I want some easy to follow diet advice

[yello]

I'm having difficulty trying to work out a decent diet for the extra mileage I'm doing of late. A lot of the info I read is saying things like '600g of carb per day' etc etc. Now, with all due respect to the obviously knowledgeable people that work out this info, I can't convert that into something applicable to me.

For instance, how much is 600g of carb? Pasta, for instance, has a dry content of around 60% carb. Does that mean I should look to eat a measured weight of 1kg of pasta! That's a helluva lot!! So I figure not, so I guess they mean cooked weight. And that's if I take 'carb' to exclude fast release sugars etc... or do they mean all forms of carb... etc etc etc

So, without addressing the above f'rinstance, can any point me at something that gives advice that doesn't require me to sit down with a calculator!

 

[ASC1951]

Unless you are a performance athlete, it really isn't that important - your body has this handy device called feeling hungry.

As a general rule Eat Proper Food, Not Too Much, Mainly Plants sums up the accumulated wisdom of all the diet books.

 

[yello]

Thanks for the reply, I do appreciate it. I think that's generally speaking good advice but I'm currently doing 200km rides, about to up it to 300km. That's a lot of calories burned, more particularly a lot of carbohydrate. I would have thought I need to start upping the carb intake to compensate. And I figured I needed to do it before hunger set in!

 

[ASC1951]

Yes, best to eat before you get really hungry. I wasn't being flippant: I don't think it's necessary or even possible to calibrate these things on an ordinary road ride in a way that makes any difference. By 'ordinary' I don't mean that 300k is not in fact a bloody long way, just that there will be so many variables of weather, terrain, state and mood of rider that it isn't really going to matter whether you are 20% above or below what some precise calculation might suggest is ideal. There will be shops on the way, after all.

The body is a multi-talented bit of kit, full of feedback features, particularly if it's as fit as yours will be. Learn to listen to it.

As a rough guide, I would expect to put food and drink in at a slightly higher rate over the next 100k than you found necessary over the first 200. You will likely have completely run out of whatever you had in there before you set off, so you will need to keep it topped up by eating smaller amount more often than over the first 150k or so.

 

[yello]

You will likely have completely run out of whatever you had in there before you set off

That's the bit I'm trying to get a handle on. Making sure I'm well stocked before going out.

I've got on bike fuelling pretty much sussed - and it's as you say. You can feel how the body's performing/responding and adjust accordingly. Little and often to start, and there are shops if it goes wrong!

I just can't gauge how much I should be eating in the days leading up to a big ride, and what it should be. At the moment, I don't reckon I'm eating enough of the right things.

 

[ASC1951]

I honestly don't think you can 'eat in the days leading up to a big ride' in a way that makes any difference. Your body doesn't work that way - if you eat half a pound of bacon every day for a week, it doesn't stick it in a store marked "fat", any more than a 90% carbohydrate intake gets stored solely as carbohydrate. A normal varied diet contains everything you want and the body extracts what it needs and gets rid of the rest. It does have a maximum storage capacity for carbohydrate and if you regularly cram in more than that (irrespective of the type of food) it will store it as fat. In the short term, if you put in more than you can absorb, the rest simply flies out the other end.

You couldn't, for instance, prepare for a long ride without water by drinking a gallon the night before. The body can only store so much. The same applies to food. Just eat what you normally eat - some protein, some fat (preferably unsaturated) but mostly unrefined carbohydrate - and make sure you have three square meals the day before. Stop when you feel full, because you will be.

 

[longers]

Won't post ride fuelling be of great importance to yello as he is doing these distances very regularly for the next few months?

I can't advise him on this but am willing to be advised or disabused for the suggestion.

 

[yello]

You've got me thoroughly confused ASC1951. Why do marathon runners (and other athletes) 'carbo-load' in the days before an event?

I think you're right longers; post-ride fueling is important too. Perhaps a bit easier I presume because you then can use hunger as a guide - at least to some extent.

 

[Fiona N]

There's carbo-loading and carbo-loading.
If you just mean making sure that your carb reserves (glycogen) are topped up before a ride, that easily enough done by having an easy day or two before a big ride and making sure you eat a reasonable amount of carbohydrate-rich food so that you over-compensate for the little exercise you've done. This is easy and sensible

More serious is cutting out carbs for a (substantial) period before a long day (ride or marathon) while continuing training (and believe me, this could be the hardest thing you've ever done ) and then over the last 3 - 4 days, cutting right back on the training and filling up on carbs. The theory as I understood it (when it was in fashion) was that the carb-free days cause your body to increase fat burning in the absence of carbs (which is why you have to be training otherwise your body will use muscle tissue as an easier energy source in extremis), then the period of carb loading allows the glycogen supplies to be replenished to the maximum giving you a win-win (in theory) of optimum glycogen load and fat-burning.
I've tried this regime for 24hour TTs and it's the pits. Certainly for my particular physiology. it gives absolutely no benefit and possibly detriment as I certainly couldn't train optimally in the carb-free period. Some people have had better results so, as with so many things, it undoubtedly depends on the individual.
I certainly wouldn't attempt this regime without:
a) a very serious goal
a knowledgable coach or dietitian to hand.

I hope this helps.

 

[yello]

Yes, that helps greatly Fiona. It's getting to the nub of my question and tells me that the body does store carb/glycogen.

making sure you eat a reasonable amount of carbohydrate-rich food so that you over-compensate for the little exercise you've done.

I wanted some form of handle on how much was a "reasonable" amount.