Should you eat / drink calories burnt?

Gav888

Hi,

Im now starting to ride bigger distances of 50 and over so im now starting to pay closer attention to my nutrition. Should you eat / drink the amount of calories you burn on a ride and should you try and get 60g per hour of carbs?

Pace wise is fast (for me) fairly heavy breathing and I can only hold short sentences. Tempo riding I think they call it?

So, for example on a 50 mile 3hr early morning ride I will burn approx 2700 calories going by various online calculators, below is what I will eat / drink for the ride.

1.5ltr of Gatorade Drink (500ml per hour) - 360 cal
Eat Natural Bar - 200 cal
100g of porridge for breakfast 1 hour before the ride inc milk / choc powder - 500 cal

Total Calories = 1060 calories.

I presume the rest is made up of stored calories which I read somewhere is approx 2000. If thats so, does that mean im over eating by approx 360 calories or as your stored calories are at there lowest first thing in the morning, am im under?

Eating / drinking this I found energy wise I was ok to start with but struggled to hold the pace for the last 10 miles or so.

Also should I be worried about the amount of grams of carbs consumed? If so im over...

Carbs for a 50 mile ride is 180g based on 60g per hour as I read somewhere that you should get 1g per min for a fast pace.

1.5ltr of Gatorade Drink (500ml per hour) - 90g
Eat Natural Bar - 25g
100g of porridge for breakfast 1 hour before the ride inc milk / choc powder - 80g

Total grams = 195g

As the symptoms of over eating and under eating are basically the same, ie lack of energy I want to be sure im getting the correct amount.

Any advise guys as I find this very confusing?

jibberjim

No, you shouldn't attempt to eat calories burnt. Simply because at high intensity, you have almost no chance to digest that many calories.

Your stored calories are mostly fat, and you have loads and loads of them, they'll last long enough for you to keep riding before you fall off the bike asleep - and longer!

There are also glycogen, and these are what's consumed, and you do need to supplement by eating if you're going hard enough to be using them - when you're going easy, you're just burning the fat.

you can't know other than through experience what is the right amount, simply because it's way too individual and depends on the ride.

Bhima

If you want to measure it accurately:

Energy metabolised = (Power*Time)/Your body's efficiency

If you eat less calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. Top athletes doing 7hr TdF rides who are on <10% body fat eat 1000s of calories a day from what i've heard - I think this is so they can maintain their weight without getting too thin. Not sure though.

Takis61

I do similar rides & generally only use 1 bottle Gatorade or Taut, 1 nottle water (usually still have some left), 1 banana & 1 cereal bar, maybe a 2nd bar (small Food Doctor) or a Gel if I go over 60 miles with hills.
Sometimes I have cereal before I go, sometimes just an espresso for a morning jolt.
Breakfast when I get back.
Don't think you are burning enough cals on 50 miles to make it a big issue.
Other way to cope is good pasta meal night before...
As jibberjim said, it will vary person to person

bahzob

Through trial and effort I've found that the easiest/most reliable method is to aim to consume 1 to 1.5g of carbs per minute in whatever form you like best (provided not too much fat goes along with these). For me that happens to be sports drink/jelly babies with a gel or two. For long events (sportives and the like) I'll probably eat a Snickers as well at the top of a big climb (more to celebrate than for the nutrition to be honest).

nolf

Wouldn't trust online references for calorie expenditure, power output is the only reliable indication and that requires a power meter which costs several hundred pounds...

eat enough that you don't bonk. I don't worry about overeating personally, but for 3 hours I'd say a peice of food every hourish- depending on speed etc, and 750ml of energy drink plus 750ml of water. Also a big breakfast.

Gav888

Thanks for the advise guys. I did 50m yesterday morning in 3 hours, ended up having 2 x 500ml of powerade and 1 Eat Natural bar and my usual breakfast of porridge.. legs felt knackered towards the end and I almost cramped twice, but didnt bonk so guess I had enough

Maybe some more fluids next time to keep the cramps at bay!

sampras38

I did 75 in 4 hours yesterday, with 2 climbs at the end and got through 3 500ml bottles. One with a nuun tablet and water, the other 2 with diluted hi-5. Only food I had was 1 homemade flapjack. I just made sure I had a decent breakfast and a coffee before leaving the house.