Food before and after a ride..

Hey, I am new and a bit over weight, 194 pounds 6'1. My biggest problem is following my diet which is a protien diet that alows 120 carbs a day and I have to eat certain times of the day. Usually I eat a bowl of cereal which is 60 carbs with milk berfore a 34km ride. Almost threw the ride I am hungry and by the time I am done I am starving. I really have no idea what to do. I used to drink a Smoothie before I got a hold of whats in it... One smoothie is 110 carbs and this filled me up nicely but it was messing up my diet I assume. I really don't think my diet takes into account for 34km rides..

 

it sure doesn't! i'm no dietician, but most diets are not geared to support a high level of aerobic activity like cycling. at you size, riding 10mph will burn about 450-500 calories per hour (i'm just a hair bigger than you are), and 13-15 will up that to 600-750 (these are ballpark estimates, but i've had good success following them). there are websites that can estimate your rmr (resting metabolic rate, which is how much you body uses at rest -- for example, mine is at 2050). for weight loss, you need to shoot for about 400-500 calorie deficit per day -- more will be a health risk, and make you tough to put up with. this has been my experience.

carbs are not an enemy of an active person -- complex carbs, like in fiber products, are best, though. check out the "glycemic index" -- lower index foods are better for your health. (example: twinkies hit about 90-95; apples about 55 -- which is healthier?)
hope for the best for ya!

 

dude low carbing is not the way, your bod will pack down fat 'cos you run its stores so low the weight you lose will come from glycogen depletion eat a diet about 50% carbs minimum and keep your calories in defecit and you'll loose also don't neglect protein or you'll lose muscle. myself i hit a spilt of roughly 70 20 15 in season c/p/f for loosing try 50/30/20

 

Well this is what I eat about everyday.. Don't I only need carbs before I exercise and dont I need recovery food? Won't low carb work through out the rest of the day?

 

I really don't want to ride 1-2 hours a day or more and not lose any weight because I didn't eat correctly.

 

i saw a list of foods -- did you say that's a daily intake? OMG, no wonder you're having trouble losing weight...and having trouble on the rides!

dude, back off the sausage and the gravy foods; pick up on stuff like whole wheat pasta, fruits & veggies, and lean meats. calories are calories in most cases; the difference comes in the nutritional content. 1000 calories of junk won't provide the vitamin/mineral content of 1000 calories of, say, spaghetti. "scetti" includes tomato sauce (good for the heart), small amounts of various spices that take the place of salt, and the pasta is like rocket fuel for your legs.

broccoli/cauliflower/carrots/etc. have a multitude of nutrients, and are low in calories -- cook 'em in olive oil (don't bother w/ extra virgin -- the difference is in "essential oil content" that evaps when it's cooked anyway). mix lean beef w/ ground turkey (adds bulk, not taste), so your meat content in any "casserole" dish is less fatty.

some fats are necessary -- fish contains omega-3 fatty acids that are some of the best things for you -- cholesterol-killers! try ramen noodles w/o the flavor packet (too much salt) to mix w/ the veggies, too. they're cheap and i've ridden hard for a week on little else (not much fun, though).

sorry if this comes off as a lecture, man -- trying my best to help you out. back me off if you need to.

 

Well the thing is with a low carb diet I can eat a hand full of bacon but not too much bread. I know the salt is bad for me and infact my doctor told me to eat no salt but since it has no carbs at all its like a freebie too me. Also, fruit has a ton of carbs in it so I can't really eat too much. I can eat veggies and nuts though. Yeah, I think carb diets are bad for you but I don't care. I will eat healthy once I get the weight off. One of my friends lost 5 pounds a week some how.

I am just soo confused with so many diets out there. I know for a fact the low carb diet works because my mom did it and lost like 20 pounds in 3 months with No exercise. Now since I love to cycle, even though I just started, I don't think this diet works very well with people who exercise. I think it is for someone who just wants to lose weight by diet alone. I want to lose weight fast so I combined the diet plus exercise every day. I cycle every day it does not rain atleast 1 hour. My goal is to lose 2.5 pounds a week but I don't think I am heading that direction. I am not to the point where I am trying to bulk, Im fat so Im trying to lose weight. I don't want to eat to many carbs and not have my body burn them.

Has anyone read "Protien Power : Life style?

 

I was over 360 pounds when I started riding. I'm down over 60 pounds in 7 months, and I take in plenty of carbs. I've discussed this with my doc and dieticians, and low carb is effective if you are a couch potato, If you excersize, you need fuel, and carbs are fuel (good carbs, like the previously mentioned wheat pasta, etc). If you are going to be active you need fuel. Lay off the fatty meats, they make the body sluggish and are harder to digest, so your body is working on that instead of sending energy to your legs.

Okay, what to eat? You decide based on your tastes and needs, but to guide you use fitday.com and compute your BMR. 3,500 is the magic number. When you burn 3,500 more calories than you consume, you loose a pound. 500 calories a day, is 3,500 a week, is a pound a week!

The best foods are whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables.

Good luck to you.

