Increased Training = Gained Weight?

Triathlon Forum
1

I have seen prior mentions of this from individuals training for IM. In the last few weeks, I have increased the frequency and volume of both swimming and biking in my training schedule. I have doubled my weekly yardage from aroung 7,500 yards to 15,000 yards and have increased my mileage on the bike by about 1/3. My nutrition has stayed roughly the same. That is to say that over the last three weeks I have not changed anything in my overall eating (volume or type of food). Since I increased my training I have gained about 5 pounds. That said, I feel much stronger on the bike and in the water. The run, however, is suffering from the increased weight. Ideally, I would like to feel as good as I do on the bike and in the water without the extra weight. Does anyone have suggestions for finding the right balance? Thanks in advance

Jeff

2

JMHO. you don’t find the right balance. it finds you.
train your weaknesses, race your stregnths, train as much as life permits, peoriodize, rest, eat healthy meals most of the time, have fun. your weight will take care of itself. i find if i run more i loose weight fairly easy. it takes a lot of biking to loose weight and i can swim all day and not loose a pound. i think my body knows when it really matters. oh, well.

3

I have 2 thoughts on why this might be happening. First, are you sure you are eating the same amounts? Do you (or will you please) keep a food and exercise log for the next week noting all foods and fluids taken with portion sizes in order to determine if you are indeed taking in the amount of food/calories you need? I see many athletes who increase their training without much thought to increasing their nutrition, only to unknowingly begin gaining weight due to excessive late night snacking or increased portion sizes of usual foods (pasta, cereals, trail mix, rice…). This leads us to my second thought, which is that many of these athletes also fail to take in adequate protein and or fat on a daily basis and end up being perpetually starving-increasing total calories eaten and gaining unwanted weight. Keeping a food log will help you better pinpoint what is going on-and help prevent it from continuing. Good luck!

Lauren Antonucci RD, CSSD
Registered Dietitian Certified* as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics*
Member of the GSSI sports nutrition network

4

Tri-RD has made an excellent recommendation. About ago I hit a plateau in regards to weight loss and actually started gaining for a few weeks. Looking at my food logs, i found that i was eating too many calories late in the day - specifically, dinner at 8 most nights, with no portion control, being really hungry from the evening workout. I wasn’t eating enough early on in the day and ‘making it up’ later at night.

I made a fix by adding ‘second breakfast’ after the morning workout, making lunch my biggest meal of the day, and eating a smaller dinner prior to the evening workout. The changes have worked well so far.

You might also be adding lean mass in your swimming muscles of the back and shoulders. Do you notice any redistribution of weight when you look in the mirror?

5

Another thing to consider is that you may not be eating enough.
I know this sounds counter intuitive but I just went through the same thing. Significant increase in training while not being able to loose excess weight. After meeting with a Dr and a nutritionist, it was determined I was not eating enough or eating frequently enough. I was eating about 2,000 calories a day and should have been eating closer to 3,000. Also the key for me is to eat a snack 30 min after each workout and a meal within 2 hours.

As I understand it, your body can absorb as much as 70% of the nutrients within this window. If you miss it, it can take four days. The basic science behind all of this is that if you do not eat enough or frequently enough your metabolism will slow and your body will burn lean mass in order to protect itself.

Just a thought
gb

6

Could also be that you have gained muscle mass, with the significant increase in swimming and biking you there is a good possibility that you built more muscle.

7

By no means am I an expert but I’ve read that not getting enough sleep (which might be happening with your increased training) does funny things to your body, one of which includes inability to lose weight.

8

I am back down to my normal weight of between 166 and 170. It was odd to be above 170 for a few days in a row as that has not been the case in about 6 months. I had been holding steady in the upper 160’s for a long while. Additional running has also brought my weight back down. As far as muscle gains, I have notices some development in my shoulders and back from the increased swimming. I have been using paddles to help strengthen those muscles as well. Maybe it is working better than I thought.

Jeff

9

what i have to say is probably going to fall like a stone in water, but just hear me out.

“the balance finds you” another person wrote. i believe that to be true.

while training for IM i did loose weight, but found my body was billowing up and down (i think from salt, high volume, sugars required to go long, etc). when i stopped training because of illness, i looked in the mirror and saw “dough”. my middle was very soft, legs ok, arms kind of ok. in short, i felt for all the work i didn’t look that great. smaller, yes, but just didn’t look that great still.

so, i backed off the IM (due to illness and unwillingness to push through illness for the sake of 1 event) and have found that i loose weight better/easier/look better with much lower volume, some weights (yes, WEIGHT TRAINING, gasp), higher intensity, and rest days. why? i don’t know, and don’t feel like speculating, but the point is that the balance found me with this formula. my “more is more” is described as more intensity, more variety, more cross training stuff, and more shock to my system that results in physical (and also mental) improvements.

so–i guess if you want the volume buy aren’t happy with your weight you can work to fix it. or, try something new. trying something all together new is working for me, so i’m just going with it.

my lesson from IM is, don’t push so hard to make what you want to happen–don’t be so set on a certain way, and force that way to make your goals come true. instead, open up. trying something new. and when something else works, go with that, even though it might go against popular viewpoints.

that’s all,
miss kitty

10

I’m sorry, did someone say something?

Just kidding. Kittycat, your words are right on. I have absolutely zero weight to lose in my arms and legs. All my extra weight (and it really isn’t much, I am 6’1" and 166-170lbs) is in my torso. I have been trying to think of additional cross training possibilities to tone and lose the extra flab in the mid section. I am paying for all my laziness the last 7 years. I thought additional swimming might help, and it has helped develop my shoulders and back but I think that adding at least some “body weight” lifting (push ups, pull ups, wall squats) may help to increase the metabolism a bit, increase muscle mass a little and over time remove the excess body fat. I should probably cut out late night Sonic Blasts as well.

Jeff