Gaining 2-3 lbs is normal as you carbo load. Aparently, when your muscles store glycogen, there is some water that bonds with it.

To avoid gaining weight during taper, just eliminate the between meal snacks that you typically eat during heavy training. If you can't do that, then reduce portion size at meals by 33% and keep the snacks. If you just keep eating like normal and reduce activity, you will gain weight. This is not rocket science.

If you only gained 3 lbs, you are fine and will likely be down to regular body weight by mile 13 or so.

I read an article on this, although I can't remember where. Some athletes use hot tubs after work-outs, to avoid any chill that might stimulate their bodies to add body fat. It's especially useful for right after swimming, but I almost always get the chills after any workout. I was going to try and institute this while training this winter (although the lack of a hot tub might be a problem...hmmm).

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A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

Don't worry. Remember that carbohydrate holds water (hence the name). The fact that you're gaining weight indicates that you're glycogen stores are going up. Glycogen holds about 3x its weight in water, so if you increase the amount of glycogen in your muscles and liver you would have to see an increase in weight. All that's indicating is an effective carbo loading. The opposite effect is why low carbohydrate diets usually effect such a high weight loss early on, even though it doesn't reflect fat loss. If you deplete your glycogen stores, you'll lose lots of weight - but not fat.

JC

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Jonathan Cane
City Coach Multisport
http://www.citycoach.org