Weight Gain at Peak Training

Calories in/calories burned, it's really that simple. I think we often make the mistake of thinking we are burning more calories then we really are. We then eat more then we should and on comes some extra pounds. You see it on these forums quite often, someone will say "I gained weight while I was training for an IM, how is that possible"? It's possible because they took in more calories then they were consuming. Absent some sort of medical condition, it's really that simple.

Counting the calories we take in each day is pretty simple. Calculating the calories we burn isn't as straight forward and I think we (I'm including myself) often figure on the high side. Next thing you know there are a few extra pounds gained. I'm 11 weeks out from my "A" HIM. I have been watching my diet very closely this year and I have been amazed at how little "extra" I need to consume even during fairly big weeks of training. Once you are down to your ideal race weight (whatever that is for you) your body is a very efficient machine.

Good luck with your training and I hope you get the intake/burn worked out.

Ditto!  Same happened to me.  I gained several pounds while training long and have yet to get rid of it!  People try to tell me I've gained muscle, but I know it is not.  excessive cardio = excessive hunger.  As other have said, it is very difficult to balance calories in/calories out when training long because you feel like you are in a state of starvation at all times!

Personally, the only thing I think helps (other than reducing calories) is weight/strength training in addition too all of your cardio. 

Been Greenfield has a podcast  (July 4) about called "How Exercise Makes You Fat."  I have not listened to it yet, but I plan to because I wonder if it will shed some light on this subject.

Honestly, it could be your hormones.  Is this your first baby?  I BF all 4 of my kids (all for different amounts of time), and hormones went crazy once I stopped BFing.  It took a good 4-5 mos. each time for things to settle down.  Just tossing this out as a possibility....

The same thing happens to me every time I train for an IM!  It's just crazy (and discouragining)  but I've come to the realization that all the training makes me overly hungry.  Since I stay hungry all the time I think it's ok to eat more.  Looking back, I ate probably too many carbs than I needed during my training which caused the weight gain.  Eating more protein will keep you fuller longer and takes more energy for your body to break it down, so ideally it's good to try eat a lot of protein during IM training.  Plus- it helps with muscle recovery.  Although it's much easier said than done- it's hard to want to eat protein when you are just craving carby food- which is ALWAYS what happens to me.

It's trickly though- getting enough cals to have the energy and get through those long workouts and recover, yet not eat too much. I still haven't mastered that.

One more thing to think about- some of the weight could be water weight.  With all the gels, sports drinks, and salt tablets it's expected that you will retain more water than usual when training.  Especially if you are consuming all of that almost every day.

Just another couple thoughts...

I hear a lot of people talking about using their race nutrition strategy while training on the bike.  Each gel is roughly equivalent to 1/3 to 1/2 of a candy bar in terms of calories, so if you take a gel every 45 min and ride 4 hours it adds up quickly.  I always under-consume when training, unless I am specifically trying to dial in my nutrition plan (which I do at most a few times a year.)

I also hear of people snacking on gels, chomps, etc. outside of normal training.  I think these items are not a good snack choice.

IMHO overtraining (peak period is likely to happen) brings you eating more. Your mind is very stressed and you start binge eating easily.

Then in parallel you have the justification that you are preparing for an Ironman and you are training a lot and you need to eat and and and...and you loose control of calories

So true for me.  I don't eat nearly as much on the bike in training as I do for a race.  I might do it once or twice but I don't need to have energy off the bike in training outside of a shorter brick.  But if I took my 300 cal per hour that I do in a race I'd have an extra 1,500 - 1,800 cals just on the bike.  that is a lot of calories with our adding in any meals.

enjoy,

Duane

I began gaining weight at the begining of the peak period. I have IM Wales in 5 weeks and needed to address this situation quickly. I read an article on this issue. It said, during IM training we tend to pile in as many carbs as possible in the belief that we need these carbs for energy. Indeed on big training days such as a four hour hard ride, you do need plenty of carbs, but for most shorter training periods you should be able to get enough energy from natural protiens and Veg. get rid of bread and anything else that bloats you. Eggs for breakfast with beans. Potatoes, salad veg and Chicken for other meals. I started this theory and lost 3 pounds in just over a week. You may find yourself bonking on a few sessions that turned out to be harder than you expected but you learn from it.

Good luck.

Are you sure you are not gaining muscle weight? Because you are training more that ever this would explain the incremental weight gain. Breastfeeding in general can make a woman lose weight since the child will depend on your stored fat for the milk but that if you were following a healthy diet and eating all kind of nutrients (vitamins, carbs,fibers…etc). But to know if this is a muscle weight either look at yourself in the mirror and see if you are more fit. If you can’t tell then ask your friend to tell you if you gain weight in a chunky fatty way (sort of from fresh eyes).

BINGO!!!!

no amount of training is going to account for a big plate of food...

Log EVERY LITTLE thing you eat for a week and u will find your answer 

I lost 19 pounds last year while training to do a half ironman and a marathon.  I am a 6'3" male and went from 209 to 190 while eating roughly 4000 calories per day.  I am active at work as well, but after losing that weight in roughly 2 months I fluctuated between 190 and 198 for the next couple months while eating the same exact foods.  The thing is, my body wasn't used to doing that much work and was not accustomed so naturally I lost weight.  I could pretty much use exactly what it said on a treadmill for my calories burned and it would be right.

After I got further into training my body was getting used to the training and was working more efficiently and I was not burning the same amount of calories for the same workouts.  Your eating and diet then needs to adjust.  I started making sure I do not eat anything after 7:30pm now and it is working out wonderfully so far.  There were a couple days where I felt starved not eating after 7:30, but I survived.  I am actually feeling a lot better now and realize that 2500 calories is just fine on most days.  Food is nutrition, and while it can taste good, it is not comfort.

It's actually not that simple.  It is for people with certain body types.  It isn't for others.  Cortisol at peak training levels is peaking as well.  It makes you hold fat, especially belly fat in men.  Hormonal responses (cortisol, insulin, etc) have quite a bit to do with whether or not you hold on to wieght.