Why am I putting on weight!!!

KeSs said:

I have cut back on my cycling a lot over the last 2 months. I was just hitting the gym, using the elliptical, and spinning once a week. So I am still exercising and putting in workout that are burning 500+ calories. However, I am still putting on weight. Well, its not so much weight as how much my body fat % has increased. It went up 3% after nearly 3 weeks of not riding heavily. This is a real pain for me because I like being slim and fit but I cant be putting in 300+ mile weeks during snow storms! In terms of eating, somedays I dont really eat anything while other days I will have a half pizza to myself for dinner. I am basically eating the same foods as I did during the cycling season but not as much. Any suggestions or ideas?

We live in the same climate (upstate ny), so I can understand the not riding part (sure others will look down and proverbially smight you/us for not riding in snow storms, but bah!). Like you, I stopped biking also, but replaced it with running, stationary cycling and elliptical 4-5 times a week .. and I'm not talking sedentary workouts.

HOWEVER, I started to keep a food diary. I account for every morsel/swig that I ingest; And I mean EVERYTHING. This is all in an effort to lose weight before the weather changes but more importantly, to not gain weight over the winter. I was amazed at how much I was eating in terms of total calories before I started keeping track. I suspect you too might be surprised at how much you are really eating versus how much you are really burning. The net, in your case, is most likely > your maintenance calories. This means you will gain weight.

In my case, since 10/29, I have lost 8 pounds just by keeping to a net calories that is 500 cals less than my maintenance calories. Yes, some days I go for the bag of sun chips, some days I eat the cookies and cake, but in general, if I want to eat, I just work out longer and keep track of calorie expenditure with a heart rate monitor. It's simple math from then to figure out how much you can eat still.

I was shocked to see how much I was really consuming (from the innocent gatorade bottles, the clif bars, the occasional slice or 2 of pizza etc etc etc). Thing is when you/we bike, it is not uncommon to burn 2000+ calories in a few hours; 2000 calories is more than most people [need to] eat in a day. You can't burn that many calories in a gym without spending more hours than one cares to.

Figure out how many calories you need to maintain or lose (assuming that's your goal), then stick to that net number by using a food diary of some sort. There are many online. Some free, some not. I use one. Love it.

Your mileage may vary, but in general, you will lose weight if you create a deficiency. The rule of thumb is that -3500 calories = 1 pound [of body weight] lost. If your body fat % is already low, this number may be different.

Off to the gym for me .. good luck.

doesnt the body naturally pack on some extra fat during the winter? I'm not sure how important 3% is... but I wouldnt worry TOO much about it at this point. If it keeps going up and up despite the exercize, then you might want to seriously keep track of what you're eating.

KeSs said:

I have cut back on my cycling a lot over the last 2 months. I was just hitting the gym, using the elliptical, and spinning once a week. So I am still exercising and putting in workout that are burning 500+ calories. However, I am still putting on weight. Well, its not so much weight as how much my body fat % has increased. It went up 3% after nearly 3 weeks of not riding heavily. This is a real pain for me because I like being slim and fit but I cant be putting in 300+ mile weeks during snow storms! In terms of eating, somedays I dont really eat anything while other days I will have a half pizza to myself for dinner. I am basically eating the same foods as I did during the cycling season but not as much. Any suggestions or ideas?

You are not giving enough information here, for instance what is your estimated body-fat percentage? Are you aiming at an unhealthily low value? Are you really trying to live on half a pizza every other day? If so your body will be in famine mode and trying to store fat. You should eat breakfast every day and at least two other (small) meals as well, then you'll stop laying down fat so long as you're not eating junk or taking in calories in other ways (booze or soft drinks, for instance).
If you can't ride the bike because of the weather get to the gym more often and exercise large muscle groups to burn calories fast and raise your metabolic rate. If you don't have time for the gym, one effective trick is to do a few minutes of light exercise absolutely first thing in the morning. You can do abdominal crunches before you get out of bed, then press ups as soon as you are up. Your metabolic level is raised at once and stays high all day.

