Mystery Weight Gain | Training | Road | Forums - BikeRadar

disgruntledgoat · **Posted** Tue Nov 3, 2009 7:48 pm

Just started my training for next season, after my 3 weeks of eating crap and drinking beer in september I had put on 1.5kg... A month on the plan described in the "Winter on a Turbo" thread, plus two gym sessions a week and I was back down to 74.2kg (a loss of 1.3kg).

Now I had a week on holiday in Switzerland last week, I had a few drinks, not loads, hit the Rosti and walked between 2 and 5 miles a day. Get back, 2 gym sessions and a turbo session and I've gained... 2kg.

What's going on? My routine hasn't changed, I'm weighing myself on the same scales at the same time... It's surely not possible to gain that much weight in 7 days?

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zummerzet-lou · **Posted** Tue Nov 3, 2009 8:47 pm

It's probably mostly down to fluids .. have a couple of days swilling lots of the clear stuff and then re-weigh.

whyamihere · **Posted** Tue Nov 3, 2009 8:58 pm

hopper1 · **Posted** Tue Nov 3, 2009 9:23 pm

Bhima · **Posted** Tue Nov 3, 2009 11:06 pm

Fluids.

On one of the Giro d'Italia videos on http://www.bartape.net/ the team nutritionist talks about fluids and says that, on an average Giro stage, some riders can lose up to 4kg from sweat. Shocked

Water is quite heavy when you visualize it in large quantities. Most notoriously, Boxers and Weightlifters have been known to dehydrate themselves in a sauna before an event, to get themselves as light as possible.

You can also put on weight a lot faster than you can (healthily) burn it off. You could eat 1kg of fat in a day if you ate a lot! Laughing

ShockedSoShocked · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 12:05 am

When I stopped lfiting weights and upped my cycling, I somehow gained 5kg despite looking a lot slimmer.

However I was much stronger on the bike and considerably better at climbing so didn't worry about it too much.

"A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

disgruntledgoat · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 6:58 am

Escargot · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 7:49 am

I'm almost certain it isn't the gym work that's doing it Confused

The only weight you'd gain by going to the gym is muscle mass and it's impossible to gain that much muscle mass from 2 sessions a week over a short duration.

Not sure what it's down to (possibly fluids as others have said) but it most definitely isn't due to the gym.

ut_och_cykla · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 8:24 am

2 kg of weight gain - if its all fat - is equivalent to extra 16000 kcal which over a week is 2285 too many every day. Pretty hard to do! But if you significantly reduced your calories OUT as well it doesn't sound too impossible. Walking for an hour a day could only burn as little as 300kcal, weight session similar. Its very easy to overestimate what you do and underestimate what you eat and if its a fine line between going up or down in weight .... Crying or Very sad

But 2kgs now shouldn't be a problem - as soon as you start burning calories again it should disappear Smile

disgruntledgoat · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 8:31 am

bompington · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 10:19 am

Like everyone's saying, there are things that can cause short term fluctuations - I'm no tour rider but I know that a serious day's hillwalk (40+km, 2500+m ascent) has knocked 5kg off me in a day more than once before now. All regained in a couple of days.
In the other direction, making a gross (sic) assumption that 2kg of extra weight is 70% water, in proportion to the rest of the body, that's actually 600g of fat which is 5400 calories, not 16,000 - so about 770 per day, which could easily be accounted for by missing out on serious exercise. Or by extra eating of course!

The obvious answer is to ignore short term fluctuations.

Long term you're left with the old chestnut: excess calories = weight gain, full stop.

My guess is that the big difficulty in all this is actually accurate measurement - accurate calorie intake counting requires fairly obsessive measurement and recording, and as for output, I don't believe most of the figures I see, only serious lab measurement is going to get anywhere close.

Bhima · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 6:07 pm

The best way to see if you're losing weight is to look at yourself in the mirror. You'll see your arms and legs go thin first, then you'll gradually be able to see more and more of your ribs if you're approaching "serious cyclist" territory. If you go beyond that, to mega-low body fat levels, like the pros, you'll start to look like a skeleton and can see changes by measuring the ripple in your stomach as you lean forward (+/- 10% depending on if you've eaten or not). It's the last place the fat gets burned from.

It's suprisingly accurate and gets more accurate the leaner you are. If you've got low body fat levels, 1kg will make a massive difference to how you look.

nasahapley · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 6:14 pm

Bhima · **Posted** Wed Nov 4, 2009 7:00 pm

Sorry, I meant losing fat.

Pokerface · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:20 pm

I was under the impression that you lose fat off the body equally - not 'off the arms and legs first'. However, because you tend to have the greatest amount of fat around the middle - that's where it LOOKS like it's coming off last.

keef66 · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:44 pm

I put on 6 lbs in a weeks all-inclusive holiday in Turkey this year. Unlimited beer and ice cream can do that to a person! I won't be making that mistake again, the older I get the harder it seems to shift it again.

Off for my lunchtime swim now!

Splottboy · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 1:50 pm

Could be muscle: I've been doing Total Gym @ 30 - 40% of own body weight, 2-3 sets x 16 - 25 reps about twice a week for last month, due to injury for last 4 months.
Body weight went from around 12.5 - 12.7 to 13.1.
Not panicing too much, as I'm getting stronger and it's helping the injury.

First two rides locally after 4 months of wts, circuits, turbo's have revealed little loss of performance, and the extra "weight" can only make me stronger on the climbs!!!
So, as my injury lessens, gym wts will diminish, and own body weight Swiss Ball and Bosu exercises will take over, along with Mtb/Road/Turbo rides that will go back on the agenda.

So, it may be extra weight from exercise, but don't get too upset as a bit of longer, low intensity rides should redress the balance. Make a food diary and actually see what you're eating, as I could be just extra "hidden" calories that you're unaware of consuming too...

"I've got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it." Groucho Marx.

ShockedSoShocked · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 4:08 pm

SBezza · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 4:31 pm

When losing weight, the face is the first place that tends to show it, but then again, there is probably not that much fat on the face in comparison to other parts of the body. I think the extremities seem to lose fat quicker, but then again there is probably not much to lose in these areas.

I had a body composition test carried out recently, my legs had the least percentage of fat on them, in percentage terms my arms and torso were very similar. Whilst I do think you can't target specific areas, if you concentrate on one area you can get this area toned, and perhaps the extra muscle lowers the percentage of fat in that area.

hopper1 · **Posted** Thu Nov 5, 2009 8:12 pm

Well I know my gain came from eating double puddings, three times a day (yep, that included breakfast!).
So, back to eating sensibly, again. No Puddings, or sweets, no carbs after 3pm... Embarassed

Currently going for a 45 minute run, straight out of bed, before breakfast, Mon to Friday.
I already go to the gym 4 days a week (weights only), then there's the riding 4-5 afternoons a week.
I hope this works... Sad

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