Quick Tip 101 – Nutrition whiplash from changing training gears

How to take the surprise out of a change in plans

One of the interesting things about our bodies is the way that they react to stress.  There is good stress and bad stress.  Exercise is one of those good stressors.  In reaction to exercise our bodies get stronger and our mind gets clearer.

There are shades of exercise that cause the body to react and sometimes overreact.  You know this for yourself if you have ever started an exercise program.  Your body at first reacts in a big way to the new changes.  You may experience rapid weight loss in the first few weeks.  You will notice all sorts of changes in your physical systems.

The interesting part is your body quickly gets used to the new change.  Your body stabilizes.  Just like getting used to cold weather or acclimating to altitude, your body figures out new stressors.  In a couple weeks you will find yourself in stasis again.  That rapid weight loss will stop and may even start to go in the other direction.

I find this to be particularly highlighted when I mix things up.  It is a bit counter-intuitive sometimes.  You can see big changes in your body’s reaction when you change your exercise pattern.

Some of these changes make perfect sense.  If you come out of a 50-mile-per-week marathon plan and just stop running , you’ll gain 10 pounds in a week.  That just makes sense from a calories-in versus calories-out point of view.

Some changes are less intuitive.  I have found that when I transition from one type of training to another, even when the overall intensity may be less, the change itself causes the body to burn more fuel.

For example, every spring I transition out of road marathon training and into something else.  This causes my body to get a severe case of exercise confusion.  Even though my road marathon training is quite rigorous with 50+ miles a week, 6 day a week, multiple tempos and long races.  I’m burning fuel and working hard, but even with the intensity of this training my body has become acclimated.

My body figures out how to deal with the miles and intensity without any abnormal calorie burn.  If I didn’t watch what I ate I would still gain weight towards the end of these training cycles.  Your body just figures it out, but a change of pace will throw your body out of equilibrium, will break this stasis, and you’ll see a big calorie burn and weight loss as it adapts.

Again, when I transition from a hard marathon training cycle to triathlon training, even though it is at a lower intensity level, my body goes nuts for 2-3 weeks as it struggles to figure out what I’m up to.  For those 2-3 weeks I will be ravenously hungry and I’ll lose 5-10 pounds.

It really doesn’t matter what the transition is.  I get the same effect no matter what the change is.  It is the change that matters.  But, alas, your body adapts.  It doesn’t matter how many calories the new program is burning or how intense I get it going, my body will seek and find a new stasis in 2-3 weeks and the 5-10 pounds will be back.

As another example; I transitioned into very high mileage ultra-marathon training one spring.  Initially I was a bit scared because my weight dropped so precipitously.  But, even then, in 3 weeks the corner was turned and by the time I hit the target race I was no lighter than when I started.

It makes you wonder whether or not the optimal training program would be totally non-specific and cycle in and out of discipline in 2-3 week micro-campaigns.  In fact I believe that some of the current fad workouts are entirely based on this ‘transition effect’.

The learning from this, as with all things, is that you will fare better if you know what to expect.  Now you know that when you make changes in your training cycles you are going to see your body react with weight loss and other transition symptoms.

Unfortunately you also now know that you can’t break out the Mac ‘n Cheese indefinitely because in a few weeks your body will figure it out and you risk an “over-shoot” if you keep cramming calories.

Don’t be afraid to switch things up, because it makes you stronger and keeps things interesting, but keep your eyes open for the “transition effect”.

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