Training & Nutrition - Weigh gain after long distance riding.

Hi, All

After short distance riding (<40 miles), I usually lose weight.
Bu,t after long distance riding (>75 miles), I usually gain weight and keep that weight remains up to 2 days and returns to original weight.

Recently, I rode 75 mile riding on Saturday and 150 mile riding on Monday.
Of cause, I drank and ate sufficiently during riding.

After first 75 mile riding, my weight increased 2 pounds.
After second 150 mile riding, my weight increased 3 pounds.

Today is Thursday, but my weight is not changed.

I usually do 1-2 hour aerobic workout + 1 hour weight training during weekdays.
I did same way in this week, but weight is still keeping, 5 pounds more than before.

I also checked body fat percentage and body fat amount.
Body fat percentage is decreased a little bit as my weight increases.
This keeps same level of body fat weight.
I keep 4-6% body fat percentage recently.

How can I interpret this?
Can I gain 5lb of muscle during 225 mile riding?
Is is just water increase in my body?

I usually do 100+ mile during weekends and see temporary weight increase, but it will return in 2-3 days.

It's called water weight gain. The body to store glycogen back into the muscles uses water to transport it there, once the fuel is stored it dumps the water. For me if I do a double century on a Saturday by Wednesday I can't pass a bathroom without using it.

Just saw this in the RoadBikeRider.com newsletter:

Why Do I Gain Weight After Long Rides?

Q: I've been doing long training rides and brevets this spring in a buildup for Paris-Brest-Paris next year. In December I weighed 176 lbs. (80 kg) and then gradually lost a few pounds as mileage increased. I was happy about that.

However, after these long, hard rides my weight increases as much as 8 lbs. (3.6 kg) in the following 2-3 days. And to make matters worse, I'm ravenous. These spikes are temporary but I'm wondering if they're normal. -- Frank A.

Coach Fred Matheny Replies: There could be several reasons for your weight gain. I'll give you my take based on what nutritionists have told me as well as my own experience with long rides and multiday tours.

Generally, you gain weight following such rides because they exhaust your glycogen supplies. Glycogen is your muscles' primary fuel. You've essentially done the depletion phase of the classic carbo-loading regimen.

After the ride, as your body replenishes glycogen in the muscles, you gain weight because glycogen is stored with a considerable amount of water.

So, much of your sudden gain is water weight. This storage is one reason that glycogen-stocked athletes will say they feel "bloated" going into an event. The excess water should vanish during your next big ride.

As for your appetite, sure you're hungry -- you just did an enormous amount of work, your metabolism is elevated and your body is in caloric debt. It compensates (maybe overcompensates) for the deficit. This would be bad if you weren't right back into training.

Try to control your appetite, perhaps by reducing the size of meals but increasing their number to 5 or 6 per day as a way to prevent feeling famished. If you do consume a few extra calories they'll be burned on the bike.

If you rode a consistent amount each week -- say, 10 hours -- your weight would probably settle at some moderate figure. But as long as you're training hard and riding long, you can expect fluctuations. That's normal.

This is normal. What generally happens with me is that I gain weight, and my feet and ankles become all puffy right after a long ride (i.e. a randonneuring brevet, especially the longer ones). Then, about 3 days later, I wear a path in the floor to the toilet.

Thanks for the kind replies.

Do you consume Creatine???... That causes excessive water retention.

And something else I've noticed about long distance cyclists, they believe they can eat anything & everything. Well you can, but you ain't gonna be in great shape.

i would say its normal. i payed way more attention to my body this off season while in the gym. i power lift and my gym schedule would be from Wednesday to Saturday. i have never weighted myself on a Sunday but by Wednesday morning i would be 5 pounds heavier than Saturday morning. then by Wednesday night after lifting and cardio i will have shed that extra water weight. everybody at work knows what day it is when im sprinting to the restroom every half hour. it takes more than a few breaks for 5 pounds of water.

No, I don't think I eat special supplement.

I usually not eat burgers and chips during riding, but this was the exception.
I eat one burger and fries because I could not match calorie consumption for 150 riding (It consumed over 5000 kcal) only with carbohydrate.

No, I don't think I eat special supplement.

I usually not eat burgers and chips during riding, but this was the exception.
I eat one burger and fries because I could not match calorie consumption for 150 riding (It consumed over 5000 kcal) only with carbohydrate.

That burger is probably still in your intestines.

What do you weigh???. How tall???...

That burger is probably still in your intestines.

What do you weigh???. How tall???...


127 lbs and 5'6".

Weight is reduced a little bit from 132 lbs, but I'm still 130 lbs.

75 mile riding was 6 days ago and 150 mile riding was 4 days ago.

I haven't experienced this radical weight change before.
I experienced 1-2 lbs increase but it returned in 2-3 days.

127-132 lbs @ 5'6. That is pretty much ideal weight to height ratio. I don't think you need to worry about anything (apart from cutting the burger & chips on a ride).

