Trying to keep weight on during training season

[Kallisti]

Help!
I'm training for my race / charity ride season, which means I'm stepping up the number of hours that I workout per week. I race a single speed mountain bike, and ride endurance charity (road) rides, so I burn an extraordinary amount of calories on the days that I ride (5x/wk). Quite often I have days where I'm suppose to eat DOUBLE to TRIPLE the calories that I would eat on a day off. I find eating so much to be almost impossible, and I'm losing weight because of it. I'm really good about having 3 squares a day,snacks, and eating while on the bike, but it's not enough. Even though I feel like I'm stuffing myself on workout days, I'm still dropping. If I eat more on days off, I go through a yo-yo syndrome, where I hold or gain for one day, then drop the weight as soon as I workout. In the next few weeks I'm suppose to add hours onto my workout, and I'm nervous that I just won't be able the eat any more than I already am.
Is anyone else going through this? What do you do to keep your weight on, so you'll be effective during race season?

[CR400]

I have about 60 pounds of fat you can burn for me. Just kidding!! That is tough because most people are actually trying to loose weight.
I actually gained that 60 back durning a cycling season because I would ride eat back those calories and then eat what it takes to keep me at that weight. So aside from chowing down what you burn on a ride and then some you don't have much choice. You might try eating things that are high in fat and calories, Peanut Butter for example. It is hard to keep a fast metabolism loaded down enough to keep weight on while cycling, without eating things you shouldn't like whole pizzas and fast food. But hang in there I'm sure some other ladies have better ideas.

[Eden]

Are you saying you are dropping weight during or directly after workouts? Generally if that happens you are dropping water - and it indicates that you need to drink more before, during and after your workous.

[Kallisti]

Are you saying you are dropping weight during or directly after workouts? Generally if that happens you are dropping water - and it indicates that you need to drink more before, during and after your workous.

It's not water weight. On long rides, I've weighed myself before and after to make sure I'm not dehydrating, and there's a temporary gain, so that means I'm probably not dehydrating
No, this is over the last few weeks, where I've stepped up my training program, and noticing a drop in weight over time. This happened to me last year too, and my performance suffered for it (I race better with more weight, because it gives me "reserves", ie, a little extra fat to burn during a race).

That is tough because most people are actually trying to loose weight.

I know. That's what makes this a hard topic. There's all kinds of literature on how to loose weight, or how to gain weight for non-endurance athletes (like for bodybuilders). I just can't find anything on how to maintain weight, while increasing the hours of endurance workouts.
For the record, my snacks do include a variety of nuts and raisons, fruits, and nutritional bars. I'm lactose intolerant, so I eat soy yogurt (w/granola) instead.

[CR400]

It sounds like you are simply not taking in enough calories everyday to maintain your weight not just on training days. You may have to eat as much as a 1000 to 1500 more everyday to counter act all the cycling you do. Play around a little with your calorie intakes to see what will work for you to keep weight on or even gain 2 pounds over the time. If you have to add up to 2000 or more extra a day remember you will not get overweight with it because you can always cut back if you start to gain to much weight. You are blessed with a high metabolism even though right now it feels like a curse.

Also I would try drinking an endurance drink while riding like Hammer Nutrition's Perpenetum or my favorite Sustained energy. You can with just three scoops up the caloric value of that bottle of water by 300 calories. And you can make it into a pasty substance that can hold around 900 or slightly more for really long rides. Then add on all you other snacks and see what happens.

[GLC1968]

I don't know if I'm reading your post correctly, but are you figuring your calories by day only? Your body will hold reserves over multiple days as necessary, so it might benefit you to figure your calorie intake over a week and use that. In other words, don't try to eat an extra 2000 calories on the cycling days and a regular level on the non-ride days. Split that amount into 1000 calories extra over the two days and it'll be a lot easier to get in the right calorie needs.

Last summer, when I was training for centuries, I'd ride for 6 hours on a Saturday and burn 2500 calories. That meant that I had 6 hours less in the day to make up those calories (besides the on-bike food which would never total 2500 calories). I just couldn't do it....especially when I was eating only healthy foods (it was too much volume of food). The only way I could hit the right totals was with crap food and that left me feeling like crap and then craving more crap on non-bike days. It was a viscious cycle. Anyway, my point is that if I had just eaten what was on my plan for the day accepting that I'd have a deficit for that day, and then make it up in the day following (or some on the day before), I would have been better off. Basically, I had to plan a week at a time. Of course, my goal was weight loss, but the concept is the same (just the amounts are different).

[spokewench]

Help!
I'm training for my race / charity ride season, which means I'm stepping up the number of hours that I workout per week. I race a single speed mountain bike, and ride endurance charity (road) rides, so I burn an extraordinary amount of calories on the days that I ride (5x/wk). Quite often I have days where I'm suppose to eat DOUBLE to TRIPLE the calories that I would eat on a day off. I find eating so much to be almost impossible, and I'm losing weight because of it. I'm really good about having 3 squares a day,snacks, and eating while on the bike, but it's not enough. Even though I feel like I'm stuffing myself on workout days, I'm still dropping. If I eat more on days off, I go through a yo-yo syndrome, where I hold or gain for one day, then drop the weight as soon as I workout. In the next few weeks I'm suppose to add hours onto my workout, and I'm nervous that I just won't be able the eat any more than I already am.
Is anyone else going through this? What do you do to keep your weight on, so you'll be effective during race season?

Sounds like you have a high metabolism like my husband. When he was training a lot, he ate a bunch, but he found that if he supplemented with an after exercise drink right after exercise, (they have tons of calories in them); that this really helped him maintain his weight.

[Bluetree]

An MD friend told me of elderly patients who had trouble keeping their weight on. He recommended drinking a can of Ensure with a snack between meals; and the addition of calorie-dense foods like lentil soup.

[kelownagirl]

Turn 40.

[Eden]

Turn 40.

lol - try 30....
I don't really know if I can be of much help. My weight dropped to a point at which my body really seems to like to be at and stopped. If I'm lucky it will only vary a pound or two up and down even during the race season, though I did not really gain anything during the winter this year, so I will see what happens now that racing season is starting. I do make sure to get a recovery drink in after all of my races and then to eat as soon as is possible - often we will take some food with us since a lot of the races are a bit out of the way. My husband and I like proscuitto sandwiches, one because they are tasty, two because proscuitto is a great really, really dense sorce of protein, and three because it keeps well.

[Kallisti]

Yes, I have been thinking in terms of just daily caloric intake, instead of weekly. You gals are brilliant and I need to rethink the way I plan out my food. I can definitely fit in extra food on my days off, but hadn't because I thought yoyo-ing was bad, but I suppose if I'm just going up and down by a few pounds during the course of a week, that's OK, right?
I do use Endurox (drink supplement), both during and after the ride, which has been a lifesaver for me.

As for turning 40, tried that 4 years ago; didn't work .

Thanks for giving me a lot to think about.