Fat burning /riding question?

[chris c]

Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something, but you
guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you were to eat
something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has 300 calories and 14
grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If you wait around long enough
without any exercise, will those calories turn into fat? And if you ride
right after eating the bar , can you burn those calories off and not worry
about the fat content? Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some
pretzels that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier)
ones have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
fat. Thanks

 

[Roger Zoul]

chris c wrote:
:: Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something,
:: but you guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you
:: were to eat something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has
:: 300 calories and 14 grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If
:: you wait around long enough without any exercise, will those
:: calories turn into fat?

If that's all you eat, very unlikely. Your body will likely use those
calories for fuel. OTOH, if you eat those calories after you've met your
body's need for calories with other food, those calories will represent
excess calories and will very likely be stored as fat.

:: And if you ride right after eating the bar ,
:: can you burn those calories off and not worry about the fat content?

Sure. Eating fat doesn't imply that you'll get fat. Eating too many
calories is what makes you fat. Too many calories is any amount greater
than what your body needs to maintain its current weight.

:: Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some pretzels that
:: have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier) ones
:: have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
:: fat. Thanks

Fat doesn't make you fat. Eating too much food does.

 

[Jim Smith]

"chris c" <[email protected]> writes:

> Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something, but you
> guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you were to eat
> something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has 300 calories and 14
> grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If you wait around long enough
> without any exercise, will those calories turn into fat? And if you ride
> right after eating the bar , can you burn those calories off and not worry
> about the fat content? Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some
> pretzels that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier)
> ones have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
> fat. Thanks

Basicaly, your body can store calories in two ways: carbohydrate or
fat. The carbohydrate storage form (glycogen) is fixed and limited to
a couple hundred calories. The fat storage form is unlimited, and even
slender people will have tens of thousands of stored fat calories.
Your body also has an almost unlimited ability to absorb carories from
food. All of the chemical reactions to store fat, store carbohydrate,
break down fat, and break down carbohydrate are going on all the time,
just the rates of the reactions and the balance changes. Your body
also digests food and stores the energy away as quickly as it can,
regardless of if you are exercising or watching TV. It isn't as
though the snickers bar sits in your gut and gets absorbed as needed.
What maters from a weight maintenance standpoint is the average of
intake versus expenditure over a long period of time. If you take in
more calories on average than you burn, you will gain weight. It
doesn't matter if the calories come from fat, or something else. Your
body has all the machinery to convert fats to carbohydrates and vice
versa.

 

[Leo Lichtman]

"Jim Smith" wrote: (clip) It doesn't matter if the calories come from fat,
or something else. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It also doesn't matter whether the calories are taken in at breakfast time,
at bedtime or during a ride. It's surprising how many people think that if
the calories don't know where to go, they turn to fat.

 

[jj]

Leo wrote: (clip) It doesn't matter if the calories come from fat,
or something else. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It also doesn't matter whether the calories are taken in at breakfast time,
at bedtime or during a ride. It's surprising how many people think that if
the calories don't know where to go, they turn to fat.

(sorry about the thread, my newsreader messed up downloading Leo's post).

Isn't it generally accepted that there's a one-hour window following
exercise where calories are more likely to be used to build muscle than to
be stored as fat?

-B

 

[jj]

On Fri, 27 May 2005 11:09:40 -0500, Jim Smith <[email protected]>
wrote:

>"chris c" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something, but you
>> guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you were to eat
>> something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has 300 calories and 14
>> grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If you wait around long enough
>> without any exercise, will those calories turn into fat? And if you ride
>> right after eating the bar , can you burn those calories off and not worry
>> about the fat content? Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some
>> pretzels that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier)
>> ones have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
>> fat. Thanks
>
>Basicaly, your body can store calories in two ways: carbohydrate or
>fat. The carbohydrate storage form (glycogen) is fixed and limited to
>a couple hundred calories. The fat storage form is unlimited, and even
>slender people will have tens of thousands of stored fat calories.
>Your body also has an almost unlimited ability to absorb carories from
>food. All of the chemical reactions to store fat, store carbohydrate,
>break down fat, and break down carbohydrate are going on all the time,
>just the rates of the reactions and the balance changes. Your body
>also digests food and stores the energy away as quickly as it can,
>regardless of if you are exercising or watching TV. It isn't as
>though the snickers bar sits in your gut and gets absorbed as needed.
>What maters from a weight maintenance standpoint is the average of
>intake versus expenditure over a long period of time. If you take in
>more calories on average than you burn, you will gain weight. It
>doesn't matter if the calories come from fat, or something else. Your
>body has all the machinery to convert fats to carbohydrates and vice
>versa.

Good answer, JS, though I'd quibble about the last sentence. I'm not aware
of how the body can turn fat into carbs. Can you elucidate?

On a slightly different note, and just for fun, I wonder what the effect
would be if one took a swig of liquor, like Drambuie or something for a
quick 'refuel' near the last half of a two hour bike ride. We know that
alcohol is metabolised preferentially and quickly. I'm not talking about
enough to get drunk, just a couple sips.

jj

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
"chris c" <[email protected]> writes:
> Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something, but you
> guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you were to eat
> something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has 300 calories and 14
> grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If you wait around long enough
> without any exercise, will those calories turn into fat? And if you ride
> right after eating the bar , can you burn those calories off and not worry
> about the fat content? Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some
> pretzels that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier)
> ones have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
> fat. Thanks

This article might be of interest to you, particulcarly where
it describes aerobic and anaerobic metabolism:
http://www.gonecycling.com/commuter/commuting.html#Nutrition


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
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[Peter Cole]

Jim Smith wrote:
>
> Basicaly, your body can store calories in two ways: carbohydrate or
> fat. The carbohydrate storage form (glycogen) is fixed and limited to
> a couple hundred calories.

