Gaining weight after a long ride?

[beccaB]

I think I am going crazy and I need to ask if this happens to anyone else. I am 56 years old and this is my second season of riding a road bike. I workout at the gym every day. Cardio + resistance training. I eat around 1500 calories a day - 50-60% carbs, 30% Protein - 20% fat. During the week, I do cardio at 65% of my maximum heart rate, which should be fat burning zone. On the weekends, I ride on the road and spend about 30% of every ride in a high heart rate - 90% of max.

That's the background. Here's the problem - every weekend, I go into it weighing 2-3 pounds less than I come out of it. I don't over-eat or eat "bad" foods on the weekend. The main difference is that I ride my bike 50-60 miles each day of the weekend and workout really hard. I may go into the weekend weighing 140 pounds and come out of it weighing as much as 144 pounds!! Then I go to the gym all week long and slowly it comes back down... just in time for the weekend and then it goes back up!!

My husband says it is water gain, but surely with the amount of exercise that I do and the sensible way that I eat, I should be losing weight, not gaining it!!!

The irony of it is that if I stopped working out and stopped riding my bike, I would lose weight. Before I started riding, I lost 30 pounds. As soon as I started exercising, I became unable to lose anymore weight.

And no, I am not losing inches either! So, it's not that I'm gaining muscle and losing fat.

Holy cow... I am losing my sanity. I've been one year at the same weight even though I am more fit and eating better than I ever have in my life.

Any ideas?

I do that. gain weight after a hard ride. I am on the "Curves" diet and have lost 7 pounds. I'm curious to see what will happen once bike weather comes here (consistently) I don't feel deprived like on previous diets, and haven't felt that "crash and burn" feeling either.

[ny biker]

You know, this is very interesting. Every article and book I've read about nutrition for cycling and other endurance activities assumes you will lose weight after a ride. I thought there was something wrong with me because I always weigh more after a long ride than before it.

It's good to know that I'm not the only one who experiences this.

[katluvr]

Ah - Dixon's article. That does put it really well. The idea of breaking it into the fueling and nutrition windows really simplifies things. sadly, my nutrition window really needs to lose some wine and beer.

Yep, I agree about that. I made a mistake early in my introduction to a biking lifestyle and did a bike vacation. Everytime we got off the bike at the end of the day we went to the cooler and grabbed a beer. Now it is like Pavlov's dog...biking = beer!

I need to check out that article. I am also trying to read the Zone--since it appears elite atheletes do this one. Beginning of book is VERY dry!

[rocknrollgirl]

This is a very interesting discussion. The same thing happens to me. I had a major bonk yesterday on a ride. It has happened to me before, but not in ages. I felt so terrible, I just wanted them to leave me on the trail. It took every ounce of focus that I had to get through the last few miles.

After reading this, I came home and looked at the calories in my sports drink...total ingested 200. One gel 100. So I consumed 300 calories on a three hour ride. And it was the first warm day we have had in months. And it was a long week of training.

So if what you all, and the article are saying is true, I would need about 250 calories an hour. I am not getting nearly enough on the bike. And I wonder why my recovery is slow!!!

This has really helped me. Thanks to all of you.

[maillotpois]

After reading this, I came home and looked at the calories in my sports drink...total ingested 200. One gel 100. So I consumed 300 calories on a three hour ride. And it was the first warm day we have had in months. And it was a long week of training.

Wow - yeah nowhere near enough. I have started adding up everything before I leave the house. If I know I am doing a 3 hour ride, I will carry with me 900 calories (including sports drinks, etc.). (And I generally throw in an extra bar that I know I won't open just in case something happens and I am out later). Then I just have to work my way through it all (except the emergency reserve bar) as I ride, bit by bit.

Yesterday's 2 hour ride: 140 cal in sports drink, 1 bagel (250 cal), 1 pack of power bar gel blasts (200 cal). So right at 600 calories and the ride was great.

[katluvr]

I tell you it is VERY hard to balance taking in enough to train and to recover BUT not so much as to gain weight. Since I really need to lose weight.

I try logging, journaling etc. But not sure I know or understand enough to balance things. Then again I do reward or "fall off the wagon" easily. I just wish it wasn't so hard!

I do wonder adn think IF I fueled properly on the bike, would I be as starving and tend to over eat after? Of course I think it is more mental...I want the bad food and "rationalize" that I just rode for 3 hours.
Or I don't eat on the bike, so if I know we will go out and be social AFTER riding.

[maillotpois]

I hear you katluvr.

If I want to get better on the bike and get the most out of my training (which I do) I just have to suck it up and say that I am going to eat these thrilling athletically formulated calories on the bike - all of them that I need - and then I am just going to have to make a sacrifice at the social hour after the ride and NOT eat the junk food, nachos, whatever. I'll have something (and a beer), but I am not going to overindulge. Which I think is the only way I am going to accomplish the training goal AND the weight goal simultaneously. So far so good at least.

