Any women training for HIM/IM and gaining weight?

Not me....any unwanted muscles or curves can be sent here! I'm a scrawny runt, which is actually a liability for tri except for running. But more seriously, is there any way to do any kind of body composition analysis to find out if those extra pounds are fat, muscle, or both? If muscle, I wouldn't worry about it. If fat, could be diet-related or some kind of response to training. There's a lot out there about how women's bodies more easily go into fat-sparing mode when under stress, and Ironman or marathon training is definitely stress. Not sure what can be done about it except to be aware of calories in/out and try to keep well-fueled before and during workouts (so less chance of uncontrollable munchies after) and make sure the calories you're taking in have lots of nutritional value.

Personally my weight remains stable no matter what training I do; it just has a different "normal" depending on whether it's no training, light training (say, less than 8-10 hours a week), or heavy training (more than about ten), that varies by about five to ten pounds. I don't count calories in/out and just eat when I'm hungry and try to have a reasonably clean diet. But full IM training is another level and who knows what would happen?

I hear you, my weight seemed to be a lot more stable with more visible muscles when I was exercising about 6 hours a week with most of those hours spent running. Now, with the start of Ironman training, my weight is jumping up, my clothes are fitting tighter and the muscles don't seem so visible :S I'm telling myself it's mostly muscle... but yeah, pretty sure I've added on some body fat as well. I'm not actually eating that much more than before. Overall, some meals are heavier, but I'm snacking less, so that evens out. I'm going with the stress theory and my body is in some kind of "we need to save calories" mode. Oh well, more to burn during the Ironman hopefully!

I gained weight training for IM (last 2 seasons). It came off quickly once training volume went down. No freaking idea why my body does that because most days I ran a calorie deficit. I even measured stuff and used the kitchen scale. LOL I just accept it and try to lose when I'm not building for an IM race.

Think of it in a positive light.....In a famine or cold water, you'll outlive me. I'd be one of the first to expire! I'm fabulously inefficient at converting any fuel to fat/muscle (though not bad at converting it to kinetic energy) and my only recourse is just to keep eating. I honestly think I'd need to have a large pizza delivered in Special Needs to finish a full IM.

I always seem to lose weight when I stop training for the longer stuff. I seem to gain a few training for marys or IM. Ben Greenfield has a podcast on women gaining weight when training for long distance. Something about how our liver doesn't process the crap right and that's why we gain. I can't remember what all he said, but basically he was suggesting one of those liver detoxes, etc. That doesn't and won't work for me. I can't detox when I'm training. Kinda sucks when you gain weight training all those hours.i guess what makes me lose is if I train in the am for a hour or less with out eating anything before the work out. I try to get in 2-3 of these work outs a week. I also add some high intensity in those or I will be feeling a little on the heavy side

Let us know if you find the secret

I don't get why women's livers can't process "crap" right and men's can. Wouldn't that be bad news, from an evolutionary standpoint, for women going through stressful physical events like pregnancy and childbirth? I can, though, see an evolutionary reason why women's bodies would try to hold on to fat under stress, in order to protect or facilitate a potential pregnancy. Thinking about it, maybe even pretty lean women like me have some version of this--while I don't tend to gain weight training for longer events, I don't lose it, either (not that I'm trying to), or have trouble maintaining it. I don't really seem to eat that much more (or feel much more hungry) than if I'm doing a lot less volume. I'd always chalked that up to training in the heat, and having to drink crazy amounts of fluids on long workouts, which can blunt one's appetite, but maybe in fact my metabolism slows down somewhat when training at higher volume; it's just faster to begin with, so I end up breaking even in the weight department.

I haven't gained any weight, but I sure as hell haven't lost it like I had hoped either. I am about 7-8 pounds over my really happy weight, and for the life of me I can't lose any of it. I am easily in a big calorie deficit every day of at least 500 calories, I am drinking tons of water, and taking in lots of protein, but nothing is going!

On a side note, I have never felt stronger though. My recovery from my workouts has never been better, I am injury free for the first time in ages, and I am sleeping better than ever, so if I am carrying a little extra weight, so be it. I have been constantly amazed at what my body has done as far as bouncing back despite the training load and abuse, so I am not sweating it too much right now. I will work on it more post IM

Not a woman but can offer some advice...

I gained weight while training for IM last year. My first 3 months or so (Base, Build phase) I stayed pretty constant. As I got into the Build/Peak phase and the workouts got longer and more intense, I significantly upped my caloric intake. I was always hungry!! and I mean always! One thing that I did which I would not advise, is I ate whatever I wanted. I told myself that I can eat a hamburger, fries, soda, etc because "I will burn it off later or tomorrow" but I guess it didn't work like that. I also started snacking at night which is something I never did before. Since I stopped eating "Clean" and just ate whatever I felt like I wanted, it caught up with me.

I also ate like an Ironman everyday, which was a bad thing. even on light workout days or off days, I still consumed the same amount of calories as I would on a heavy training day. I never realized I was doing it but I was and it was not good.

Lack of strength training- I feel that this one hurt me too (no scientific evidence behind it just my thought). Since I was cardio, cardio, cardio for 6 months, I didnt really have time to strength train. I thought I was in great shape but I wasn't. After IM and the weight gain, I went back into the gym and had a hard time doing push ups, bench press, deadlifts, etc. Little things I used to be able to do I was not strong enough to do. I think packing on or retaining your muscle would help because muscle burns more calories then fat.

I hope IM training is going well.