Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg)
Reload this Page >

How long does it take to gain weight?

Notices
Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) Looking to lose that spare tire? Ideal weight 200+? Frustrated being a large cyclist in a sport geared for the ultra-light? Learn about the bikes and parts that can take the abuse of a heavier cyclist, how to keep your body going while losing the weight, and get support from others who've been successful.

How long does it take to gain weight?

Old 01-29-07, 04:32 PM
  #1  
Air
Destroyer of Wheels
Thread Starter
 
Air's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Creating some FA-Qs
Posts: 3,531

Bikes: Surly LHT, Dahon folding bike. RIP Nishiki Sport, Downtube IXNS, 1950's MMB3 Russian Folding Bike, MTB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
How long does it take to gain weight?

Say my body needs 2500 calories to function. Say on a given day I consume 6000 calories. How long does it take for that one pound to show up?

I didn't eat too well the week before last but kept my weight steady. This last week I tripled the amount of veggies plus got on my bike a few extra times, took up a martial arts class and an extra 6 hours of fast dancing. My reward was a gain of five pounds this week. I'm trying to figure out if this is related to the calories consumed the week before (which wasn't all that bad (2700 a day) but combined with not too much activity...) or if something else weird is going on.

Thanks!
__________________
The Almighty Clyde FAQ || Northeast Index
eTrex Vista References || Road Reference


It's the year of the enema!
Air is offline  
Old 01-29-07, 04:56 PM
  #2  
Banned.
 
Turboem1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Long Island
Posts: 883

Bikes: Lemond Reno

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
This is a difficult question to answer because it changes over time.

If you eat food you will automatically gain the weight of what you just ate right away.
Give it time and your body will use some calories for energy.
More time and it passes through your system and eventually leaves your body through feces and urine.

But to permanently gain one pound of fat you have to have consumed about 3500 Kcal of energy from extra carbohydrate or fat.


The thing is over time after you eat (say 6,000 calories) its hard to estimate what you used for energy, what the weight of the food was, how much of it was excreted, how long your body held on to that food before it was totally out of your system, when the next time you ate was ect..

Also there is a large change in weight of food per calorie. To get an extra 3500 calories you would need to eat about a pound of butter or over 2 pounds of pasta and so on
Turboem1 is offline  
Old 01-29-07, 06:13 PM
  #3  
Boomer
 
maddmaxx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 7,214

Bikes: Diamondback Clarity II frame homebuilt.

Mentioned: 106 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 16098 Post(s)
Liked 1,457 Times in 1,064 Posts
After suddenly taking on lots of extra exercise could the gain be water weight. I actually gain weight on days that I ride but loose it later in the week. Individual days gains or losses mean much less than steady gains or losses say for a week or month.
maddmaxx is offline  
Old 01-29-07, 06:20 PM
  #4  
staring at the mountains
 
superdex's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Castle Pines, CO
Posts: 4,560

Bikes: Obed GVR, Fairdale Goodship, Salsa Timberjack 29

Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Liked 197 Times in 112 Posts
3500 calories = 1 pound ... and are you weighing yourself the same time of day, under similar circumstances? Has your water intake gone up too?
superdex is offline  
Old 01-29-07, 06:37 PM
  #5  
Air
Destroyer of Wheels
Thread Starter
 
Air's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Creating some FA-Qs
Posts: 3,531

Bikes: Surly LHT, Dahon folding bike. RIP Nishiki Sport, Downtube IXNS, 1950's MMB3 Russian Folding Bike, MTB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
Yup, weighing the same time of day after morning duties. I'll do an 'official' weigh in for fitday once a week but step on every once in a while out of curiousity. It's also weird that the days I feel lighter I seem to gain it and the days I feel heavier I've seemed to lose. Water intake is pretty stable - it was so cold when I rode that I drank some but not a lot more than I usually do over the course of a day. And when I went dancing I sweated my ass off and drank about the same that came off.

The jump happened over the course of two days - but I've always noticed jumps happening like that and not so gradually. Very odd. It's been stable now for a few days.

Here's usually where motivation for me gets hard.
__________________
The Almighty Clyde FAQ || Northeast Index
eTrex Vista References || Road Reference


It's the year of the enema!
Air is offline  
Old 01-29-07, 11:28 PM
  #6  
staring at the mountains
 
superdex's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Castle Pines, CO
Posts: 4,560

Bikes: Obed GVR, Fairdale Goodship, Salsa Timberjack 29

Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Liked 197 Times in 112 Posts
(it could be muscle gain?) I know over the summer I was riding a lot, but not eating enough. The week I started eating more appropriately, I promptly put on a couple pounds, but it was muscle, and the ensuing weeks I continued to lose weight. Don't give up!

(of course, in October I stopped riding so much but didn't tone back the diet to compensate. Guess who now has the wrong kind of extra weight to get rid of? Ugh)
superdex is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 08:07 AM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
I_Bike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 244

Bikes: RANS Dynamik

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Air
Say my body needs 2500 calories to function. Say on a given day I consume 6000 calories. How long does it take for that one pound to show up?

