What do you eat?

Kerrmit1992

So having played rugby for many years at amateur level you can imagine my diet was mostly beer meat and potato's lol. As mentioned in another post I'm looking to shift some fat and improve my base fitness over the winter period with the intention of having a crack at a TT next year.

I wanted to get an idea of what use guys eat when cutting down in weight on a day to day basis. Not pre race etc.

I'm also Type 1 diabetic which I'm trying to gain more control of especially since I go on a pump in 2 weeks time. Woo! So I can't eat too many carbs. How are high protein diets when combined with cycling? Something such as paleo?

I'd be interested to see what use guys think.

Cheers
Craig

hypster

I experimented with a very low carb diet some years ago and persevered for several weeks until the ketones kicked in. Unfortunately it severly affected my ability to cycle at any sort of effort level above just cruising around and I would bonk quite badly after an hour or so.

I think you can reduce your carbohydrate levels in order to lose weight but not cut them out altogether when cycling seriously for longer than around 90 minutes or so. You can train your metablic system over time using long, slow rides to eke out your ability to utilise stored glycogen but that will obviously also depend on how hard you ride.

I tend to eat slightly more protein and fats these days and watch the carbohydrates I consume off the bike but will fuel on the bike with carbs for rides longer than two hours. I've never really had a weight problem either and am not a big-boned, rugby player so that makes things a bit easier for me!

I guess you will also need to eat what foods actually appeal to you as well which will be different for every person. I am lucky that I like a lot of fresh foods such as salads, vegetables and fruit and will usually have that sort of meal with a piece of steak or fish etc. I have tended to cut out potatoes and reduce my bread intake in recent years as well but still have rice and pasta regularly.

Hope that helps.

Kerrmit1992

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, yeah that's what I thought. Despite being diabetic we do actually need carbs otherwise we risk a hypo during exercise so I would probably minimise carb intake when not riding and have some before riding and during?

slowmart

Sorry I can't help on the diabetic aspect and my narrative below is based on being a former pie eating monster.

I've cut out processed food entirely and reduced the amount if cheese and bread I eat. The latter just on a weekend

Another aim was to go for quality rather than quantity while using myfitnesspal to log my calorie intake and understand the nutrient make up in terms of carbs, protein and fat. There's a few guys on here who have had success with the 5:2 plan but the former works for me as whatever avenue you opt for has to be sustainable in the long term as so many people seem to yo yo with their weight.

Personally I find it easier to tighten the nut if I keep riding with stronger riders as shifting my weight uphill is painful. Very painful which means my daughters sweets and the biscuits go untouched by me as I'm on my chin strap trying to keep up.

Putting the miles in means it cuts both ways in terms of using calories and reducing their intake.

Good luck!

RutlandGav

All that doctors will tell you is that physical inactivity and being overweight are the main risk factors for high blood sugar (as well as getting older), and you're doing something about both of those so that's the main thing. There's not yet an official line on whether high carb or high fat causes insulin resistance. Getting sufficient scientific proof to make that call is nigh impossible, and if you get it wrong there could be lawsuits.

I've lost a lot of weight on an 80% carb 10% fat and protein diet and naturally, I'll tend to look at material that supports the choice i already made. But I've seen quite a few things that link high fat & paleo to insulin resistance eg. BBC Sugar vs Fat documentary, but i'm sure low carb afficionados have their own anecdotal evidences , so let's leave it at that.

At home, I tend to eat salads with sweet chilli sauce and Quorn "ham" (if you're not a veggie, you can use real meat, so long as it's lean!) , potatoes , shedloads of fruit. On non riding days i don't eat that much.

At work (I have a long, long commute), yoghurt, fruit, wholemeal toast, jacket potatoes with beans, sometimes buy single portions of breakfast cereal, soup with bread roll. At work i'm surrounded by vending machines selling mars chocolate and a canteen that likes to deep fry everything. So I can't limit calories on working days, i just try to stick to the rule, no more than 30g fat total.

