Trying to keep weight on during training season

[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.

[tygab]

Hi,

Here's a reference for you:
http://www.amazon.com/David-Reubens-...3245141&sr=8-1

don't be too thrown off by the "quick" in the title of it, it's more like several months to get improvement. I was very thin thru my 20s and this helped me get to what I felt was better for me. It'd probably be a good opportunity for me to look through it again.

I'd also recommend perusing Body for Life from a local library, which while it does have the bent of losing weight, conveys some interesting eating habits and suggestions (small, high value, and often) which I found useful as well. In any case, it's a challenge for most of us to get the right mix of food that works for us so getting as much info as you can will help.

Finally, I will agree with the eating/drinking right after workout. One of my tri books says this too, as there's a specific window (30 or so minutes) in which you can replenish your reserves optimally.

I have to take lots of food to work so that I always have something good to eat. While keeping my preferred weight is no longer difficult when I am not being active, when I am exercising with regularity I need to compensate with a lot of extra caloric intake that is high-value (not junk food and processed bad stuff). I feel I'm at a good balance point for me and strive to keep it steady.

Hope this helps and good luck in your journey,
-T

[spokewench]

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.

I just had a question for you. I could not tell from the above. If you know this, just ignore me. I don't know all the different drink supplement names cause I use one that you can only get on the internet that works for me (I have digestive issues with products like endurox) There is a real difference between sports drinks that you use during exercise and ones for after exercise. Make sure you are using an after exercise drink. This will help you hold weight better than just drinking more of the during exercise drink. jan

[Kallisti]

I just had a question for you. I could not tell from the above. If you know this, just ignore me. I don't know all the different drink supplement names cause I use one that you can only get on the internet that works for me (I have digestive issues with products like endurox) There is a real difference between sports drinks that you use during exercise and ones for after exercise. Make sure you are using an after exercise drink. This will help you hold weight better than just drinking more of the during exercise drink. jan

I did a lot of experimentation last year with a bunch of different drink products. The brands I tried were:
GU2O
Cliff Shot
Cytomax
Power bar
Accelerade
I gave each brand a try, using both the performance drink and recovery drinks. I found that the Accelerade/Endurox combo (Endurox is the recovery drink) to be most effective for feeling better (i.e., not as wiped out, more aware) immediately afterwards. But even more impressive to me was the fact that the next day my muscles (particularly legs) would feel less fatigued, less sore. I also found that for some reason, Accelerade (the during the ride drink) upset my stomach, but that if I used Endurox for both during and after drinks, my stomach was fine, so that's what I do now.
I also use Carbboom (a nutritional gel), Lunabars, and nuts and raisons as my on bike snacks. I find that Carboom doesn't give me a suger spike the way that Gu or Power gels used to.

In case you're wondering, I'm trained as a research analyst, so this type of methodical experimentation is just the way I do things (yeah, I'm a bit of a geek )

[ehirsch83]

I had this same problem not to long ago! I found one thing that helped me a lot was adding in more EFAs(essential fatty acids). One of my favorite things now is to add olive oil to my oatmeal. Tastes a little funny at first, but then you get used to it and it tastes weird when you don't add it!And definitaly follow the others advice on spreading your calories out throughout your week. Just because you take a day off doesn't mean your body stops. It doesn't work on the same cycle that you do- it doesn't know that one day ended the next starts, it is just in a continuous cycle.
But anyways, also make sure you are getting enough protein. I found out that even though I was eating a ton of calories a day, they were all carbs, and my body was in such an endurance state that it was just burning them all. Once I added in more protein and more EFAs I started to put some weight on, without altering my caloric intake to much. (oh and protein drinks worked really good for me as a snack when I wasn't hungry- even add in a banana if you are somewhere that you can blend it)