Fueling up.. versus loosing weight.

[beachcaster]

I am a big bloke approaching 60.
I have always enjoyed sport.....but have piled on the pounds over the last 10 years.

I am a tad over 6ft 2ins and 8 weeks ago weighed in at 21.5 stones.

I started out with 5 mile rides......twice a week
Then went to 10 mile rides twice a week...........

Now I am doing about 60- 90 miles a week. in 2 /3 rides..have lost 2.5 stones and feeling a bit thinner and have got stronger. I do have rest days in between rides.
All this has happened with a much more sensible approach to eating.

No rubbish ..no sweets cake or buscuits. Fruit /veg / fish /meat
and up till now relatively low carbs.

I eat a banana and drink a lot while out.....but I have been making all this up as I go along...not a lot of science.

my current target is to get down to 16 stone ( Im going to look gaunt

and then take a view to going lower.

As my rides are now getting up to 30-35 miles an outing with an average speed of 12-13 mph what do you think my eating regime should now be?
Should I carry on as Im going?

bearing in mind ........I want to loose weight.
One side effect is Im really enjoying my cycling !

many thanks

barry

 

[zacklaws]

This question pops up quiet often and the usual answer is for rides up to 30 to 40 miles you do not need anything as there is enough energy stored in your body for that distance.

Last year I weighed 19 stone and lost 3 stone, but put a little bit back on over winter when I could not get out due to the weather. This year I struggled to loose weight, and then it dawned on me, I had got keener and read to much about energy drinks etc and quiet simply what was happening was I was eating more carbs than I was burning off so I was wasting my time on every ride. Now I am back on track to get to 13 and a half stone by Xmas, just 1 and a half to go.

Now for rides up to 30 to 40 its just a couple of bottles of water and juice or even just one, depends how hot it is and how many hills I have to climb, and if its 60 miles on the flat also I can get away with just water. But to account for those days when you do run out of steam on a ride I usually have a couple of packets of dextrose tablets in my pockets just in case.

Another thing I also did was started logging my calorie intake, and daily exercise on the "Livestrong" site, do not know how accurate it is but so long as I see that my intake is less than my maximum and my weight is going down I am happy. Maybe other sites similar to use.

 

[SilverSurfer]

I have come to the same conclusion. Too many people are taken in by what pros are doing, but they do not need anything like their intake.

You won't waste away on a 40 mile ride if you just drink water, but a banana or 2 (or something similar) won't go amiss. You can enjoy a good meal when you get home.

 

[montage]

try doing some rides before breakfast?

 

[knonist]

carbs is good, you just have to cut down in meat and fat.

carbs is a "clean" fuel for the body, try to eat more low GI food.

http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

 

[jimboalee]

carbs is good, you just have to cut down in meat and fat.

carbs is a "clean" fuel for the body, try to eat more low GI food.

http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

I disagree.

The Human being is an omnivore, leaning somewhat toward being a carnivore than a herbivore.

In the anthropological timeline, man started herding and breeding animals for food about 10,000 BC. It was 2000 years later he started to deliberately sow and harvest selected grasses to make a 'seed mash' for quick energy.
It took another 2500 years for man to selectively cross breed grasses to get grains. Then obesity started.

Eat your meat.

For carb energy, eat fruit and leaf plants. Leave seed products well alone.

 

[jimboalee]

For rides the distance you ride, at a steady non-race pace about the same as a 100 km Brevet,, 20 kmh, calorie intake doesn't need to be what the on-line calculators say.

At that level of exercise intensity, your body is utilising about 50% glycogen to 50% fatty acids for energy. Maybe 55% glycogen ( carbs ) but I'll round it off to 50% for simple maths.

The total calorie count for a 50 km ride might be 1500 calories. You only NEED 750, and when a cyclist is trying to lose weight, this can be halved again.

So 375 calories for 32 miles. That's roughly two bananas and a 500 ml bottle of full sugar Coke.

Your Bananas and drink strategy is OK by luck more than judgement??

 

[beachcaster]

[quote
So 375 calories for 32 miles. That's roughly two bananas and a 500 ml bottle of full sugar Coke.

Your Bananas and drink strategy is OK by luck more than judgement?? [/quote]

great.I will continue as I am going then..and take in more as I up the distance. .......many thanks for the calculations


Barry

 

[I am Spartacus]

Personally for the distances you are covering, you can forego taking anything with you on the bike except for water whilst you are undertaking a plan for weight loss.
Assumption.. your rides are not lasting no more than 90 minutes currently.