As regards simple carbs vs complex starchy carbs, i don't like the message that the former are always bad and the latter good. I just assess how energy dense and bingeable the foodstuff is and what i'm planning to use it for.

Eg. sweet chilli sauce on salad, the sauce is mostly sugar, but so what? With salad, overall it's pretty low energy density meal, no way will it make you fat, nor will it spike your blood sugar with all the water and fibre in the salad stuff to slow absorbtion.

Breakfast cereals, on the other hand, I have to be careful. I can eat 1kg of sugar free museli in one morning without trying. It's very high density food, 70g per 100g is carbohydrate. THe fact that it's nearly all starchy carbs is immaterial - 1g of starch is same calories as 1g sugar. Effectively i just ate the same calories as if i ate a 1lb bag of sugar - more in fact. Except that you'd not be able to eat 1lb of pure sugar of course, you'd feel sick after the first few mouthfuls. I still buy breakfast cereal at work, but only in those rip-off single portion boxes. Bread's a similar story - will buy slices of toast at work, but i cannot take a loaf home.

Different rules apply on a long bike ride. If I've been riding 4 hours with 4 more to go, am bonking out, there's nothing wrong with grabbing a Soreen malt loaf or some Haribo sweets to refuel.

Kerrmit1992

I use my fitness pal too :-) ... I was using it while going through a bulking phase for rugby to ensure I was getting the calories in. I'll maybe have a crack at doing it the other way.

Kerrmit1992

Rutlandgav I'm type 1 buddy which has nothing to do with lifestyle. It was ginetic unfortunately. I don't get insulin resistance unlike a type 2. If I did I'd be dead within days lol.

RutlandGav

Just to add, I did eat Paleo a few years back and trained 10 hours a week at the gym, but i just kept getting low blood sugar moments between meals , resulting in chocolate binges. Since I ate more clean carbs, i don't crave chocolate. Paleo/low carb doesn't work for me. I find i burn mostly carbs during exercise , when my glycogen runs out, i have to stop. I can burn off the carbohydrate portion of my diet with exercise, but not the fat component. Therefore, minimise the fat content of the diet and put lots of miles in, lose weight.

Rutlandgav I'm type 1 buddy which has nothing to do with lifestyle. It was ginetic unfortunately. I don't get insulin resistance unlike a type 2. If I did I'd be dead within days lol.

Ah ok that's my fault for stereotyping Rugby players ha!
One of my work colleagues is type 1, skinny young chap.

They're both conditions of too much blood sugar is that right? Just that the type 1 is genetic and the type 2 has "lifestyle risk factors" . Does that mean it won't get better, no matter how fit you manage to get?

Kerrmit1992

Your rugby stereotype is pretty accurate in my experience haha!

Yes mines can never get better unless they develop a cure. Insulin pumps make life a lot easier. I believe a type 2 pancreas becomes less efficient or something whereas mine doesn't work at all. Mines is considered auto immune not sure about type 2.

:-)

RutlandGav

I'm hoping you edited the OP because if not i badly misread ! I'd read it as "I'm an ex-rugby player who's just taken up cycling and i have high blood sugar and am wondering what you guys eat", missed the stuff about type 1 and pumps.

It sounds like a rubbish situation to be in, you're just getting a fixed dose of insulin every day that takes no account of what you ate or exercised, and you only get to check blood glucose by finger pricking yourself occasionally. A bit like driving to work by putting the correct number of bricks on the accelerator before you set off, and checking your speed by driving through a speed trap once or twice a week.

I heard Google were working on these "smart" contact lenses that sense the glucose concentration of your tears in real time, reporting it via bluetooth. They need to hurry up with that i'm thinking.

Kerrmit1992

Naa it's not as bad as that lol. It's actually far easier to control than type 2 :-)

I take a background insulin that counteracts the glucose produced by the liver, this keeps it stable if I don't eat or exercise. I also have a quick acting insulin which works over 4 hours so I need to count the carbs I'm eating per meal and then take insulin to keep it stable. Nowadays T1 diabetics can eat what they like and just take insulin but some foods make it easier than others :-)

As for testing I test minimum 4 times per day prior to eating. If I'm driving every 2 hours.

