Mystery Weight Gain

disgruntledgoat
disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
edited November 2009 in Training, fitness and health
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?
"In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

@gietvangent

Comments

  • zummerzet-lou
    zummerzet-lou Posts: 95
    It's probably mostly down to fluids .. have a couple of days swilling lots of the clear stuff and then re-weigh.
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,715
    zummerzet-lou wrote:
    It's probably mostly down to fluids .. have a couple of days swilling lots of the clear stuff and then re-weigh.
    Note: That's water, not vodka.
  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    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?

    Oh yes it is, mate!
    I just worked on a rig for 7 days, got home to my normal scales... 6.5lbs, that's 2.94kgs :shock:
    I've got to go back to the same platform on Monday, for two weeks :shock: God only knows what will happen this time...
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • Bhima
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    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. :shock: 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! :lol:
  • shockedsoshocked
    shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
    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"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    ShockedSoShocked wrote:
    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.

    I'm hoping it's the gym work that's done it. That's the only thing I'm doing differently. As a guy who's always had the label of a climber, any weight gain worries me. Obviously I'm just doing base miles at the moment so a little bit of weight isn't noticable on the bike. I was just shocked at going from 75.5kg on october 1st to 74.2 on october 25th to 76.2kg this morning!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • Escargot
    Escargot Posts: 361
    I'm almost certain it isn't the gym work that's doing it :? 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
    ut_och_cykla Posts: 1,594
    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 .... :cry:
    But 2kgs now shouldn't be a problem - as soon as you start burning calories again it should disappear :)
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    ut_och_cykla wrote:
    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 .... :cry:
    But 2kgs now shouldn't be a problem - as soon as you start burning calories again it should disappear :)

    Just to clarify, since 1st october I've been burning 900-1100 calories on my turbo sessions and about 2800-3000 on my longer rides. I'm counting calories in as well to try and (for the purposes of losing weight) ensure that on my 5 days of riding i'm burning 1000 more than I'm eating and that i'm balanced on my rest days. I weigh myself after my shower on wednesday, friday and sunday each week.

    As I said, the approach seemed to be working, I was back down to 74kg and pleased with how quick it came off. I just can't beleive I could put on 2kg in a week, when in three weeks of off season (just eating/drinking what I felt like) i only put on 1.5kg.

    At one point in October I went down as low as 73.5kg, which is also a pretty wild fluctuation, it's not just worrying me from a performance perspective, but a health one too.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    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
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    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
    nasahapley Posts: 717
    Bhima wrote:
    The best way to see if you're losing weight is to look at yourself in the mirror.

    Not by using a set of scales then?
  • Bhima
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    Sorry, I meant losing fat.
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    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
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    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
    Splottboy Posts: 3,695
    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...
  • shockedsoshocked
    shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
    Pokerface wrote:
    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.

    This is true as far as I know, it's a common misconception you can train specific areas to burn fat from them (doing sit ups will get ride of your belly and give you a six pack for instance). Plus a lot of fat storage can also be internal, around your organs, so I suppose even looking at yourself in the mirror may have it's limitations.

    Although I have heard that your face is the first place that you lose weight from. Don't know if that's true or not.

    Conversely I've found my arse is the last place I lose weight from :lol:
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    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
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    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... :oops:
    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... :(
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    How on earth are you not going to eat carbs after 3pm, are you not going to eat after this time, or for your evening meal are you just going to eat meat.

    Veg are carbs as well, and are pretty important in a balanced diet, don't be fooled by the no carbs in the evening myth, virtually all food contains carbs.

    I lost 6 stone, by eating a healthy diet and exercising, and didn't do anything special to do this, with the exception of not eating that much processed food.
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    SBezza wrote:
    I lost 6 stone, by eating a healthy diet and exercising, and didn't do anything special to do this, with the exception of not eating that much processed food.


    I lost 6 stone, the unhealthy way. In 3 months!! By not eating carbs at all. But have kept it off for 2 years and am now back on the diet again to shed another stone or two over the next few months!
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    Pokerface wrote:
    I lost 6 stone, the unhealthy way. In 3 months!! By not eating carbs at all But have kept it off for 2 years and am now back on the diet again to shed another stone or two over the next few months!

    So no veg, fruit or anything that contains decent nutrition, it must have meant you eat nothing but fresh meat, even stuff like sausages contain carbs. I believe you can go for a low carb diet, but a carb free diet I would suggest is near on impossible.

    I would suggest not eating a balanced diet would harm your cycling more than losing a bit of weight. I want to lose another stone in weight, but will do it all over the winter in a healthy way, as I think this is the best for performance and best for your general health.
  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    SBezza wrote:
    How on earth are you not going to eat carbs after 3pm, are you not going to eat after this time, or for your evening meal are you just going to eat meat.

    Veg are carbs as well, and are pretty important in a balanced diet, don't be fooled by the no carbs in the evening myth, virtually all food contains carbs.

    I lost 6 stone, by eating a healthy diet and exercising, and didn't do anything special to do this, with the exception of not eating that much processed food.

    Yes, you're right, mate... I just glossed over it, but I meant I will eat no significant carbs after 3pm.
    Meat with veg for dinner.
    I love protein shakes, too, and nuts....
    I actually think that I coukld carry on as per normal, if I stay away from the double sweets, with custard :oops: Bad sweet tooth.
    I wont eat them ever again...
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    I remember watching a Horizon programme on the then fashionable Atkins low carb diet. They debunked all the theories about it magically altering metabolism etc; it appeared to work because eliminating carbohydrates meant eating more protein, which in turn makes you feel full quicker and for longer, and so overall you're consuming fewer calories.

    I always go back to Fisher Price maths:- calories in < calories expended = weight loss.

    Simples!
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    That's the way i've always worked Keef.... Just by counting calories as described up the thread I lost 7kg over last winter (put it on after taking a year off after 10 years of training and racing! All too easy!).

    Anyway, a week of getting the rides in, getting to the gym and counting them again and we're back down to 75.4 this morning. So exactly where i started on the 1st of october. grrr.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    SBezza wrote:
    Pokerface wrote:
    I lost 6 stone, the unhealthy way. In 3 months!! By not eating carbs at all But have kept it off for 2 years and am now back on the diet again to shed another stone or two over the next few months!

    So no veg, fruit or anything that contains decent nutrition, it must have meant you eat nothing but fresh meat, even stuff like sausages contain carbs. I believe you can go for a low carb diet, but a carb free diet I would suggest is near on impossible.

    I would suggest not eating a balanced diet would harm your cycling more than losing a bit of weight. I want to lose another stone in weight, but will do it all over the winter in a healthy way, as I think this is the best for performance and best for your general health.

    Sorry - not a carb-free diet, but a low carb diet. No carbs is almost impossible to maintain. But very low in carbs as to make it effectively a carb-free diet. But also low cal. Fruit and veg and protein.

    It's not great for training, but it's a quick way to get the weight off - and then I can go back to a regular diet and training harder. I still manage lots of miles - just not as fast right now.

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