[jobob]

I did the same as you, rocknrollgirl, on a ride a few weeks ago where I basically forgot to eat and then managed to bonk on a hill. It was not pretty!

For the rides I'm doing now, with long distances and lots of climbing, I've concluded that what works best for me is to try to get most of my on-bike calories in by drinking them. That way, it's easier for me to keep track of how much I consume, and how regularly I consume it.

I've tried Sustained Energy and Perpetuem, both Hammer products. Neither one of them agreed with me, but I know some people who swear by one or the other.

There's a drink called SPIZ that I really like ( http://www.spiz.net/ ). I don't think it's available in stores, it only appears to be available on-line. But they'll send you a free sample if you request one. I can mix up a 4-scoop bottle of SPIZ -- it dissolves very easily, unlike SE or Perpetuem -- and that will provide 500 cals, which I'll sip over two hours or so (alternating with plain water).

[rocknrollgirl]

Wow - yeah nowhere near enough. I have started adding up everything before I leave the house. If I know I am doing a 3 hour ride, I will carry with me 900 calories (including sports drinks, etc.). (And I generally throw in an extra bar that I know I won't open just in case something happens and I am out later). Then I just have to work my way through it all (except the emergency reserve bar) as I ride, bit by bit.

Yesterday's 2 hour ride: 140 cal in sports drink, 1 bagel (250 cal), 1 pack of power bar gel blasts (200 cal). So right at 600 calories and the ride was great.

Part of what makes it tough, is I am on a mt bike. Very hard to eat and ride and we generally do not stop. It makes it very tough. I am going to have to really work on it.

[maillotpois]

Part of what makes it tough, is I am on a mt bike. Very hard to eat and ride and we generally do not stop. It makes it very tough. I am going to have to really work on it.

Oh yeah - a lot harder to eat on the bike on a MTB than a road bike for sure. Hmm.

[tctrek]

So much good information! I'm really glad I posted this thread!

[leendat]

wow all this info sure helps... But can any one give me some specific ideas as for what to eat before, during and after cycling. When I go for a ride I will go for about 20 miles and it takes me about two hours. In the morning I will eat a bowl of whole grain cearl and when I get home a salad with either tuna, or turkey (I use olive oil and red wine vinegar as a dressing). Then a couple of hours later I will eat a banana to hold me until dinner. I have not lost any weight and could stand to loose about 20 pounds (I am 46 5 feet and weigh 140). So any ideas of what to eat before during and after would be a great starting point for me.
thanks for all the info!

[tctrek]

I'll tell you what I eat, although it seems I don't eat *enough*: I eat muesli and some sort of protein bar before I start out on the ride. On the ride, we eat a variety of carbs: Shot Blocks, GU, Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches, Peanut Butter crackers, Fig Newtons. We also put Cytomax in our water which has carbs and electrolytes.

Riders -- how does this sound? What else is good to eat on a ride?

[Veronica]

That actually sounds to me like a lot of food to be eating on a ride.

Bear in mind, everyone is different. I can do a two hour ride on just water, and no nutrition. However, if I ride 2 hours and five minutes I need to eat. If I am riding two hours - four hours I will mix water and Gatorade in one bottle and have straight water in the other. I drink every 15 minutes and eat every 30. Eating means having a couple of shot bloks, or 5 - 6 peanut m&ms, or 5 - 6 sport beans. If I am riding more than 2 hours I start eating at 60 minutes.

On a ride longer than 4 hours I add Sustain to my Gatorade bottle. On a typical 200K (125 miles, about ten hours of ride time) I will drink 2 - 3 Red Bulls and go through 2 - 3 packs of Shot Bloks etc. and 2 - 3 bags of M&Ms. At my lunch stop I 'll eat a banana.

My usual post 200K meal comes from Jack in the Box, not exactly known for its healthy choices. I will have lost 2 - 3 pounds after eating dinner when I have ridden a 200K. On a shorter ride I'll lose a pound or two.

Oh and my usual pre-ride breakfast for a long ride (4 hours +) is a PBJ sandwich and a container of chocolate milk. Otherwise it's my typical breakfast cereal or oatmeal.


Veronica

[salsabike]

I think eating requirements ARE really different from rider to rider. I don't seem to need to eat a lot on a long ride (like, a Luna bar every 1 1/2 to 2 hours; if I eat more, I feel bogged down), whereas my husband will definitely bonk if he doesn't eat quite regularly on the same ride. Just as a matter of interesting fact, we each did bike metabolic tests lately. I can burn primarily fat for quite a while before I start burning carbs more. My husband's fat burning zone is really, really short, which seems to explain why he needs to eat often.