Day after - ferocious appetite!

rodgers73

I did the White Rose Classic yesterday and I can't stop eating today. I'm sure I'm consuming more calories than I burnt (115 miles all in) but until I finished dinner an hour ago and literally couldn't get anymore in my stomach I just couldn't stop all day.

This is a truly daft question but am I overdoing it? Or do all cyclists get this the day after a hard ride?

I've been taking the view that the day after a big ride I eat whatever I want but go back to normal the following day. I'm aiming to get my weight down (only by 4 or 5 pounds), but I'm wondering if today's behaviour is a bad idea or "essential" to my recovery!

briantrumpet

Dunno about 'the day after' - but I reckon on having an empty stomach about 2 hours after a meal, if I don't nibble. I do regularly ride quite a few miles (just under 200 hardish miles a week), so would expect to have to eat something like an extra 7000 calories a week to maintain my weight. I like eating, so it suits me fine.

Yukirin

me too (did my first +100 miles on Sunday). Its like when I first started cycling a couple of years back, after 20 miles I'd eat the fridge! But over the course of a few months that calmed down and then weight loss happened (3.5 stone in 2 years and was doing 22 miles a day commuting)
I'm assuming I was so hungry simply because I have only ridden 1/3 that distance before and if I did it more often my body would calm down.

racingcondor

I have the same issue. Don't worry about my weight though so I just let my body dictate.

It only happens if I have a big change in activity, I can ride a lot daily and my body will eat sensibly, riding the Gran Fondo Dragon Ride after doing only 100 miles in the previous 2 weeks though...

Rich158

It's not unusual to have a raging appetite the day after a big ride. You're body is craving carbohydrates to replace the glycogen you've stripped from your muscles, especially if you've been riding at tempo or above. Essentially you've supercharged your metabolism for about 48 hours, the benefit of this is that generally speaking your body will overcompensate and store more glycogen. This strategy was used to great effect by Laurent Fignon to prepare for his two Milan-San Remo wins and can form the basis of the preparation for any big ride. Just try not to overdo it in one go, you can only synthesis about 60g of carbs into glycogen per hour, any more is stored as fat. I find the best strategy is to eat little and often during this period rather than get used to feeling mildly hungry

thegibdog

Didn't Fignon also have a tapeworm at one point?

durianrider

Thats NONSENSE that excess carbs over 60g per hour are stored as fat lol!

Ive been doing this high carb low fat vegan thing since 2001. Seems to be working in keeping me lean, fast and healthy.

t.m.h.n.e.t

Rich158 wrote:

It's not unusual to have a raging appetite the day after a big ride. You're body is craving carbohydrates to replace the glycogen you've stripped from your muscles, especially if you've been riding at tempo or above. Essentially you've supercharged your metabolism for about 48 hours, the benefit of this is that generally speaking your body will overcompensate and store more glycogen. This strategy was used to great effect by Laurent Fignon to prepare for his two Milan-San Remo wins and can form the basis of the preparation for any big ride. Just try not to overdo it in one go, you can only synthesis about 60g of carbs into glycogen per hour, any more is stored as fat. I find the best strategy is to eat little and often during this period rather than get used to feeling mildly hungry

It's around 90 actually and the rest of the sentence is bs I'm afraid.

daveyroids

All I can add to this is that I have experienced this several times which I have put down to 3 reasons over the years. First is I have not got my nutrition right the day before / morning of event. Secondly I have not taken enough fuel during and after the event. Lastly I have pushed myself over the top and done a ride that there was no way that my body was prepared for (done this a few times recently and ate lots). Of course my experience is anecdotal however if I get all three right I don't seem to binge the next day. If I do end up on a binge I just eat. Hey I'm a cyclist the extra calories will go next training session!

Rich158

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

It's not unusual to have a raging appetite the day after a big ride. You're body is craving carbohydrates to replace the glycogen you've stripped from your muscles, especially if you've been riding at tempo or above. Essentially you've supercharged your metabolism for about 48 hours, the benefit of this is that generally speaking your body will overcompensate and store more glycogen. This strategy was used to great effect by Laurent Fignon to prepare for his two Milan-San Remo wins and can form the basis of the preparation for any big ride. Just try not to overdo it in one go, you can only synthesis about 60g of carbs into glycogen per hour, any more is stored as fat. I find the best strategy is to eat little and often during this period rather than get used to feeling mildly hungry

It's around 90 actually and the rest of the sentence is bs I'm afraid.

That depends upon the research you're looking at to be honest the number can vary and the quality and type of the CHO have a huge impact, and endurance athlete needs about 7g/kg of CHO (carb) per day, but this also needs to be balanced with fats and protein (1.2-1.4 g/kg per day) ,the total training load also needs to be taken into account.

Would you care to back up your BS statement with facts?

Rich158

durianrider wrote:

Thats NONSENSE that excess carbs over 60g per hour are stored as fat lol!

In that case why do people get fat?

t.m.h.n.e.t

Rich158 wrote:

durianrider wrote:

Thats NONSENSE that excess carbs over 60g per hour are stored as fat lol!

In that case why do people get fat?

By over eating. I'll pass you the source relative to above question later. Feel free to post a source of your info too.

rodgers73

daveyroids wrote:

All I can add to this is that I have experienced this several times which I have put down to 3 reasons over the years. First is I have not got my nutrition right the day before / morning of event. Secondly I have not taken enough fuel during and after the event. Lastly I have pushed myself over the top and done a ride that there was no way that my body was prepared for (done this a few times recently and ate lots). Of course my experience is anecdotal however if I get all three right I don't seem to binge the next day. If I do end up on a binge I just eat. Hey I'm a cyclist the extra calories will go next training session!

Pasta meal the night before, decent breakfast pre-ride (Weetabix and banana), ate loads during ride and had big meal a few hours after too. I must have pushed too hard - but then I did the Fred Whitton and the Tour of Peaks in the build up to this one.

Maybe I'm just a greedy sod! ;-)

daveyroids

Like I said its just what I experiene.

Fred Whitton looks like a nice route, will have to fit that one in at some stage.