Carbs are good.. altho some posters on here seem to thumping their own chests re veggie diets I suspect... ignore the claptrap and again again invest in Anita Bean's sports nutrition book for excellent dietary knowledge..... it will be the best £15 you'll ever spend.
Keep at it.

 

[beachcaster]

Personally for the distances you are covering, you can forego taking anything with you on the bike except for water whilst you are undertaking a plan for weight loss.
Assumption.. your rides are not lasting no more than 90 minutes currently.

Carbs are good.. altho some posters on here seem to thumping their own chests re veggie diets I suspect... ignore the claptrap and again again invest in Anita Bean's sports nutrition book for excellent dietary knowledge..... it will be the best £15 you'll ever spend.
Keep at it.

I wish I could do 33 miles in 90 mins
perhaps one day I will
But my average speed is about 12/13 mph.

But things are improving......small hills that used to hurt me I am now going up easily...the big ones still hurt
I will look out for the book....thanks

Barry

 

[Fiona N]

I basically agree that for a couple of hours you don't need anything special unless you're going to be going very hard or very hilly. But just in case you think you might feel a bit lacking in energy on the way home, why not carry a couple of energy bars or, even better, gels (I find these mostly unpleasant so am not tempted to use them unless necessary). I also find that having an emergency supply reduces my tendency to drop in at a cafe on the way home.

BTW - Jimbo's calculation is a bit off - glycogen isn't 'free' energy - at sometime you have to have eaten enough for your body to make the store and if you use if, your body will try to replace it. Also the proportion of glycogen to other energy sources, particularly body fat, is very individual-specific and can change depending on how and how much you exercise. As you do longer rides, the proportion of fat utilisation is likely to rise, so you'll probably be able to go longer without needing to eat so much. Mind you, some people never seem to get into this habit and eat hugely irrespective of distance, fitness etc.

 

[I am Spartacus]

Fat utilization according to many is always connected to lower intensity training, but personally this didnt work out for as being always correct to my mind.
This borne out by C+ referencing Indurain as being able, or more to the point his body, to utilise fat burning as energy source nearer 85% of mhr.
Train hard .. train low, train good.

It is always an uneasy truce between mind and body to get the balance right....
today only went out on the bike for 50 minutes.. got fed up 1/2 way thru but did 4 very short bursts of speed sprints up to 30mph on the big ring and then took a 2k climb route back home.. so the training short but at least it counts..

 

[jimboalee]

I basically agree that for a couple of hours you don't need anything special unless you're going to be going very hard or very hilly. But just in case you think you might feel a bit lacking in energy on the way home, why not carry a couple of energy bars or, even better, gels (I find these mostly unpleasant so am not tempted to use them unless necessary). I also find that having an emergency supply reduces my tendency to drop in at a cafe on the way home.

BTW - Jimbo's calculation is a bit off - glycogen isn't 'free' energy - at sometime you have to have eaten enough for your body to make the store and if you use if, your body will try to replace it. Also the proportion of glycogen to other energy sources, particularly body fat, is very individual-specific and can change depending on how and how much you exercise. As you do longer rides, the proportion of fat utilisation is likely to rise, so you'll probably be able to go longer without needing to eat so much. Mind you, some people never seem to get into this habit and eat hugely irrespective of distance, fitness etc.

The OP is trying to lose fat.
He is riding at an average of 12 - 13 mph. That's not fast.

I know glycogen isn't 'Free' energy. Our livers are full of the stuff from previous days eating.
Going on a leisurely 20 kmh 50 km amble up and down some moderate hills isn't going to lead the guy into malnutrition.
Bananas are a lot less expensive than energy bars and gels. For heaven's sake, he's not racing anyone.

My numbers are 'typical'. If I'm 10% adrift from this chaps figures, he's hardly going to drop down dead.

If he embarked on a 200 km rando across the Sierra Nevada with nowt but a small bottle of water, he'd most likely get to the finish even if he had to push the bike the last 50 km.
He'd be dehydrated, but he wouldn't starve.

Ask me what its like riding a bike from San Jose to Yosimite Park in the middle of summer. On that ride, I was wishing for a Cafe to drop in on.