KeSs said:

Well, its not so much weight as how much my body fat % has increased. It went up 3% after nearly 3 weeks of not riding heavily.

When i've swapped from aiming for a calorie deficit to not doing so i've often seen weird visible effects from what i'm guessing is not just hydration but distribution of water and level of glycogen loading in the muscles.. and on graphs of weight generally i see loads of noise.. when you say 'not so much weight' i wonder if you're seeing any effects like that. Then again i'm talking about visible changes across a few days rather than a few weeks or 2 months. could you really have actually traded muscle for fat in 2 months if gaining ? (i'd have thought that would only happen if still being negative in calories.) personally i've stopped bothering with tanita bf% as both modes are clearly wrong for me but i do try to track weight to avoid losing too fast when i'm trying to burn of fat or to try and stay constant knowing one only gains muscle very slowly.

Probably a stupid question but had you contemplated trying to simply replicate the effective mileage on a stationary bike.. i'm guessing 300+ miles a week would be mentally intolerable. ( i can't even do that much outdoors myself. ) i did - fearing this big freeze that was predicted in the uk - have some success learning to love the stationary bike myself, having discovered 'const cal/hr' mode on the lifecycle made things easier. Alternating between 5-10mins of cycling and something else keeps the variety up ( but i've 'only' managed to burn up to 1500/day at best that way, not 2000+ as mentioned elsewhere here! )

'pizza' .. ??!!
over the years i've lost the eating habits i grew up with, it's taken a long time to grow out of them - it's slowly sunk into my thick skull that certain foods are simply not compatable with the physique i wish to attain / maintain.

Ultimately i've only found 2 diet regimes work - a spammy high protein low carb regime, totally inappropriate for cycling, that i did out of desperation when injured & reduced to upperbody weights only .. - and straightforward 'obsessive' numerical calorie (& even substrate) counting - as mentioned previously.
Once seeing the grammes of fat in things like pizza & knowing they go straight into bf% without being buffered like carbs & detracting from directly useable energy in your daily budget I found it mentally easy to stay off such foods.

Actually I'm not sure I've EVER in adult life maintained a constant weight without periodically trimming down, and i have read that to stay 'ripped' you must count calories, that tallies with my own experience.

I'm guessing you'd have had more freedom in what you can eat riding 300+ miles a week! I wish i could do that.. i've just joined a club, hoping it will spur me on rather than doing all my rides on my own.

In years past I've gone straight from cycling season to hockey so I've never really gained weight in the winter. This year however, I've been out with a broken finger so in the last few weeks I've gained somewhere around five pounds because my activity level is rock bottom. Oh well though, come summer I'm a skinny as a rake.

You're already eating less, but you need to eat lighter foods spread throughout the day instead of the binge eating. Breaking down pizza will take more than yogurt or salad, but your getting less exercise, so your body's probably storing for winter.

ebola said:

Alternating between 5-10mins of cycling and something else keeps the variety up ( but i've 'only' managed to burn up to 1500/day at best that way, not 2000+ as mentioned elsewhere here! )

I'll assume you were talking about my post. I think you missed the rest of the sentence. I didn't say one could, or should try to burn 2000+ in a gym session. I was talking about the average 2-3 hour ride OUTSIDE (re-read the post). But I agree with your statements all in all (just not the misquote 🙂 ).

FrankBattle said:

I'll assume you were talking about my post.

sure - bad wording on my part if you've interpretted that as a misquote - i understood you meant 2000+ from cycling outside, when one is mentally engaged with changing scenery & actually covering distance which makes it much easier to burn kcals vs being stuck indoors 🙂

I haven't been biking much the past 2 months because of winter and so I've gained 4 lbs.

I have the same problem in the winter, and I agree with some of the others. Appears to be a natural body tendency, mixed with somewhat decreased activity and somewhat increased food intake (especially November and December). But you know what, I don't worry about it.

