Gemma Sampson · 32. Are you scared to stop exercising in case you gain weight?

Are you scared to stop cycling in case you gain weigh?

I went riding with a cyclist recently who told me that during their off season they kept training anyway (despite being told to take a break) because they didn’t want to gain weight.

Fear of food, fear of stopping training and fear of gaining weight has been the common theme in conversations I've had on and off the bike these last few weeks.

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Are you also scared to stop training in case you gain weight?

If you also are using exercise as your primary means to lose or maintain weight, then I want you to take some time to assess whether this strategy is working for you and consider a new approach.

Life is always going to throw new challenges at us which can affect our ability to train or not. I certainly didn't expect having to take the a month off recently after getting sick.

If we have learned the art of adapting our nutrition proactively to our training, we are less likely to stress about our weight changing in response.

My challenge for you this week is to go back to basics and assess how and when and why you eat the way you do.

Are you fuelling your training appropriately?

Or are you 'saving your calories for later' and creating unsustainable energy deficits that leave you exhausted, craving sugar and eating more food than necessary later in the day.

Fuelling a strong lean cycling body

Time and time again, I see the leanest, strongest and most powerful cyclists (both male and female) are those who are fuelling the MOST in training. This always allows an energy deficit that you can sustain and continue throughout the rest of the day because you are getting the energy when you need it.

Which means that if you have to stop training for whatever reason - like I had for the past two weeks while I was sick. You aren't worried or stressing about gaining weight.

It sounds simple and in theory it is easy to fuel your training, but you have to overcome the mental hurdles and barriers that stop you from doing so.

Nutrition is more than just numbers

Nutrition is more than just numbers, so if you are recording what you are eating, it is just as important if not more important to understand what, when and why. I teach this in Module 1 of my cycling nutrition framework because sometimes we can be a slave to hidden food rules and thoughts that are sabotaging our progress.

Which is why you want to get clear on these thoughts, write them down on paper and see if they are true or if they are contributing to your nutritional challenges.

When you are aware of whats going wrong, you'll be well on your way to finding the right solutions to help solve the problem.