A question about weight

[Eden]

Thanks for the input.

Eden- I do have a very structured program with slower days built in. I also have a very solid base for endurance.

I am not a new racer, especially to mt biking. I was speaking from my own frame of reference. What I meant was that I would not be out doing a 70 mile road day to train for a 15 mile mountain bike race. That would not be a productive use of my training time.


I do hard interval days with active recovery days and rest days. Two hard weeks and one easy week.

It is a pretty balanced program. ( ok where is the food)


Thanks.

That sounds more like it! Your first statement was a bit misleading.....

[lovelygamer]

I can never figure this out either. I have lost plenty of weight in my day but it was never due to the same method, attempt, or situation. I have sort of noticed that as I age, it's harder for me to lose weight.

Currently, I've been cycling 40 miles a week for five weeks straight and watching my diet and I've gained weight which I assume is muscle weight. I'm hoping that starts burning fat on the scale soon. I did see a pound or two of that gain come off recently.

40 miles a week may seem like nothing to some of the people here but before that I was working out in a gym maybe three hours a week. It feels like a ton of work on my 200+ body.

I'll never ever understand it all.

[Reesha]

Yeah your body composition will certainly change first. I worked to lose weight this winter and changed my body composition fairly significantly... probably lost ten lbs of fat and gained another five in muscle. Once racing season started I stopped worrying about losing weight because I just wanted to make sure that my body was flooded with the necessary calories during rides so I could keep up (I'm a high school coach-- it's tough keeping up with 17 year olds!). Now I can shift gears so to speak. Our rides this summer will be long and mostly pretty medium intensity. I certainly won't be hammering.

I suppose if I keep track of my calories on my HR monitor and avoid junk and try to keep caloric intake just under my expenditures every day that would work, but I don't really want to have to worry so much. My body is clinging to these last ten-fifteen pounds hardcore. I've been lighter before, (rarely fitter) so it's frustrating that the same things I'd done before don't work now four years later.

Anyway, this came up because I'd been reading on bike forums about people going on tours and either gaining weight or just not losing any because their eating gets out of control. I can't reallllly imagine over doing it on cereal, yogurt and peanut butter and jelly, but you never know!

[lovelygamer]

Reesha, You certainly look fit. I know what you mean about weighing more and being more fit too-that definitely happens. Sometimes, we get too "inside" of our heads about the number on the scale when in reality our bodies are healthy and happy. This might surprise some but for me, I used to be 300 lbs so 215 is really not so bad however, I was down to 185 two years ago and I need to get there for health's sake. Large people run in my family. My brother is 6'7" and 350 lbs. I am probably the most athletic person in my whole family.

Aren't you going to average 80 miles a day on your tour? Even at medium intensity that's a lot of exertion. I would think you wouldn't gain either, unless you got totally out of control on calories and fat. I think fattening liquid drinks are one thing that it's easy to lose control of. I constantly battle with myself to cut them down or out of my diet.

I'm determined to just keep at it. Eventually, something will shift. I just know it. As they say "energy begets energy" and how can you go wrong there?