 

try this for a week:
breakfast: old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal with raisins and fruit
ON return from riding: glass skim milk/skim choc milk
lunch Pasta with tuna/chicken/lean beef and a tomato sauce or wwbread with tuna/chicken or rice with any of the above or sea food or a sweet potato as a carb source lots of steamed veggies/a big salad
mid afternoon fruit and cottage cheese turkey sarnieetc
dinner dinner salmon/mackrel and a big sald w/oil and balsamic and some fruit
if you want snacks have crudites/carrot sticks/fruit

carbs proteina nd good fat all in balance


you will feel and ride better you cant loose 5 pounds of fat in a week or even 2.5 for that you would need a defecit of about 2000kcal a day and your body would breakdown muscle not fat if you underate that much. Saturated fat aint good for the heart, cut out the bacon and shite. Im sorry but you dont get fat eating bread....

 

As a few other people have pointed out, 2.5lbs per week weight loss is too much. Aim for about a pound a week. The "diet" you are on is unsustainable - you will not be able to live on it for the rest of your life and basically if you want to lose weight and keep it off, what you need to do is make a lifestyle change, that means diet and exercise. Diet means eating healthy - fruits, vegetables, whole grain bread, lean meats, fish, that sort of thing. Prepare things from fresh as much as you can, avoid processed foods as much as possible. If you are exercising hard, you need to be taking in carbs because they provide the quickest source of fuel for your body and if you can't fuel your body you will run out of energy very quickly which will affect the quality and duration of your exercise.

As an example, for a 1-2 hour ride, I usually have a banana smoothie made with yoghurt and low fat milk. I take pecan nuts and dried fruit to snack on during the ride. For a longer ride, I eat a bowl of porridge with some pecans and prunes added and again take some pecans and dried fruit for snacking. After a ride I have something like sardines on toast, baked beans on toast or spaghetti with meat sauce (homemade) - to give me a balance of protein and carbs. Between meal snacks are usually fresh fruit. Dinner depends on what I have eaten after the ride but can be anything from stir-fried vegetables with noodles to grilled steak with potato and salad. Of course, it is important to watch the size of your portions - I probably eat half the amount of food today that I did a year ago. I found using Fitday was useful for tracking calories in the early stages.

Finally, if you are exercising, you will be building muscle which weighs more than fat so don't be surprised if you see no loss or even a gain in the first month or so. Do not focus solely on the number you see when you step on the scales, look at how your clothes fit - if the scales say you're 190lbs but you've dropped a couple of notches on your belt or gone down a size in clothing then you are definitely losing weight. Also, weigh yourself only once per week, preferably first thing in the morning and after emptying your bladder and bowels.

Sorry for the long post, hope you find it helpful.

 

So my balance should be Protien + Carbs and as little fat as possible?

Oh, this is the book I orderd.

http://www.proteinpower.com/

If you feel that book will not be good for what I want to do can you suggest another one?

 

your quote criticises the book! you dont need to buy someone's fad diet book EAT NORMAL FOOD!!!!! I dont want to be condemning but can the atkins shit and get your calories under control.

if you must have a book try food for fitness by carmichael

 

Everyone here is right. You need to increase your carb intake and decrease your bad fat intake. Cut out all trans fats and as much saturated as you can. Eat EFAs(essential fatty acids). If you stick to your plan for riding, your body is going to need the carbs and eating all those fatty meats is just going to slow down your body and your recovery time.
For protein stick to lean meats- chicken, turkey, fish, lean red meats.
And also eat 4-5 small meals a day instead of 3 big ones.
You say you want to just stick to this protein diet to lose weight, and then change your eating style- but this is not smart!
Just eat well balanced, healthy meals and make it your plan for life, and just eat in moderation.
If you aren't sure what moderation is, look at what a serving size is on the box or bag of what you are going to eat and measure it out the first few times so you get an idea of what you should be eating to what you are eating.

Also, give yourself a cheat day to your healthy diet if you need to. I do it sundays- if i want to eat a burger, chinese food, or have that ice cream, I do it then.

 

brad...in case you haven't noticed, you've touched on a sensitive subject here. while most people here know more about food and how the body works that the average person on the street, they can go overboard on occasion.

but they're right. while the low-carb diet does work (i lost 10 pounds on the south beach diet) it's not a good long-term solution.

it's absolutely fine to cut down on the types of carbs that are useless, like regular pop, sweetened juice, chips, fries, etc. however, you don't want to go so far that you cut out items like whole wheat bread, apples, oatmeal, etc. those things have definite benefits and replacing them with bacon or other fatty items isn't really a good answer long-term.

jmho of course

 

Ok how about this... For breakfast I will eat Oatmeal, with some butter and sugar and a glass of OJ. For a snack I will have a granola bar and some water or maybe some fruit instead. For Lunch I will have a turkey sandwhich on whole weat with some mayo and some pineapple on the side. For dinner I will have roasted chicken, pea's some mac and cheese and water. Does that sound better?

 

i added some comments

 

Sounds good. Do you know a website that is free that has a list of recipes I can eat or some forums?

By the way I got that book Protein power and it sounds like it would be great for someone not active but god it sucks for someone like me.

 

Brad, try the following for some recipe ideas ... http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/Recipes.asp it is the Australian Institute of Sport website. There is also some useful information on their Fact Sheets page.

 

Hi Brad, I don't think you can blame the 34k ride on the food issue, 34k isn't far enough to require you to eat food before or during the ride, your body should be alble to handle modest distances without the need to eat.

As pointed out by others, we all disagree on diet, in particular carb consumption. Myself I go for 1/3 calories from each of Protein, Carb and Fat. That works for me, it may not be suitable for you.

I'll leave you with the others advice and add "Don't drink your calories" Food is more satifying.

 

I know if I eat before I ride, after about an hour I am starving most the time.