Thanks!
With my metabolism, yesterday...
I_Bike is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 08:13 AM
  #8  
Third World Layabout
 
crtreedude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Costa Rica
Posts: 3,136

Bikes: Cannondale F900 and Tandem

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 397 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 32 Times in 22 Posts
One thing I do is weigh pretty much every day. Then I take the lowest and highest weight. They both better be moving in the right direction.

I find a lot of variance during the week - 2 to 3 lbs easily. Probably because I tend to eat more on the weekends (and I am more active too)
crtreedude is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 08:14 AM
  #9  
Senior Member
 
I_Bike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 244

Bikes: RANS Dynamik

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Air
Say my body needs 2500 calories to function. Say on a given day I consume 6000 calories. How long does it take for that one pound to show up?

I didn't eat too well the week before last but kept my weight steady. This last week I tripled the amount of veggies plus got on my bike a few extra times, took up a martial arts class and an extra 6 hours of fast dancing. My reward was a gain of five pounds this week. I'm trying to figure out if this is related to the calories consumed the week before (which wasn't all that bad (2700 a day) but combined with not too much activity...) or if something else weird is going on.

Thanks!
Seriously. Are you on any medications? Some can really screw with your metabolism - some I take tend to do that. I can gain weight in a day but I always find a delayed reaction in the loss. Keep the same diet and exercise for another week maybe two and then check the results. If you’re still gaining, I'd see either a doctor or dietician.
I_Bike is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 08:42 AM
  #10  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 76
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
As I understand it the excess calories should be transferred into storage (FAT) when the digestion process is complete. There is no middle holding area or middle ground for food consumed. The problem here is that a single pound is very difficult to see or measure.

I have been at my goal weight for 18 months but my goal weight is really say a 5 pound range. I don't weigh the same amount two morning in a row when I step on the scale almost invariably it is up or down by a pound or two. One of the biggest contributors to weight fluctuation is fluid retention. Our bodies are 80%+ water. A gallon of water water weighs eight pounds so if you manage to retain an additional 32 oz of water you will "gain" 2 pounds. Over the Christmas holiday I was taking a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen sodium (prescription Aleve) and over the course of 9 days I put on 14 pounds while my diet remained the same. I stopped taking the drug, lived in the bathroom for two days and was back at my normal weight.

Some folks will mention muscle gain as a reason for weight gain. We gain muscle quite slowly, cardio activity like riding or running don't tend to bulk people up (sure you do gain muscle over time but not big heavy bulky muscles). Five pounds of muscle is a lot of muscle. A person can't gain weight in muscle without eating more than they are burning either. In order to build muscle bulk a person MUST actually consume the additional calories necessary to grow that muscle.

If the numbers you quote are accurate I would attribute your change in weight to a fluid change. If that is the case it should disappear as rapidly as it arrived.

Good Luck.
Mike_Morrow is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 09:16 AM
  #11  
Senior Member
 
I_Bike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 244

Bikes: RANS Dynamik

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by crtreedude
One thing I do is weigh pretty much every day. Then I take the lowest and highest weight. They both better be moving in the right direction.

I find a lot of variance during the week - 2 to 3 lbs easily. Probably because I tend to eat more on the weekends (and I am more active too)
Personally, I weigh myself once every two weeks. If I'm being a good boy the weight is usually less, or at worst the same. I found weighing in every day created a roller coaster effect with my weight-related "emotions".
I_Bike is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 09:51 AM
  #12  
Air
Destroyer of Wheels
Thread Starter
 
Air's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Creating some FA-Qs
Posts: 3,531

Bikes: Surly LHT, Dahon folding bike. RIP Nishiki Sport, Downtube IXNS, 1950's MMB3 Russian Folding Bike, MTB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Mike_Morrow
If the numbers you quote are accurate I would attribute your change in weight to a fluid change. If that is the case it should disappear as rapidly as it arrived.

Good Luck.
This triggered an idea. How much does salt key into all of this? I just checked my salt intake (truthfully I'm happy enough when I'm below in calories and fat so I don't check that often) and it may be a bit high (3032 mg over the last two weeks and 2828 mg over the last week). Then again I just went back to November when I was losing weight and my sodium was at around 3800 (but sweating more...maybe).

I hope it's just fluid change...though after it jumped it's stayed there. If salt's the culprit is just drinking more water a good way to flush your system?

[By the way - my caloric intake was 2200 for the week with all that activity]

[No meds by the way]

Some folks will mention muscle gain as a reason for weight gain. We gain muscle quite slowly, cardio activity like riding or running don't tend to bulk people up (sure you do gain muscle over time but not big heavy bulky muscles). Five pounds of muscle is a lot of muscle. A person can't gain weight in muscle without eating more than they are burning either. In order to build muscle bulk a person MUST actually consume the additional calories necessary to grow that muscle.
I had no idea about that. It obviously makes sense but makes a lot more sense compared to the bigger picture.

