It sounds like it's diet related... I hear people talking about this issue all the time. Here's my opinion on it.

I think you might subconsciously be underestimating the amount of calories you are eating. I'd recommend keeping a food journal to track what you are really consuming (make sure you are counting servings.... there is a huge difference between a bowl of cereal and a serving of cereal). If you are expending more calories then you are eating then you will lose weight... bottom line. Make sure you don't skimp on the pre- or post- workout meals though as these are optimal for performance and recovery.

During my base training I was staying even or gaining a little bit of weight. It wasn't until my recovery weeks that I would lose any weight. I think that I was overestimating how many calories I needed to take in due to my long workouts. I was also eating alot of food high in sugar (gels, bars, recovery drinks) that I think attributed to me not losing weight.

My sister went through the same thing when she rode from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. They were eating such high calorie foods all day long that she gained some weight during the trip but the week after started losing a lot of weight. Hope this all helps.

I'm in the same boat as you.
5'8", 155 and have been in athletics since high school and swam in college. I currently train 10-15hrs/week and am also a very healthy eater and don't drink any soda. It's primarily water with juice in the morning, milk here and there, tea or the occasional coffee. By this I should be one lean a** kicking chick, but things aren't as lean as they should be.

My goal race weight is 145, I haven't been below 150 since college and have always hovered somewhere between 150-155 for the last 6 years. I'm great at maintaining weight but can't seem to drop any or get rid of my little softness around the waist.

The only thing that has ever worked for me is counting calories. (Eating organic doesn't seem to make a difference). Last spring I had my resting metabolic rate tested and I got a chart that mapped out how many calories I burned for different activity levels. It also mapped out how many calories to consume if I want to drop 1/2 a pound, 1 pound, or 1.5pounds a week. I have been following this and write out what I eat. The hard part is I start out well and then after 2-3 weeks I get lazy and don't want to write down stuff anymore. I'm on my 3rd week right now (finally lost the 3 easter candy pounds I sadly put on, now I'm shooting for that race weight) and as long as I stay motivated I'll stay on track. I'm currently trying to tell myself to keep riding the wheel (drafting on the road), stick to it and I'll get there, get dropped and I'm a gonner :)

Hope that helps.

You have started to train more so you naturally feel hungry throughout the day and therefore eat more. It probably isn't what you eat but rather portion size. Also, it is important to eat several times throughout the day instead of having 3 large meals.
Weigh loss is a pretty simple equation...burn more then you take in. The healthy way to do lose weight is to run a 500 calories deficit per day and you will lose 1 pound per week. When you start to do this you will feel hungry and, sadly, this is just part of trying to lose weight. After about a week your body will start to adjust and you won't feel as hungry running a 500 calorie daily deficit.
Here are some things to try...
-eat on smaller plates like your bread plate in order to reduce portion size.
-wait 20 minutes before getting another helping
-stop eating before you feel full. You would be suprised how little you need to curb your hunger
-drink a ton of water (it fills your stomach). Have 2 glasses before a meal and you will feel full faster.
-have 1 salad per day as a meal and go very light on the dressing. Vegis are great for you and fill your stomach. Add some nuts for protein and to curb your appetite.

A previous comment makes a very important point...don't skimp on post workout nutrition. Make sure to eat something balanced (with fat, protein, carbs) within 30 minutes of finishing and have something more 2 hrs after the workout.
Keep a log and make sure you stay 500 calories in the hole per day and you will lose weight the healthy way.

Trevor Glavin
www.trevorglavin.blogspot.com

[quote=GregL81]I think you might subconsciously be underestimating the amount of calories you are eating. [/quote] Plus overestimating your calories burned while training plus overestimating how much you need to "refueul" or "recover." If you read through other diet-related threads you will see several mentions of someone putting in a moderate training session and then asking which 1,000 calorie-combination of recovery food they should eat? I'm not implying you do this, but I've read several times about people doing a 5k run and talking about how they have to recover with the intake of protein shakes or replace glycogen storage with PowerBars. Or, 'carb loading' for a 1-hour bike ride. Don't over-eat just after you've trained.

