All the potential reasons that you touched on seem perfectly plausible to me, apart from possible bike fit issues it seems that youve got a good handle on the cause(s). More body weight on your saddle equals more pressure, so more discomfort is a logical extension of that. And turbo trainers are known to be pretty unforgiving in that department.
Have you recently had a proper bike fit? If you haven't had one in the last year or so then that would be my first port of call.
Plus (and I know it sort of goes without saying) you should find that the discomfort lessens as you lose the extra weight, so making weight loss a priority now will pay big dividends for you.

Don't give up on the winter mileage mate, in six months you'll be really glad that yulou stuck with it :)

I had a fit in early December. We fixed a good deal of issues I was having, which was great, but the numbness hasn't entirely gone away and it seems only when I ride for long periods (over 90mins). Trust me, I've tried making weight loss a priority. I thought when I did my IM last year I would finally lose the weight but I didn't. I've got zero self control when it comes to food and I love snacking. I'm also a big stress eater. In September I was finally starting to lose some weight, managing to lose around 5lbs, which was a good start. Then my wife was in the hospital for 2 weeks and that consisted of me eating fast food and late night runs to 7-11 after leaving the hospital and no training. That equaled 7lb weight gain in 14 days. That's what put me up to my heaviest at 195. I've had a really good month of training and forced myself not to get on a scale until 2/1 so I'm hoping I've at least lost a few lbs. Still haven't gotten the eating under control but I'm slowly getting there. I really hope I start to see a difference once the weight comes off. I started using TrainerRoad and I'm really loving the advantages of training indoors but if I'm not comfortable I won't keep it up when the weather warms up.

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles at home, these things inevitably have a way of derailing fitness efforts.
I'm sure that you'll find your way back down to ~170 though, you obviously care enough about it or you wouldn't have posted here.

Have you seen this video from the guys over at GCN? You might find a few useful tips/strategies that you hadn't thought of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbOP0oGdfyQ

Most importantly I hope your wife is well. Try lowering your saddle 2-3 mm. You might see a big difference. Same thing I suggested in the thread about saddle sores. Lower takes some pressure off the crotch in general and personally I have found I generate more power at lower saddle heights (to a point). I have even tried dropping my saddle 1 inch below my optimal height and had zero decrease in power.

Are you saying even currently, when you ride outside, there is no discomfort and it's just an issue on the trainer? If so, maybe the static nature of the trainer (maybe mix it up a bit, some standing for a couple of minutes every 20 minutes or so, etc) but maybe the tilt of the saddle is different because of the riser. The tilt was the issue for me, for some reason, the front wheel riser tilted the bike a hair higher than level. I ended up using some books, etc to get the saddle like when the bike is on the flat ground.

I agree that it's likely the trainer & not the weight. I found my saddles very comfortable even when I was pregnant and up 40 pounds.

Work on changing positions while on the trainer: standing, sitting up, even getting off for short breaks.

Thanks for the video, I haven't seen it, but I am doing many of those things already so that's good.




Thanks, Dev, I appreciate it. During my fit in December we lowered my saddle quite a bit but maybe I'll try even more.

Correct, I haven't had issues outside, just on the trainer. I do try and stand up at least once every 10 minutes and usually go for about 40-60 seconds. I'll play around with the riser though, thanks. I do feel like the weight will make a difference, and even if that's just in my head it will help motivate me.

Glad to say I had my first weigh in this morning since 1/1/15 and I was able to drop 6 lbs during January even with a diet that could use a lot more discipline. So I know if I can just get the eating under control then I'll be able to drop more weight in the same amount of time.