When Mayank Vaid was training for the gruelling Arch to Arc Triathlon in 2019 – an almost 300-mile (480km) race from London’s Marble Arch to Paris’ Arc de Triomphe billed as the hardest triathlon in the world – one of his aims was to increase his body weight by several kilograms.
That was mainly because of the swimming leg of the challenge: a near 13-hour slog across the English Channel from Dover to Cape Gris-Nez near Calais, during which the Hong Kong-based Indian ultra-athlete would burn up to 7,000 calories.
His weight-gain method? Eating lots of ice cream and drinking a bottle of wine – just before going to bed.
“Anyone would think, ‘What the hell are you doing to your body?’” Vaid says.
“It’s counter-intuitive to what an athlete should be doing. You should be eating healthily, lots of protein, and drinking a lot of water. But this has worked for me repeatedly and assisted me in avoiding injury through losing too much muscle or fat.”