Amanda Duling: Endurance Sport After Gastric Bypass — Grit, Fueling & Radical Honesty

Amanda Duling is an endurance athlete, writer, and founder of One Gear Short of Normal™.  A post-bariatric, perimenopausal gravel cyclist and Ironman 70.3 finisher, Amanda uses grit, science, and unapologetic humour to tell the stories no one else is telling about endurance sports, women's bodies, and doing hard things later in life. Through her writing and community work, she challenges the "suffer in silence" culture of endurance athletics and advocates for smarter fueling, better hygiene, realistic training, and radical honesty—especially for women navigating menopause, major weight loss, and endurance sport at the same time. When she's not riding gravel roads or lifting heavy things, Amanda writes research-backed, laugh-out-loud essays on endurance life, parenting, and why choosing your hard matters more than perfection. ***  New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast drop every Tuesday at 7 AM (UK time)! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss the inspiring journeys and incredible stories of tough women pushing boundaries.  Do you want to support the Tough Girl Mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media in the world of adventure and physical challenges? Support via Patreon! Join me in making a difference by signing up here: www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.  Your support makes a difference.  Thank you x *** Show notes Who is Amanda Living in Kansas City, USA Working as an IT professional during the day Mum to a special needs son  Building a brand in relation to being a post-bariatric endurance athlete  Publishing an e-book in relation to saddle sores  Why reinvention is possible  Growing up in a small rural community  Being into reading, writing and art Having a lot of anxiety about her body and body image Enjoying being active  Not having the confidence when she was younger  Getting married and settling down Having gastric bypass surgery in her early 40s  Having an Roux-en-Y gastric bypass - having a large portion of her stomach removed along with a large portion of her small intestines  Having the surgery at the beginning of COVID and being stuck at home Her journey with food, health and fitness  Going for walks with her husband  Finding the motivation for the next step Feeling uncomfortable wearing shorts and form fitting clothes  Starting to walk a little quicker  Hiring a personal trainer at the gym to gain some of the lost muscle back Seeing her strength coming back  Thinking about doing a half marathon  Finding a couch to 5k program  Not making a lot of progress due to not being able to eat a lot Starting to work with a dietician  Having to re-learn eating  Passing out after exercise and having no energy  Dumping syndrome - when the body is not able to process sugar UCAN and Waxy Maize Finding support through community  Joining a run club and meeting new people  Being able to complete the half marathon  Confidence and having confidence around her body Building her self confidence When things started to change Showing up to different races Doing hard things  Wanting to encourage individuals starting out to volunteer at a couple of events Overcoming a challenge during a race Gravel cycling/racing, and why it's the hardest disciple in endurance sports Unbound Gravel Race  Breaking down the challenge into smaller and smaller steps and grinding it out Logistics of gravel racing in relation to hydration and fuelling  Electrolytes UCAN Fuel— ucan.co  Running on sheer grit  What training looks like and why she needed a lot of structure Training Peaks Learning about heart rate training  Training in the morning and making training work for her and her family The importance of social interactions during workouts Being surrounded by the right people and how it can help with motivation  How to connect with Amanda on social media Her love for writing and sharing her stories on Substack Final words of advice to motivate and inspire you The importance of showing up    Social Media Website: onegearshortofnormal.gumroad.com/l/prrdc thecookiewaitlist.com Instagram: @onegearshortofnormal Facebook:  Amanda McMahon  Substack: @onegearshortofnormal1 Youtube: One Gear Short of Normal