Trainer Tuesdays: How Can I Avoid Gaining Weight While Training For an Endurance Event?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

How Can I Avoid Gaining Weight While Training For an Endurance Event?

Kelly Bailey: I love this topic and it forced me to re-visit the reasons that, although I just trained for and completed a triathlon, I actually gained a few pounds.

The simple answer: while you are training for an endurance event, it's very important to balance your caloric intake with energy expenditure....not eat too much, but also not eat too little. This is a tricky one because people usually gain weight during endurance training for different reasons. One reason, which seems counter-intuitive, is not eating enough during heavy training. Endurance training, especially training sessions lasting longer than one hour, causes the body stress. In simple terms, if we don't eat enough to fuel endurance exercise, our bodies can get "scared" into storage mode. Our metabolism slows down and through complex hormonal changes, our bodies will attempt to store everything we eat.

Let's move on to the second, and more likely reason people gain weight during endurance training: overeating. Intense and long exercise sessions tend to increase hunger, and many people completing a long workout feel as though they can eat anything they want. Not true. Even when putting in long hours exercising, you still need to pay attention to what and how much you eat. Take this into consideration: on Monday I did one of my longer workouts, which consists of 50 minutes on a bike trainer, immediately followed by a 30 minute run. I burned approximately 700 calories. Sounds great, right? Two cream-filled donuts (my fave) would negate this calorie deficit in about 5 minutes.

The following are a few things to keep in mind while training for an endurance event. Keep track of your food intake (calories in) and exercise expenditures (calories out), so that you make sure you don't under- or over-eat. Back exercise sessions up to your next regular meal. That way you refuel depleted muscles right after a workout, but don't have to eat twice. Add one or two days of resistance training to your schedule. This will help you maintain muscle mass, which revs your metabolism. Lastly, a tighter and leaner physique should be viewed as a bonus of a well-balanced endurance training program, but it shouldn't be the main goal. Endurance athletes do it for the love of the competition, not for the sole goal of weight loss.

Taynee Pearson: While training for an endurance event, it is important to make sure you intake the correct amount of calories everyday to replenish your body and to avoid gaining weight or losing too much weight. Many people think that they can eat what they want while training for an endurance event but this isn't true, your body still needs the correct foods. A diet with adequate protein, complex carbs and vegetables is needed while training for an event. Limiting processed foods and foods high in sugar and fats will help you maintain your correct weight during training. Eating the correct foods will also help keep your energy levels up. Strength training will also aid in training for an endurance event.

Steven Madden: When training for an endurance event, you tend to train more frequently, for longer and at a higher intensity.  The one problem is that this can lead to overtraining syndrome, which can have the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve.  Overtraining can lead to a condition called hypothyroidism.  Hypothyroidism can lead to depression, digestive problem and weight gain.  Gaining weight while exercising can be so disheartening, that it causes people to abandon training altogether.  To avoid overtraining weight gain, reduce the frequency of training, get plenty of rest between sessions and mix up the way you train.

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