Why?

It always comes off in the spring (at least for me). I am also happier living in a cold climate than when I lived in warmer climates (SW, Charlotte, Florida). In places where it is nice in the winter there is a feeling that you can and should ride all winter. But, unless you are a professional or highly skilled amateur I think it is just too hard on the body (at least for me). I really enjoy the winter as I get to do other sports. It's as much mental as physical. I still ride about 100 to 150 miles a week on my trainer so as not to get too spongy, but when the weather improves I find that I am REALLY excited about riding, and able to suffer that much more.

That said, I have started to closely watch a couple of things. (1) Alcohol. I really have cut down my alcohol intake to almost nothing. I find that I pick up weight in the wrong places too easily. (2) Weight training. I can gain 10 lbs in a month if I go heavy. But, I have no viable need to bench 275 lbs any more. By cutting down my weights and doing higher reps I keep my weight down and don't have to take it off in the spring. Unlike body fat, weightlifting bulk seems to be even more stubborn. (Again, at least for me, with a stocky build).

freeagent35 said:

I have the same problem in the winter,

Gaining weight / fat for insulation ?
Does this mean being physically cold is likely to encourage the body to store fat ?
I had read something somewhere about avoiding swimming for fat loss since 'the body will retain fat for insulation' - i wondered if there was any truth in that at all.

I certainly usually get more fat in winter and leaner in summer and had always attributed it purely to reduced activity and increased festivities.

Don Shipp said:

If you don't have time for the gym, one effective trick is to do a few minutes of light exercise absolutely first thing in the morning. You can do abdominal crunches before you get out of bed, then press ups as soon as you are up. Your metabolic level is raised at once and stays high all day.

the notion that some crunches and press ups (is that the same as a pushup) is going to send your metabolic rate into orbit is incorrect. check out this link to an article that summarizes a good research study that examined what is known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) That small amount of exercise may wake you up but it's not going to burn very many calories itself or elevate calories burned for the day

pponline.co.uk0335.htmOpen ↗
JS

I'm with some of what Don Shipp says,

Don't skip meals, have brekky get your metabolism going. It's probably not so much how much you eat but what you eat too. Keep it regular & as healthy as you can. (Of course a man's got to have his pizza from time to time).
And like someone else said, it's probably a good idea to keep a diary (for a week at least) as you may be surprised how much calories you are actually consuming.
Last thing you would want is to not eat enough though & end up loosing weight as in muscle, which can happen if you don't eat enough protein.

Pebble

KeSs said:

I have cut back on my cycling a lot over the last 2 months. I was just hitting the gym, using the elliptical, and spinning once a week. So I am still exercising and putting in workout that are burning 500+ calories. However, I am still putting on weight. Well, its not so much weight as how much my body fat % has increased. It went up 3% after nearly 3 weeks of not riding heavily. This is a real pain for me because I like being slim and fit but I cant be putting in 300+ mile weeks during snow storms! In terms of eating, somedays I dont really eat anything while other days I will have a half pizza to myself for dinner. I am basically eating the same foods as I did during the cycling season but not as much. Any suggestions or ideas?

It sounds to me like you may kind of be doing the whole, starve yourself one day and eat lot the next thing.

The trouble with this approach is the during stravation the body will slow down everything and this includes your metabolism, then when you eat lot, you will pack on the pounds.

If you can, try eating small meals throughout the day, like a couple of chicken breasts and say some brown rice, etc.

keep Riding

flatpaper said:

It sounds to me like you may kind of be doing the whole, starve yourself one day and eat lot the next thing.

The trouble with this approach is the during stravation the body will slow down everything and this includes your metabolism, then when you eat lot, you will pack on the pounds.

If you can, try eating small meals throughout the day, like a couple of chicken breasts and say some brown rice, etc.

keep Riding

yes I agree, probably 2-3 cups of brown rice per chicken breast will do for a small meal🙄