I’m trying to get my nutrition dialed in for my upcoming races this summer
I do weight myself before and after most workouts. I usually lose about 4-5 lbs (~3% body weight) during a ~2hr workout. I’m a heavy sweater, and I’m conviced that my performances are affected at the end of each workout due to dehydration.
I usually drink at least 1 bottle of Infinit + 1or2 Salt Pills + 1 GEL… per hour… which comes out to about 400/425 cal/hr.
I dont think that my body can handle more calories… what could I do to minimize my weight loss/dehydration?
Would simply having more water during my workouts make a difference? (try to drink 1 bottle of water & 1 bottle of Infinit per hr)… How about salt? would increasing my salt intake help me as well?
There is some ratio of “drink X ounces of water for every pound of body weight lost” and I can’t recall quite what it is. Perhaps someone else can help me. But, yes just drinking more water should solve your issue.
Just water? no Infinit or gatorade? … never. I would not last long without the calories/sugar
I’ll only have water when I swim for some reason I feel like it’s good enough.
For my run and bike… anything longer than an hour, I’ll make sure I get enough calories… but for some reason I keep getting dehydrated… I would say 90% of the time.
Like I said… I dont think I could handle more (sugars/gatorade/Infinit) during my workouts… would adding a bottle of water help me with that dehydration problem
I mean not just water, but why not have another bottle solely for water? It seems you’re getting a ton of electrolytes and calories. How much fluid are you getting? If you have infinite I’m going to assume you had it custom made. Why would you need to take salt tablets as well? I really think adding another bottle of water would help. You aren’t going to be able to pevent weight loss due to fluid loss entirely but you can limit it more than you are now. Are you training where its warm or is this in cold weather situations?
I’m a heavy sweater. I run in Phoenix. I never need anything more
than water and gatorade for exercise in the ~2 hours range. Water in the
first bottle, gatorade in the second.
At 3 hours (now we’re talking biking) I do start doing calories, etc.
I will admit that the gatorade tastes damn good when you get to it.
Are you feeling dehydrated or just concerned about your workout weight loss? The two are not necessarily equal. If you are aggressive about hydrating outside of workouts, you can have enough fluid in your system that a 3% weight loss is not even close to actual dehydration. Basically, you could be just sweating your way back to something not too far below normal rather than sweating your way right into dehydration.
Personnally, on a 2 hour ride on reasonably temperate day (eg below 80), I take 2 28oz bottles of gatorade and no food with me and I don’t always finish both bottles.
There is some ratio of “drink X ounces of water for every pound of body weight lost” and I can’t recall quite what it is. Perhaps someone else can help me. But, yes just drinking more water should solve your issue.
You lose/use more than water but most of the weight loss is it. One Liter of water is one Kilogramme. Toss this in google and you’ll have the answer in ounce/pound… or just click on this link.
OP - My rule of thumb for normal summer weather is one bottle (bicycle bottle - ~24 ounces, ~3/4 Liter) of fluids per hour. Following those directives, I finish an Ironman within two pounds of my starting weight. YMMV.
Not sure how much you weigh, but 4-5 pounds over two hours seems a bit excessive given the fact that you are taking in fluids. Have you considered having your kidneys (etc.) checked, just to make sure everything is in proper working order?
