Hey @CitygymAl, 
Thanks for your post and sorry for the confusion. This may mean that you have reached the maximum number of athletes that we allow you to follow on Strava, which is 2000. Although you may temporarily be able to follow more than 2000, this will quickly be cut back to 2000, which is why you may be seeing a drop in numbers.

We ask that you please stop requesting to follow more athletes at this time because it causes confusion for those athletes as this is causing them to repeatedly receive notifications of requests to follow them. If you'd like to follow any more athletes, please remove some of the other athletes that you are following.

You can also add your comments and vote to this idea: Please Raise the 2,000 Following Athletes Limit (and Cap It Immediately