Thanks all!
__________________
The Almighty Clyde FAQ || Northeast Index
eTrex Vista References || Road Reference


It's the year of the enema!
Air is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 11:28 AM
  #13  
Senior Member
 
Hambone's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Bootiful Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 2,023

Bikes: GT Edge for the road/Specialized Hopper (well the frame and the bb, everything else is new) for the dirt

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Mike_Morrow
<snip>Some folks will mention muscle gain as a reason for weight gain. We gain muscle quite slowly, cardio activity like riding or running don't tend to bulk people up (sure you do gain muscle over time but not big heavy bulky muscles). Five pounds of muscle is a lot of muscle. A person can't gain weight in muscle without eating more than they are burning either. In order to build muscle bulk a person MUST actually consume the additional calories necessary to grow that muscle.[emphasis added -hambone]
are you sure about this?

Your body won't use stored energy (aka fat) to put on muscle mass?

(I'm not suggesting I rely on the muscle mass increase as cause for weight gain in general just questioning the biology of your statement.)
Hambone is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 11:30 AM
  #14  
Senior Member
 
Hambone's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Bootiful Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 2,023

Bikes: GT Edge for the road/Specialized Hopper (well the frame and the bb, everything else is new) for the dirt

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Air
<snip>This triggered an idea. How much does salt key into all of this? I just checked my salt intake (truthfully I'm happy enough when I'm below in calories and fat so I don't check that often) and it may be a bit high (3032 mg over the last two weeks and 2828 mg over the last week). Then again I just went back to November when I was losing weight and my sodium was at around 3800 (but sweating more...maybe).
for me it can have a huge impact.

I can cheat the scale a few pounds by cutting salt for three days before weigh in.
Hambone is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 11:34 AM
  #15  
Third World Layabout
 
crtreedude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Costa Rica
Posts: 3,136

Bikes: Cannondale F900 and Tandem

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 397 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 32 Times in 22 Posts
Originally Posted by I_Bike
Personally, I weigh myself once every two weeks. If I'm being a good boy the weight is usually less, or at worst the same. I found weighing in every day created a roller coaster effect with my weight-related "emotions".
Yes, I used to think the same way - but I decided to just grit my teeth and bear it. Now, I don't worry about any day - but I want to see it. When I did the other way, two weeks would become a month because I really didn't want to know, and then 3 months, and then 6 months - and they next thing you know, I have gained 20 lbs.
crtreedude is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 12:04 PM
  #16  
Senior Member
 
I_Bike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 244

Bikes: RANS Dynamik

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by crtreedude
Yes, I used to think the same way - but I decided to just grit my teeth and bear it. Now, I don't worry about any day - but I want to see it. When I did the other way, two weeks would become a month because I really didn't want to know, and then 3 months, and then 6 months - and they next thing you know, I have gained 20 lbs.
Oh, well if I'm not working at weight loss or maintaining my weight the scale is a forgotten as a rice-cake...
I_Bike is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 12:27 PM
  #17  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 76
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Hambone
are you sure about this?

Your body won't use stored energy (aka fat) to put on muscle mass?

(I'm not suggesting I rely on the muscle mass increase as cause for weight gain in general just questioning the biology of your statement.)
Yes I am quite sure about this.

Look at it this way, the stored energy (FAT) has weight, when you burn for energy it disappears even if you could do an exact one to one conversion of fat to muscle (which you can't) you would still be left with a zero sum game. As I recall a pound of muscle only has something like 2800 calories in it but you still are unable to take that pound of fat and turn it into more than a pound of muscle.
Mike_Morrow is offline  
Old 01-30-07, 12:33 PM
  #18  
Out fishing with Annie on his lap, a cigar in one hand and a ginger ale in the other, watching the sunset.
 
Tom Stormcrowe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: South Florida
Posts: 16,057

Bikes: Techna Wheelchair and a Sun EZ 3 Recumbent Trike

Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 9 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 22 Times in 17 Posts
Originally Posted by Mike_Morrow
Yes I am quite sure about this.

Look at it this way, the stored energy (FAT) has weight, when you burn for energy it disappears even if you could do an exact one to one conversion of fat to muscle (which you can't) you would still be left with a zero sum game. As I recall a pound of muscle only has something like 2800 calories in it but you still are unable to take that pound of fat and turn it into more than a pound of muscle.
Air, Mike is right, you don't convert fat to muscle. Muscle is denser than fat by 7X, but You do have to burn off the fat then build lean muscle mass. I always tout the protein boost to prevent cannibalization of muscle tissue and promote fat burn. It is conceivable you are picking up some bone density, however. Cycling is close enough to a load bearing exercise that you'll add bone density. That would likely be a pound or so and over a long period of time though.

I do tend to think though, especially with the rapidity of the gain that it's fluid weight as well. If your ankles start swelling, it's an issue you'll need to bring up with your doctor.
__________________
. “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”- Fredrick Nietzsche

"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." - Immanuel Kant
Tom Stormcrowe is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.