Gained 4 lbs after heavy exercise?

catb58

I rode my hybrid bicycle twice last week (Wednesday and Thursday) on a trail that was dirt, gravel, mud, tree roots....steady pedaling with no coasting for each day's 50 mile ride, with full panniers on the back of the bike. My speed wasn't the normal 11-12 mph because of the condition of the trail. It averaged between 9-10 mph where the it was "good." Sometimes it was less, depending on the mud. Friday my scale showed an increase of 1 pound. Today (Saturday) my scales shows an increase of 4 pounds. I definitely didn't eat back all my calories on either Wednesday or Thursday, but I did go over my calories a couple hundred or so yesterday. Because I only had my phone and getting a signal was not often possible, I didn't log food on Wednesday or Thursday, but I had the normal Gu and Stinger packets, peanut butter sandwich, fruit, loads of Gatorade/water mix during the ride... steak and vegetables after the rides. Yesterday I had my normal protein but really went wild on grilled vegetables and watermelon, also had a couple of frozen juice bars that are 80 calories each. Still drinking lots of water, likely more than what I'm logging because I carry an insulated water bottle with me everywhere.

My question is this: Is showing a 4 pound increase in my weight normal 2 days after the heavy exercise? Is my body just trying to recover from how hard it worked for all those hours of pedaling?

izu87

You're body is holding back water. Totally normal after intense workouts.

derik999

Yep most likely water retention. Water and digestive contents fluctuate so much in the body that there will always be a slight variation from day to day.