Weight fluctuations throughout the day and between am and pm are normal and happen to everyone. This is why it is better to weigh yourself first thing in the am and using the same scale.

Just remember the cycling is fine, but losing weight is pretty much all about eating.

And something else I've noticed about long distance cyclists, they believe they can eat anything & everything. Well you can, but you ain't gonna be in great shape.

Are you a long distance cyclist? What's the longest distance you've ridden?

Sorry but ... you don't come across as someone who actually rides a bicycle. You come across as a college student, and an armchair athlete, in the early years of a Kinesiology program.

There was a thread in the Road Forum with a bit of a discussion about this weight gain after long rides here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?441861-Swollen-feet-and-ankles

In that thread, I like to this site ... the Ultra Cycling site:
http://www.ultracycling.com/siteindex.html

Also, if you scroll down through the articles on that site, you'll see several on topics like:
- bloating
- dehydration
- drinking too much
- electrolytes
- hyponatremia

Are you a long distance cyclist? What's the longest distance you've ridden?


Irrelevant.

But a lot of them seem to believe they can eat anything & everything because they put in long distances. I'm just stating the fact that isn't the case if you want too be in great shape.

Thanks, LD riders. I've been experiencing and wondering about this for many years.

why are you worrying about something that occurs over the course of a few days? Everyone's weight changes all the time, for various reasons. You should be looking at your average weight over a period of a few months, not days.

you are weighing yourself too often. just do it once a month.

Interesting. I've always suffered from this too. If I do hard training day after day, or after a race I experience it. I can tell my legs can be kind of "bloated" and tight for a few days after. Once this happens, I usually just take a couple of days off, or go very easy for a couple of days, then my body rids itself of the excess weight and I sometimes even end up loosing some. I've always assumed that it is due to too much activity of the Sympathetic nervous system, as your body gets used to being in "fight or flight" it holds onto excess water/calories because it thinks you are going to keep stressing it in the same way.

Interesting, i always put the small weight gain down to a somnambulist snacking habit... that or my alien abductors leaving their probes behind!

Phew.

Are you riding with a seatpost but no saddle? A century or double century ridden in this manner can cause severely compacted fecal matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qga7-6t04gs

this is very common. You muscles are retaining water trying to protect themselves. that's why its only after exceptionally long and hard rides and why after a couple days you take a massive piss and everything is back to normal.

This happens to everybody

Are you riding with a seatpost but no saddle? A century or double century ridden in this manner can cause severely compacted fecal matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qga7-6t04gs


lol :lol: , i used to see that like 5 times a week back when i woke up real early for highschool, great stuff

Hi, I just completed 380 km bike ride in 4 days, very hot weather and now have swollen ankles and sore achilles tendons and I've gained 7 pounds...My trip ended on Tuesday and today is Friday. Should I try to stretch the Achilles, go to the doctor for the ankles...will I lose the weight. I didn't eat incredible extra amounts of food while riding extra while riding, but adequte amounts and thought I was drinking enough
. What about diet now, I'm drinking a lot of water and eating normally but maybe if I'm retaining water I shouldn't drink?

Thanks Symbioa.

Hi, I just completed 380 km bike ride in 4 days, very hot weather and now have swollen ankles and sore achilles tendons and I've gained 7 pounds...My trip ended on Tuesday and today is Friday. Should I try to stretch the Achilles, go to the doctor for the ankles...will I lose the weight. I didn't eat incredible extra amounts of food while riding extra while riding, but adequte amounts and thought I was drinking enough
. What about diet now, I'm drinking a lot of water and eating normally but maybe if I'm retaining water I shouldn't drink?

Thanks Symbioa.

I'm not sure why you would respond to a year-old thread when the same topic has been discussed in another thread just a few days ago: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/741115-Weight-gain-after-a-century-ride

Anyway ... read Post #14 above ... read the links.

1. You will likely lose the weight, probably by about mid-week.
2. Drinking is good, don't stop drinking. Just make sure you're consuming enough electrolytes.
3. Don't stretch the Achilles tendons. Go to the Dr first ... and soon. Achilles tendon problems can be very serious and can keep you off the bicycle for a long time. I would guess your bicycle is not set up properly ... chances are the saddle is too high so before you ride again, you should check your fit.

Thanks for the info. Thinks are gradually returning to normal. I was just drinking water so will switch to a sports drink next time and make sure the seat height is good. I'm just new to the site so hadn't negotiated my way through it, hence the reply to an old thread.

Thanks for the info. Thinks are gradually returning to normal. I was just drinking water so will switch to a sports drink next time and make sure the seat height is good. I'm just new to the site so hadn't negotiated my way through it, hence the reply to an old thread.

There's nothing wrong with drinking water all the way through a long ride. I haven't touched a sports drink in almost a year, and I've done quite a few long rides in that time. Just make sure you consume electrolytes with the water.