Quite typical. Your body has a learning curve to overcome before it realizes what you're trying to do. It's the same reason that people who go on fad diets usually quit within the first month. Their bodies are not yet conditioned to the new behavior and short-term results are limited. In fact, you should expect your body to become less efficient in the beginning of base training because your calorie intake typically increases while your metabolic rate lags behind.

I started base this season at 152 lb, gained around 6 lbs during the first month, then steadily dropped to 140 lb (holding steady for about 16 weeks). If you stick to your current routine, the weight will come off. Like all conditioning programs, it takes the body a little time to adapt. Keep building that aerobic base, and soon you'll be burning off fat calories by the thousands.

Since you eat healthy, this probably doesn't pertain to you, but I still found it interesting. From a magazine I just got in the mail today from Lifetime Fitness:

"Wake Forest School of Medicine researcher Kylie Kavanaugh, DVM, compared two groups of monkeys, one that derived 8 percent of their daily calories from trans fats and a control group that didn't eat trans fats at all. She was looking for the impact of the trans fats on their cardiovascular health, but was surprised tofind another adverse effect: The trans fat-eating monkeys gained three times as much weight as the control group, even though both ate the same number of calories each day."

Personally, I find it bother easier, and more satifying to have performance goals than weight goals. I could stand to drop another 10 lbs, but I'd rather drop 10 sec/mile.

I used FitDay.com when I was curious what my fat/carb/protein ratios were. It's a nice site, and just like others have said, tracking what you eat holds you more accountable. Plus, if you eat healthy (like I believe I do) tracking what you eat is a way to showing off a little bit.

Interesting that everyone has mentioned overestimating calorie consumption and taking in too many calories, but no one has mentioned taking in too few calories. This has been my problem over the last few weeks. As soon as I increased my calorie intake the weight started coming off again.

As cuds mentioned, I have read that a big calorie deficit will result in the body holding onto the weight that you have, so you might need to eat more. But if you add calories do so either early in the day (breakfast) or as post-workout recovery. Eating a bowl of ice cream at 10pm isn't going to help :-)

Timing is everything.

I have a bad habit of beer and nachos before bed-a diet killer! I think I could run a marathon every day and still gain weight on this diet alone. There are some good articles out there (runners world and I think coolrunning.com) on meal timing but most of them indicate some experimentation is necessary. I've found that the phase I'm in has a lot to do with whether I gain or lose weight during that phase.

Your body could be very responsive to weight training too, just keep the weights low and reps high.

A lot of good tips above-this is a very knowledgable group!

Good luck!

[quote=cuds]Interesting that everyone has mentioned overestimating calorie consumption and taking in too many calories, but no one has mentioned taking in too few calories. This has been my problem over the last few weeks. As soon as I increased my calorie intake the weight started coming off again.
[/quote]

Very good point and a worthy distinction. The body doesn't take well to extreame adverse changes in caloric deficits. If you have drastically increased your caloric deficit every day either through exercise or diet, you may have triggered your bodies famine response. I would echo the food log sentiment and keep a careful log on how many calories you are consuming.

Wouldn't that be great news to find out that you are not losing weight because you are EATING TOO LITTLE? Over the winter I did a home fitness video and diet plan that stessed this a lot. They pretty much spelled out exactly what you should eat, so you don't end up with a calorie deficit. Lots of training, and not enough fuel can be a fine line to balance.

There is no way in this world by which we can chase our target without any struggle..
To get something we have to sacrifice something.. SO without the struggle we can't loss weight..
[url=http://www.straightupfitness.com/los-angeles-boot-camp]Los Angeles Boot Camp[/url]

I am actually was in the same boat as you. I have been keeping a food journal for over a year and it helped so much for the first 7 months. I have been worried about getting 10-20 pounds off for race season and was so frustrated that I was not loosing anything. I train about 15-18 hr a week and eat well. I sent my daily cal input to a friend (triathlete) who is a dietician and I was surprised at her response. She stated I was actually not eating enough. I was around 1800 cals a day and when she did my BMR I was around 1650 without any activity (that is what my body burnt without moving). With 2 hrs of exercise a day to loose around 1-1.5 p a week she said that my needs were about 2600 a day. Her thoughts were that I was always in a mild starvation especially when I was training hard for a marathon or race.
I would suggest doing a journal and seeing what your daily intake is and then evaluate if you are taking in too much or perhaps not enough. After I increased my cals (fruits and veggies not junk) I have been able to break through my plateau!
Good luck

I've struggled a lot with weight loss too. I started my triathlon training back in November and it seemed to take forever to start shedding pounds.

