h264 File size keeps getting bigger

Hello. I have a very simple hour plus video that is a speaker talking over slides. I had to edit out the ID of the speaker so I went in and did a little masking. When I exported my video, I ended up with a 727mb file. I decided that was too big (as people will be downloading these files). I've now made about 6 exports each time following advice I find online and tried:

• Changing the bitrate to Medium adaptive
• Changing to Medium (not adaptive)
• Changing the VBR, 2 pass Target 4.5 - Maxium 6
• Using YouTube settings

Each time, my file size has gone up, instead of down. My latest attempt gave me a file of over a gig. I MUST be doing something wrong. Also, are there best settings for exporting still images? That info might help. There used to be an optimize stills checkbox but I haven't seen it lately.

Thanks for any advice you can offer