How to maintain weight while competing

CoachFrenchie

hello. I am competing in March in a Spartan Hurricane. 2 more competition crossfit in May. One in June. 2 in the summer and so on. The thing is yesterday my coach had a test for me to make sure we are on track; 8 hours of training. Cardio and circuits. I am fueling every hour, still lost 5 lbs. any advice on how to pack calories quick? Coach is at lost.... I am vegan.,,, he eats steak for breakfast lol.

mymodernbabylon

Lots of nuts. Lots of them.

xcalygrl

I'm not vegan, so I apologize if any of the options I list below aren't vegan.

-Nuts and nut butters.
-Avocado.
-A mass gainer shake (I don't know any off the top of my head, but there has to be a vegan option)
-More oils in your cooking (olive oil and coconut oil pack quite the caloric punch for a small serving)
-Vegan milkshakes (there is a guy on MFP who has put cheesecake in his milkshakes for more calories. You'll know better what ingredients are vegan, but some that cross my mind: nuts/nut butters, bananas, tofu, almond/rice/coconut/soy milk, vegan ice cream.)
-You could always eat Oreos (Seriously, if you're not maintaining like you want to, there is nothing wrong with adding more treats into your day since you need to get the calories in. Could be brownies, cookies, cake, muffins, etc.)

CoachFrenchie

I am laughing so hard!! Never thought about the oreos,

CoachFrenchie

My coach will be running after me in the gym to steal them....

_benjammin

You didn't lose anything but water as a result of training for 8 hours. Drink about half a gallon of water and you just gained about 4 pounds. Regardless, you're going to need a lot of calories so the nut and "treat" recommendations are good.

heybales

You also lost a lot of carb stores. That attaches with water.
I've lost 11 lbs in 4 hr bike ride, and that was with drinking 6 x 24 oz bottles of water.
I'd think this would fall under the advice of endurance cardio, post workout food.

4:1 ratio of carbs: protein for best carb uptake to restore glycogen levels in the muscles.
Fat will slow that and should not be included in the first hour of eating. Later meals also hold that ratio, but can include fat.
You are training body to store more carbs, make sure to give it in best way possible so you can endurance longer, or go harder for same time period.

As far as during the training, really depends on if you slow down enough to actually digest food, or if again you are going to follow best results of endurance cardio studies with enough liquid carbs at right ratio to absorb best and maintain blood sugar.
Rarely can you drink enough to replenish muscles, you just want to keep blood sugar where the body wants it to think straight.
That's your sports drinks made just right.

CoachFrenchie

Thank you heybales. Lots to learn for me. New to the competing world...

bonniejo

Rule of thumb: replace everything you lost with that many pounds of water, spread out over your exercise. Most of what you lost was water, and with that, salt. Be sure to replace the salt and potassium as well. This will also help you consume more calories I would recommend an exercise drink or coconut water with extra sugar and salt added