I agree with the comments that one of the best things you can do is count calories. I do a little more than this and it has worked:

1) I looked up my basic metaboloic rate and then determined from that how many calories per day I needed just to maintain my current weight.

2) I deficited my "maintenance" number by 500 calories a day. You can accomplish that by even the most basic of workouts.

3) I keep an active track of what I eat and how much I exercise both in a spreadsheet as well as on the Livestrong.com website. The website has most of the foods you would eat in their database and it has proven, for me at least, to be a great way to keep a running track on how well I'm eating.

Good luck!
http://firsttimertirathlete.blogspot.com/

Most people who wants to lose weight experience problems physically and emotionally especially if it is a lot of weight to lose. But later on, if you achieve your goal everything is perfect.

looking younger

This is the era of the science there is no need to do the efforts. We should do the use of the supplements and dieting pills to maintain the health and to lose the weight.

good question...i know from my own experience having lost 24 lbs since last janurary....it is a multifacetted issue. from a fitness standpoint its three things...high intensity short duration cardiovascular interval work...high intensity muscular strength work(avg two or more sessions per week)...and long duration aerobic activity...with the right combination of these three key principles that should do the trick from a fitness standpoint....ok from a dietary standpoint the core of your diet should be high protein lean meats, and lots of fruits of veggies...with limitted fat and carbs...you NEED to eat inorder to lose weight...sounds funny but its true if you eat less your bodies natural survival mechanism is to go into starvation mode and store fat it changes you chemically as well....heres why... your body is in a stressed state in will produce a catabolic steroid, cortisol which breaks down muscle(the fat and calorie burner)and increase fat producion. also lots of fruit and veggies everyday...there are essential phytochemicals in plants that help repair and stimulate your bodies natural mechanisms to produce the condtiitons interanaly to maintain a healthy body wieght...have fun stay healthy

It sounds to me like a diet issue! Typically an athlete of your weight in the foundation period of their training should eat 2500-2800 calories a day (about 15% less on off days). In addition expect to contribute 65% carbohydrates, 13% protein, and 22% fat approximately for your calories. This amounts to the following amounts in grams for a 165 lb athlete:

- 410 grams Carbohydrates
- 80 grams Protein
- 60 grams Fat (only 5-6% of these should be saturated!)

It's important not to lower your carbohydrate and fat intakes below this much because these are essential fuels for your training! Lowering way below these recommended numbers can lead to fatigue and loss of power and strength. If you are training properly, and completing many low to moderate intensity workouts, your body will easily burn through these carbs and fat no problem. Eat 5-6 small meals a day, with breakfast being the largest, and you will lose weight!

Even though it may sound contradicting, eating less is a good way to gain weight when training in the base phase! Your body needs a specific amount of each nutrient, and without them your body will automatically begin to go into storage mode, hence additional weight! Don't be fooled by your own mind... eat right, train right, and you WILL lose weight.

Need some more help? Please contact me at TriathleteTalk for specific questions!

Just wondering if you are such much stronger and faster than last year, why you are wrecking your head with weight loss

I would cut out some carbohydrates and fat, and keep it up with the protein. As a rule of thumb a person needs 2000 calories a day, I would suggest 1600 a day, that's a healthy deficit.

Another possibility is the seasonal effect on metabolism. You don't mention where you live but assuming it's in the continental US, we are right in the middle of winter. I tend to have a tougher time maintaining my weight during the colder weather, regardless of activity and diet. I would give it another 4-6 weeks before you get too concerned.