Advice from Atkins dieters, please

I can't imagine riding a lot with a low-carb diet...how do you do it? Conventional wisdom dictates:
load with carbs prior to a big ride and eat lots of them during.

Pat said:

x-no-archive:yes

I am signing up for the "Peach Pedal" ride in Weatherford, Texas on July 12 and plan to ride 40
miles. I have been on the Atkins diet for 3 weeks and have lost 11 pounds so far. My questions
are: do I eat differently the day before the ride? Do I eat carbohydrates during the ride or try
to stick with cheese or meat? What about after the ride? Do I drink some Gatorade or just water?

I am wondering if it would work to go off of the Atkins diet for July 12 and then go back on it
the next day. So far, the most I have ridden has been nearly 2 hours in 94 degree heat. No bonking
problems, but I did have a few things to say about the wind! The slightly nauseated stomach
feeling has gone away, and I feel pretty good, overall.

I am losing 2 pounds a week without any hunger problems at all. I have developed an appreciation
of a good salad, well constructed and mixed, and have lost my sugar cravings.

Pat in Texas

What I've been doing is nothing for rides below about 1.5 hours (other than taking in a small amount
of dextrose before my ride -- I ride in the morning), and for rides greater than about 1.5 hours,
also taking in a recouperation drink with dextrose. I also plan to take extra dextrose- laden drinks
for rides longer than 3 hours, so one drink per 1.5 hours. You can buy "carb boom" and similar
products, but they are basically sugar
+ electrolytes. You can create the same by buying dextrose (or maltodextrin) from a beer brewing
store and adding your own electrolytes. However, the gells and powders are already premixed, so
there's no worry about too much or too little in terms of electrolytes. Also, you may want to carb
load a day or two before the ride. Search for "targeted ketogenic diet" (TKD) or "cyclic ketogenic
diet" (CKD) for more information. I'm going to ride a MS fun ride of 115 miles over two days, and
I'll stay low carb until about two days before the ride, when I'll increase the level of carbs
(CKD). I'll keep the carb intake relatively high through the two days of riding, then immediately
get back to low carb afterwards.

For me, it's a matter of experimentation, but I have almost three months to experiment
before my ride.

--
Bob M in CT Remove 'x.' to reply

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I can't imagine riding a lot with a low-carb diet...how do you do it? Conventional wisdom
dictates: load with carbs prior to a big ride and eat lots of them during.

The reason you have to keep eating carbs during riding is becase glycogen (stored fuel from
carbs) is not a long term energy source. From a evolutionary point of view, glycogen (read:
carbs) is your body "turbocharger" for that extra burst of energy when you are trying to run
from a sabretooth tiger :-) *fat* is in fact, your body's best "long term" fuel. The thing
is, once you free your body from its dependency on glucose as a *primary* fuel source, you
can function quite well (if not better) on a lipid based metabolism. I have no problem doing
60+ mile rides on a low carb diet, since my body is adapted to burning fat efficiently as a
fuel source. There are several books on the subject of endurance exercise and low carbing
written by people who regularly run marathons(!) on strict low carb diets, and have
researched the subject extensively. From what I have been reading, it is becoming
increasingly popular for endurance athletes to train on low carb, to adapt their bodies to
lipid based metabolism, and then "carb up" right before the race to replenish glycogen
stores, without switching back over to a fully "carb based" energy source. the theory is
that this provides the best of both worlds: the fast burning glycogen needed for intense
energy bursts, and the ability to mobilize lipids for slow burning endurance fuel. It
definitely bears looking into. Personally I simply low carb for health reasons (to control
cholesterol/BP), as well as the fact that it keeps me in shape :-) but I have not noticed
any adverse affects on my riding performance.

for the original poster, if you feel you need to take food for the ride, I often take nuts
(macadamia) or beef jerky which are both "jersey- pocket-able" on long rides, and just plain water
(lots of it, usually a 70oz camelback) to drink. if you are really concerned with electrolyte
imbalance due to excessive sweating or such, you can make your own sugar-free electrolyte solution
to take along in a bottle.

StrongBad said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I can't imagine riding a lot with a low-carb diet...how do you do it? Conventional wisdom
dictates: load with carbs prior to a big ride and eat lots of them during.

The reason you have to keep eating carbs during riding is becase glycogen (stored fuel from
carbs) is not a long term energy source. From a evolutionary point of view, glycogen (read:
carbs) is your body "turbocharger" for that extra burst of energy when you are trying to run
from a sabretooth tiger :-) *fat* is in fact, your body's best "long term" fuel. The thing
is, once you free your body from its dependency on glucose as a *primary* fuel source, you
can function quite well (if not better) on a lipid based metabolism. I have no problem doing
60+ mile rides on a low carb diet, since my body is adapted to burning fat efficiently as a
fuel source. There are several books on the subject of endurance exercise and low carbing
written by people who regularly run marathons(!) on strict low carb diets, and have
researched the subject extensively. From what I have been reading, it is becoming
increasingly popular for endurance athletes to train on low carb, to adapt their bodies to
lipid based metabolism, and then "carb up" right before the race to replenish glycogen
stores, without switching back over to a fully "carb based" energy source. the theory is
that this provides the best of both worlds: the fast burning glycogen needed for intense
energy bursts, and the ability to mobilize lipids for slow burning endurance fuel. It
definitely bears looking into. Personally I simply low carb for health reasons (to control
cholesterol/BP), as well as the fact that it keeps me in shape :-) but I have not noticed
any adverse affects on my riding performance.

for the original poster, if you feel you need to take food for the ride, I often take nuts
(macadamia) or beef jerky which are both "jersey- pocket-able" on long rides, and just plain water
(lots of it, usually a 70oz camelback) to drink. if you are really concerned with electrolyte
imbalance due to excessive sweating or such, you can make your own sugar- free electrolyte
solution to take along in a bottle.

I also have no problem doing long bike rides (both mountain and road) on a low carb diet. However, a
small amount of carbs pre-ride, during, and post-ride seem to help me a bit and enhance
recuperation. This may be because I ride in the morning. Plus, the amount of carbs I'm taking in is
nowhere even close to what is recommended by bike magazines and high carb people. I take in 1/4 cup
of dextrose (i.e., glucose) beforehand and 1/4C for my recuperation. I don't know how much this is
in grams, but it's pretty small.

--
Bob M in CT Remove 'x.' to reply

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I also have no problem doing long bike rides (both mountain and road) on a low carb diet. However,
a small amount of carbs pre-ride, during, and post-ride seem to help me a bit and enhance
recuperation. This may be because I ride in the morning. Plus, the amount of carbs I'm taking in
is nowhere even close to what is recommended by bike magazines and high carb people. I take in 1/4
cup of dextrose (i.e., glucose) beforehand and 1/4C for my recuperation. I don't know how much
this is in grams, but it's pretty small.

That's pretty common, IOW, you are doing a TKD (as mentioned in your other post) When I am training
very hard, (interval or hill training
4x/week, and weights 3x/week) I often do a TKD or CKD, but otherwise I find I do better without the
extra carbs. I suspect the fact that I am (or was) highly insulin reistant has something to do
with it. It varies a lot based on individual metabolic factors, but yes, in general TKD and CKD
can be very effective for training.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I can't imagine riding a lot with a low-carb diet...how do you do it? Conventional wisdom
dictates: load with carbs prior to a big ride and eat lots of them during.

In this case, "conventional wisdom" is a bit of an oxymoron 🙂
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia ramsays-online.comramsays-online.comOpen ↗

If you've been riding two hours with no bonking problems and you're only planning to ride 40 miles,
won't 2 hours darned near cover it? How slow do you plan to go? Or is this mtb?

Bob

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

x-no-archive:yes

I am signing up for the "Peach Pedal" ride in Weatherford, Texas on July

12

Quoted message said:

and plan to ride 40 miles. I have been on the Atkins diet for 3 weeks and have lost 11 pounds so
far. My questions are: do I eat differently the

day

Quoted message said:

before the ride? Do I eat carbohydrates during the ride or try to stick with cheese or meat? What
about after the ride? Do I drink some Gatorade

or

Quoted message said:

just water?

I am wondering if it would work to go off of the Atkins diet for July 12

and

Quoted message said:

then go back on it the next day. So far, the most I have ridden has been nearly 2 hours in 94
degree heat. No bonking problems, but I did have a

few

Quoted message said:

things to say about the wind! The slightly nauseated stomach feeling has gone away, and I feel
pretty good, overall.

I am losing 2 pounds a week without any hunger problems at all. I have developed an appreciation
of a good salad, well constructed and mixed, and have lost my sugar cravings.

Pat in Texas

Pat said:

I am wondering if it would work to go off of the Atkins diet for July 12 and then go back on it the
next day. So far, the most I have ridden has been nearly 2 hours in 94 degree heat. No bonking
problems, but I did have a few things to say about the wind! The slightly nauseated stomach feeling
has gone away, and I feel pretty good, overall.

You should be fine. I'm sure you've noticed that any effort harder than "easy" sucks a lot and is
hard to maintain.

--

Scott Johnson "be a man ,stop looking for handouts , eat ,lift and shut your mouth" -John Carlo

psycholist said:

If you've been riding two hours with no bonking problems and you're only planning to ride 40 miles,
won't 2 hours darned near cover it? How slow do you plan to go? Or is this mtb?

It's impossible for him to bonk if he's in ketosis. In effect he already has.

--

Scott Johnson "be a man ,stop looking for handouts , eat ,lift and shut your mouth" -John Carlo

Fascinating stuff...thanks for the info.

"StrongBad" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I also have no problem doing long bike rides (both mountain and road) on

a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

low carb diet. However, a small amount of carbs pre-ride, during, and post-ride seem to help me
a bit and enhance recuperation. This may be because I ride in the morning. Plus, the amount of
carbs I'm taking in

is

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

nowhere even close to what is recommended by bike magazines and high

carb

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

people. I take in 1/4 cup of dextrose (i.e., glucose) beforehand and

1/4C

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for my recuperation. I don't know how much this is in grams, but it's pretty small.

That's pretty common, IOW, you are doing a TKD (as mentioned in your other post) When I am
training very hard, (interval or hill training
4x/week, and weights 3x/week) I often do a TKD or CKD, but otherwise I find I do better without
the extra carbs. I suspect the fact that I am (or was) highly insulin reistant has something to
do with it. It varies a lot based on individual metabolic factors, but yes, in general TKD and
CKD can be very effective for training.

"Chris Phillipo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I can't imagine riding a lot with a low-carb diet...how do you do it? Conventional wisdom
dictates: load with carbs prior to a big ride and

eat

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

lots of them during.

In this case, "conventional wisdom" is a bit of an oxymoron 🙂

So, sports science is wrong?

"StrongBad" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The reason you have to keep eating carbs during riding is becase glycogen (stored fuel from carbs)
is not a long term energy source.

It'll last an hour or two without any special preparation.

Quoted message said:

From a evolutionary point of view, glycogen (read: carbs) is your body "turbocharger" for that
extra burst of energy when you are trying to run from a sabretooth tiger :-) *fat* is in fact,
your body's best "long term" fuel.

Using fat requires a lot more oxygen. No matter how well adapted you are, your heart rate will have
to be pretty low to be using mainly fat.

Yes, a "diet Guru" trumps science everytime....j/k!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In this case, "conventional wisdom" is a bit of an oxymoron 🙂

So, sports science is wrong?