I think glycogen storage is more like 2,000 calories.

 

[chris c]

Thanks a lot to all you guys. So, how do you calculate how many calories you
need?

"Roger Zoul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> chris c wrote:
> :: Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something,
> :: but you guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you
> :: were to eat something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has
> :: 300 calories and 14 grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If
> :: you wait around long enough without any exercise, will those
> :: calories turn into fat?
>
> If that's all you eat, very unlikely. Your body will likely use those
> calories for fuel. OTOH, if you eat those calories after you've met your
> body's need for calories with other food, those calories will represent
> excess calories and will very likely be stored as fat.
>
> :: And if you ride right after eating the bar ,
> :: can you burn those calories off and not worry about the fat content?
>
> Sure. Eating fat doesn't imply that you'll get fat. Eating too many
> calories is what makes you fat. Too many calories is any amount greater
> than what your body needs to maintain its current weight.
>
> :: Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some pretzels that
> :: have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier) ones
> :: have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
> :: fat. Thanks
>
> Fat doesn't make you fat. Eating too much food does.
>
>

 

[Roger Zoul]

chris c <[email protected]> wrote:
:> Thanks a lot to all you guys. So, how do you calculate how many
:> calories you need?

It's generally going to be somewhere between 12-16X your bodyweight
(assuming normal activity). You can track your intake at fitday.com for a
few weeks and watch your bodyweight. If you maintain your weight, you're
there. If you want to lose weight, it's probably easier to just set to
calories at some value, like 12x, and keep it there for two weeks. If you
lose weight, you're likely under your maintenance amount (with exercise), if
not, lower your intake by 1x per week until you produce weight loss or
increase exercise.


:>
:> "Roger Zoul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
:> news:[email protected]...
:> > chris c wrote:
:> > :: Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or
:> > :: something,
:> > :: but you guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If
:> > :: you
:> > :: were to eat something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it
:> > :: has 300 calories and 14 grams of fat (not sure the exact
:> > :: amount). If
:> > :: you wait around long enough without any exercise, will those
:> > :: calories turn into fat?
:> >
:> > If that's all you eat, very unlikely. Your body will likely use
:> > those calories for fuel. OTOH, if you eat those calories after
:> > you've met your body's need for calories with other food, those
:> > calories will represent excess calories and will very likely be
:> > stored as fat.
:> >
:> > :: And if you ride right after eating the bar ,
:> > :: can you burn those calories off and not worry about the fat
:> > :: content?
:> >
:> > Sure. Eating fat doesn't imply that you'll get fat. Eating too
:> > many calories is what makes you fat. Too many calories is any
:> > amount greater than what your body needs to maintain its current
:> > weight.
:> >
:> > :: Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some pretzels
:> > :: that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better
:> > :: (tastier) ones
:> > :: have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3
:> > :: grams of fat. Thanks
:> >
:> > Fat doesn't make you fat. Eating too much food does.

 

[Peter Cole]

Jim Smith wrote:
> jj<[email protected]> writes:
>
>>On a slightly different note, and just for fun, I wonder what the effect
>>would be if one took a swig of liquor, like Drambuie or something for a
>>quick 'refuel' near the last half of a two hour bike ride. We know that
>>alcohol is metabolised preferentially and quickly. I'm not talking about
>>enough to get drunk, just a couple sips.
>
>
> Only one way to find out...

Old timer cyclists supposedly used to take an occasional swig of cognac.
I confess to doing that more than occasionally when I did a lot of
downhill skiing. I found too much alcohol destroys endurance, besides
affecting judgment and coordination. Once, when I was hypothermic after
a winter ocean dive (Boston), I tried brandy to recover -- big mistake,
knocked me for a loop.

 

[John Michaels]

Tom Keats wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> "chris c" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>Maybe this question should be in a nutritional group or something, but you
>>guys seem to have a lot of knowledge in this area. If you were to eat
>>something such as a snickers candy bar, and say it has 300 calories and 14
>>grams of fat (not sure the exact amount). If you wait around long enough
>>without any exercise, will those calories turn into fat? And if you ride
>>right after eating the bar , can you burn those calories off and not worry
>>about the fat content? Everyone talks calories , but not fat. I notice some
>>pretzels that have the 130 calories per serving, but the better (tastier)
>>ones have 8 grams of fat compared to the other which has only 3 grams of
>>fat. Thanks
>
>
> This article might be of interest to you, particulcarly where
> it describes aerobic and anaerobic metabolism:
> http://www.gonecycling.com/commuter/commuting.html#Nutrition
>
>
> cheers,
> Tom
>

I suggest you try this site http://www.cptips.com/. It covers much of
what has been discussed and with a little more accuracy. I have seen
the golden window mention here where after that first hour of intense
exercise, carbs are digest up to a rate of 3x faster so your body can
replenish glycogen. Doesn't mean you can eat more, just digest better.

Heart Zones by Sally Edwards covers the topic well. Unfortunately she
pulled off some of the white papers that she had on her site. Her site
is www.heartzones.com and she has written several books on using heart
rate monitors and training. It gets into the aerobic and anaerobic
differences and some common myths.

Chris Carmichael in his latest book does a great job with this topic.

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
John Michaels <[email protected]> writes:
>
> I suggest you try this site http://www.cptips.com/. It covers much of
> what has been discussed and with a little more accuracy.

I like the Cycling Performance Tips site, too. I thought
about recommending it at first, but decided the one I
did recommend was more succinctly and easily followable.
After all, all that metabolism and digestion and aerobic/
anaerobic and APT etc stuff gets kind of complicated.
But yes, I think CPT is an excellent reference, and I've
benefited from it myself.


cheers,
Tom

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-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
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