I have been biking several months 5 days a week, steadily increasing my mileage and hours in the saddle , some days 15 miles others 25 to 30,as well as incorporating hills, I eat basically a weight watchers diet, but have allowed extra splurges due to all the calories burned, supposedly, in my workouts, like red wine at night, I'm toning up, but the scale hasn't moved, but up a few lbs. Help! This plateau has been going on for at least 2 months, when is the shift in weight gonna happen?
Discouraged, but still riding : (
I'd like to chime in on this one if I may, I get this quite a bit at our facility. Let me ask you a few questions, and I may be able to give you some info as to why the scale is doing what it is.
1) How much short burst high intensity are you putting into your week?
2) What is the frequency of strength training in your week?
3) If I may, can you ballpark the amount of calories in, and the amount out?
One of the tricky parts of a restricted diet (in general mind you) while increasing activity levels, is that your body may not be getting properly fueled. Think of trying to drive your car 100 miles on 50 miles worth of gas.
The other thing is that if there aren't enough calories in the tank, you will actually lose muscle due to the catabolic nature of aerobic activity. Especially with prolonged bouts o low intensity steady effort cardio.
We need a certain amount of calories just for our base physiological functions (skin/hair growth, digestion, fueling the brain, etc). We then need calories for exercise, and then almost more importantly, for the recovery process so we can adapt the system to get it stronger/more fit.
If you start to deprive your body of the fuel it needs for these three scenarios, then the fuel comes from the muscles as they break down to provide nutrients to the system. Once this begins to happen, the metabolism slows, strength levels decrease and body composition negatively shifts.
For you to have an accurate snap shot of what you need daily, you'd need to see a registered dietician or sports nutritionist. "What, When and Water," is a great book by Dr Clyde Wilson who is a nutritionist who works with Stanford University's endurance teams as well as Olympians and professional athletes.
A pound is a pound the world around, and that holds true with fat and muscle. Muscle is more dense than fat, and that's why it has the misconception of weighing more. So if you put weight on, and its lean weight, RIGHT ON!
Remember, we want fat loss, not weight loss. Weight loss can mean muscle los as well.
One of the other things rarely mentioned to cyclists is that as your volume in the saddle increases, so too does your blood volume which increases tissue volume causing you to weigh a little more. This can very easily give the perception that the scale isn't moving!
One of the more accurate ways to measure body composition is to schedule an appt for a dunk tank. They usually aren't that much.
Hope that helps!!
