So for the past year I've had a terrible addiction to sugary goods and I've finally decided to kick the habit. I've stopped my daily routine of going to the local coffee shop near work and getting cookies or chocolates and instead I get a tea (with nothing added). I've been eating the same otherwise, and have been riding more or less the same km. Yet in the last 2 weeks I've gained 5lbs.


I'm trying to lose the last bit of weight to get myself down to 140lbs (what should be my race weight), but now I am at 153. Any thoughts to where this may be coming from?

Food, too much of it.

Doesn't matter if your eating too much bad food or too much good good food, both will make you put on weight. Its just calories in vs calories out.

Id drop your cals by 300-500 a day and see how you go. You should drop the weight in a month or so.

The reasons could be extensive or simple.

In short there isn't enough information to determine this.

For a start your body weight can fluctuate a kilo or more very easily every single day.

Other questions to help narrorw things down would be:-
Exactly how much has diet changed/not changed?
Increased protein intake? Carb intake?
What protocol did you use for weighing yourself (time of day, clothes worn etc)?
Are the scales calibrated?
Have sleeping patterns changed in any way?
Any personal life changes work/study/home life?
Has training volume/types altered in any way?


And most important, how did you determine what your ideal race weight is?

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Everything has stayed the same with the exception of having a high sugar/fat snack around 3/4pm. I usually just have a tea instead.

It may not be the easiest way but for sure the most helpful:
Make an excel spreadsheet and calculate the amount of calories in every single thing you eat every day. Do this for at least two weeks.
This will help you understand how much calories you take in every day (in order to lose weight you have to burn +- 500 more than you take in).
It will also help you understand the energy values of the food you usually eat.

The excel is a great idea but an application like myfitnesspal is an easier alternative. It has a huge food library and you can scan barcodes if running it on a smart phone....

As others have said, understanding your total energy intake is key and reducing high energy foods. These aren't necessarily the obvious sweet or fried items, as some seemingly innocuous foods can be loaded with carbs.

In addition to reading food packaging to understand energy content, I use Tanita scales which measure body composition (including fat and water percentage) which are useful to help understand where any weight changes are coming from.

It is the trend over time that counts, as weight does fluctuate.

I think we're all making a mistake and overlooking the fact that he said he dropped drinking coffee.

Coffee has caffeine which is a stimulant drug. Stimulants lessen appetite. If you were drinking it every day and then switched it off, you might not notice if you aren't specifically paying attention to it, but you're probably just eating more food! Its also important to note that athletes often correlate low weight with being healthy, which us not always the truth. A possibility is that you may have been underfeeding yourself to begin with. Its easy to burn off a day's worth of calories when you're burning 1000 of them every hour. (Keep in mind you can't just burn all the calories you intake, your body needs some too!)

Hopefully this made some sense and maybe helped a little.

If you eat to much you get fat. Count your calories and keep a diary of your food intake. Make a note of when your feeling good and see if a pattern emerges.

It could be that your metabolism has slowed down a bit. Need to do something to restart it.

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+1 or you move too little

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If you don't know why your gaining weight keep a journal of your eating, keep a journal of your exercise. Most people underestimate the former and over estimate the latter.

Lack of sleep, stress, late night eating, binging all can add to weight gain for different reasons. We all have what is known as a set weight, a weight our bodies naturally want to be. If your target weight is well bellow that your metabolism will reflect that and bang your in starvation mode. You can end up putting on weight as your metabolism slows down .

Calories in calories out sounds nice but is simplistic. It does not take into account many other factors that effect the "storage" of extra calories. IMO based on scant evidence it sounds like your glycemic levels are fluctuating all over the place. While reading up on the glycemic index will be useful I suggest you seek advise from a trained professional that is knowledable of your specific health and eating patterns. Fact is in weight loss diets do not in the long run work, life style changes are proven to be most effective.

Rusty
Certified health and nutrition coach

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WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

Combined with proper diet and exercise. It's really that simple. Calories in calories out. There is no magic formulas or potions that allow someone to maintain weight. The problem many people face is discipline. If you have discipline and follow the simple rule you will obtain proper health and weight for your well being.
As we get older the metabolic rate slows down. To compensate you need to have a proper balanced diet e.g. not starving, or just eating a particular kind of food heavy in protein or carbs but good quality balanced nutritional food which is unprocessed combined with a good quality exercise regimen adapted to your current life style.
If you do these two things with discipline over your lifetime you will be in good shape for your age group.
It's as simple as that. All the other stuff like stress, sleep, anxiety are greatly minimized or eliminated by being in good physical health. There is no other solution.



What evidence is that?

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

I suggest some research for yourself or any others that are interested in learning from qualified sources, read up on the gylcemic index. The information is available and has been validated repeatedly for many years (decades now). You will find the research backs up my statements. Your statement about discipline being all that is needed is also false and frankly not helpful. How many people have been told this for years, it simply is some of the worst advice one can give. People have weight issues for many reasons. Once again I respectfully suggest you educate yourself before you try to educate others. People that do this for a living and are trained, read the latest research and work with patients regularly understand the multitude of factors both from a physiological and psychological perspective that effect ones weight. They are also accountable for their advice unlike what you may read on this forum. Seek qualified professionals

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WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

With all due respect Rusty I disagree with your statements. Weight issues are ultimately created by poor diet and exercise. Most people whether they like or not fall into this category. That's the bottom line.
Proper diet keeps all your levels in check and proper exercise will allow you to burn those calories to keep your weight in check not to mention keeping the whole system in performing order. All of our nutrient are found in food. There isn't one nutrient we need that has to be manufactured or designed by a human.

Since you know nothing about the state of health of the OP and neither do I. I was asking what kind of evidence do you have? You are just theorizing that his problem my be due to glycemic imbalance. Yes you do say go to a professional and have it checked. I would also recommend going to his doctor and the doctor might prescribe something to get him through this rough patch but ultimately it will eventually come down to proper diet and exercise.

That's what it will always come down to for as long as we live.

For those of you that want to read on the general overview of GI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

By the way have you gotten your weight in check? I kinda recall you posting to a weight thread a while ago.

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree