doing it.
Two months ago I weighed 158. Since then I have done a lot of running, and now I weigh 158. So you can say, we'll I'm obviously eating more calories to compensate for my exercise, or I am gaining muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, or my body likes it at 158 and that's where it's going to stay. There could be truth in all of that, but ten pounds of extra weight for a runner is about thirty seconds of time in a mile run. Think about carrying five pound weights in each hand as you run around a track and you'll get the idea of what I'm talking about.
So, here's my plan. If I analyze my eating patterns, I probably do eat too much at night, which can be a huge issue in weight gain for most people. For me, I think it's keeping me where I am. I often like to make a large smoothie a few hours before bed, so that's the challenge, to give that up. But I do not like thinking in any way of abstaining when it comes to food. The raw vegan life is about abundance, not about giving things up. The whole world opens up to you in a way one could never have envisioned. That all sounds very grand and maybe pretentious, and certainly blown out of proportion when talking about a smoothie, but I don't want to get locked into a method when considering my diet. But a method this way comes.
I am going to try only juicing vegetables after noon if I feel like I need something nutritious, or plainly, something in my stomach. Hopefully, this will get me down to my goal weight before my first race in November. I'll let you know.