zerotopanmass

I know many people would love to have this problem! I've been riding for about 7 months and during this time I've noticed my weight starting to drop, this would be OK but I'm not a heavy guy to start with, right now I'm 6'3 and 160lbs, and dropping...

Since I started riding I've noticed my quads getting bigger, but feel like my chest and arms are shrinking, the other day I noticed I was drowning in a TShirt that used to fit snugly. To date I've only been interested in riding for exercise ( between 100 and 200 miles a week ) and have not mixed other types of exercise in. Would it be safe to assume I have a couple of problems:

• Need to add other types of exercise in.
• Need to start paying attention to what I eat and when.

I'd like to start gaining weight back, but keep cycling, which I LOVE. I feel like I'm missing about 15 - 20lbs at this point.

Any tips would be very gratefully received!

acortez

My body type is a bit different from what your describing, but pushups work for me. Maybe some weight room work would help or cross training. I also do boxing which helps keep the upper body toned but the weight will keep coming off until you hit an equilibrium. Mine is 183lbs right now, but to get lighter I need to cut some calories which is hard with the amount of training I am doing now.

Wanderer

Need to add other types of exercise in.
Need to start paying attention to what I eat and when.

You answered your own question.............

aMull

6'3 and 160lbs is quite skinny, i'm 6'1 and 180lbs and still feel skinny somtimes. Play another sport which works the upper body and eat more. I eat 4-5 meals a day.

zerotopanmass

Thanks for the advice guys. Much appreciated. Any suggestions on what types of things to eat, and when, I've never had to worry about this piece of the puzzle before so it's all new to me. Also is it possible to gain weight without the use of ( expensive ) supplements?

Prudy

Well, you should probably just shell out a few bucks and get your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist of some sort - they could tell you how to gain weight in a healthy manner.

If it were me, I'd try to add a few hundred healthy calories to the meals i normally eat - aka, I'd add almonds or walnuts to breakfast cereals or yogurt - things like that. If you normally eat toast slap some peanut butter on it...

Another thing would be to add one last meal in before the end of the day a couple of hours before bedtime - nothing big, but - again, healthy and calorie-packed but not too heavy on the stomach such as nuts and the like.

Lift heavy weights at low reps to build muscle and strength for your upper body - mine was getting a bit small, too, but adding a weight-lifting routine has helped a lot.

etothepii

Compliment your workouts/rides with a post-activity protein shake -- high calorie. You'll be glad you did!!

etothepii

Check this out:
https://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Clarks-S.../dp/073604602X

You can mix Milk, whey protein powder, Carnation Instant Breakfast, bananas, etc., to make a great high calorie post workout shake.

Benjamin11

Post workout protein shake ftw.

zerotopanmass

Thanks for the tips, really appreciate it. When you guys talk about "post workout protein shakes" are we talking about the huge tubs of powder you buy at GNC? I was hoping to do this without spending an arm and a leg...

briandelmo

You can get a 5lb tub for like 30 bucks. Ive also used the cheap protien from meijer worked the same just usually left me with an upset stomach for about an hour

Zephyr11

Agree on the recovery shakes. Lift upper body a few times a week and follow up your workouts with a whey protein shake. Go with whey isolate over whey concentrate too...higher quality and more protein.

C_Heath

Yes, I would like to have your problem.

etothepii

GCN is pretty overpriced. I was buying 6# bags of EAS whey at Sam's club for around $30, and it would last a long time.

If you're not afraid of raw eggs, you could throw eggs, milk, and fruit in a blender and make a high calorie shake. I wouldn't do it, but Rocky drank raw eggs...

nafun

Sorry, but i have to ask. Have your tried eating more food? How about eating things that are "bad" for you? You know, pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert? Maybe a 12" chili dog and a blizzard from Sonic for lunch? It seems to work for a lot of other people.

Seriously, find an overweight person at the grocery store and look what's in their cart. I bet it's not protein shakes and whey powder.

etothepii

I went through a gym rat phase for awhile... one guy gained weight by putting mayonaise on as many foods as he could tolerate.

ericm979

I'm 6' and 142 lbs. You sound kind of big to me.

Are you losing fat or muscle? You want to lose fat, that's good. It's the upper body mucle that you may or may not want to lose. As far as cycling goes, you don't need a whole lot of upper body muscle. You may want some for other sports. But adding 15-20 lbs will make you quite a bit slower up hills. There's a reason that serious cyclists look thin- they are faster that way.

When I first got serious about cycling I didn't know that I needed to eat more. I got down to 127 lbs at one point. If you are getting really hungry, that might be a sign that you should eat more. I eat at least five times a day and sometimes snack between "meals". Smaller more frequent meals is more effective than a few huge ones. I don't agree that you should load up on junk food, unless you just want to get fat.

umd

There is way too much focus on weight in our culture rather than just being healthy. Advising someone to eat junk food just to put weight on is silly.

nafun

Regardless of any shortcomings of our culture, if someone wants to know how to put on some weight, the obvious answer is to consume more calories. The easiest (and tastiest) way to do this is to eat food that has lots of calories. What's so silly about that? He didn't ask how to be more "healthy".

Personally, i consider junk food at least one step above anything that comes from GNC. I mean sure it's junk, but at least it's food. The notion that you need tubs of powdered chemical concoctions for something as simple as putting on a few lbs seems more silly to me. I know that was not your suggestion, UMD, but that was the context of my post.

Zephyr11

Sometimes you just need the calories to keep on weight. For an extreme example, look at Michael Phelps. The guy's exercising so much that he needs to eat 10,000 Calories a day just to keep his muscle mass, and if you look at his diet, it's not all coming from so-called "healthy" foods. There's a quote in the book "Once a Runner" that states "If the furnace is hot enough, it'll burn anything, even Big Macs." Obviously it's better to get your energy from healthy foods. But if you're at the point where you're burning up muscle, it's time to move to something more calorie-dense.

valygrl

How about peanut butter & banana and full-fat yogurt in a blender.

datlas 

I am 6 feet and 140 pounds. Gets me up the hills faster.

But if you want to gain weight, just eat more. I think expensive supplements or shakes are a waste of money. If you want to gain upper body muscle you should do some weights.

That said, I really suggest you accept and embrace your cyclist's body. That's what most of us do.

zerotopanmass

Great tips guys, thanks as always for all the helpful advice. Very much appreciated. It's interesting to look at the amount of calories I'm eating, never paid attention to it at all in the past - I'm guessing I was eating around 1200 - 1500 a day in the past, not a naturally hungry person. By paying attention to labels and stocking up on calorie rich foods ( PB, rasins, bananas, granola, oatmeal ) I was able to get that up to 3100 yesterday without any trouble.

I figure I'll shoot for 3000 each day in conjunction with some weights and see what happens in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for the tips - very helpful.

umd

It was the suggestion "find an overweight person at the grocery store and look what's in their cart" that annoyed me. Yes, there can be a place for eating anything in sight to consume enough calories but it's certainly not the first thing I would recommend. All else being equal it would be better to get the extra calories from healthier natural items before going the junk food route.

yak

Donuts. D'oh!