When I'm exercising I need to keep my blood sugar up when exercising or it drops. I usually opt for full sugar diluting juice so it won't go too high either :-)

Kerrmit1992

The new pump I go on has an option for sensors that can monitor you for going too low and it switches the machine off. It's great if you drive for a living like me. Unfortunately it's not funded on NHS and costs over £400 per month lol

fuzzynavel

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19707758#p19707758]Kerrmit1992[/url] wrote:

So having played rugby for many years at amateur level you can imagine my diet was mostly beer meat and potato's lol. As mentioned in another post I'm looking to shift some fat and improve my base fitness over the winter period with the intention of having a crack at a TT next year.

I wanted to get an idea of what use guys eat when cutting down in weight on a day to day basis. Not pre race etc.

I'm also Type 1 diabetic which I'm trying to gain more control of especially since I go on a pump in 2 weeks time. Woo! So I can't eat too many carbs. How are high protein diets when combined with cycling? Something such as paleo?

I'd be interested to see what use guys think.

Cheers
Craig

I've been paleo then on/off keto for the last 4 years. I have no issues with bashing out 60miles +. The whole point of low carb is to balance your blood sugar levels and stop the ups and downs related to insulin spikes ( in non diabetics at least). As my body is mostly living off my body fat store, there is always a ready supply there for energy. I lost 4 stones a number of years back living like this. That is not to say that I shun carbs entirely....most meals I have are vegetables with a bit of meat with the emphasis on vegetables...i cook everything in lard or butter and eat lumps of cheese for snacks. I am also Gluten free as I have found that it helps my arthritis ( mileage may vary for others).
I do slip up occasionally and steal some of my kids' sweets but then the vicious up/down cycle begins and I feel a bit crap for a few days when I stop gorging again.

Hope this helps.

legendary27

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19707758#p19707758]Kerrmit1992[/url] wrote:

So having played rugby for many years at amateur level you can imagine my diet was mostly beer meat and potato's lol. As mentioned in another post I'm looking to shift some fat and improve my base fitness over the winter period with the intention of having a crack at a TT next year.

I wanted to get an idea of what use guys eat when cutting down in weight on a day to day basis. Not pre race etc.

I'm also Type 1 diabetic which I'm trying to gain more control of especially since I go on a pump in 2 weeks time. Woo! So I can't eat too many carbs. How are high protein diets when combined with cycling? Something such as paleo?

I'd be interested to see what use guys think.

Cheers
Craig

Have you been on the DAFNE course ? I would guess that you have if you are moving onto pump therapy, but if you have not, ask to attend that - it is life-changing.

I think that there is maybe a danger of you over-thinking this a little. Apologies if this sounds a bit patronising, it is not meant to. You need to eat less, exercise more, and adjust your bolus (and basal) intake to compensate.

As an example, I would have 50 grams of porridge made with 190 ml of milk and some dried fruit, take two units of bolus insulin and turn my basal rate down by fifty per cent, and then cycle 50 - 60 miles. I would not normally eat anything else whilst out, though I will carry an energy bar or two as cover, and I would expect my BG level to be within target when I return.

On longer rides, I would turn the basal rate down a bit more - by sixty or seventy per cent - and cover carbohydrate at approximately a 1/3 to 1 ratio, so only a third of the insulin I would normally take to cover carbs. Again, this works for me. If anything, I have a tendency to under fuel, as I have had problems with high BG levels and cramping because I have taken on too many carbs/not enough insulin.

The usual caveats apply - this works for me as it has been finely-tuned over a long period of time. You need to come up with a routine that works for you. It is all a bit trial and error, but as long as you have a pocket full of energy products as backup, you will be okay. Definitely best to ride with someone when trying things out initially.

There is some information available on exercise and blood glucose/insulin levels and recommendations on what levels to set your BG at prior to exercise for optimum performance. I think that I may have some of it in electronic form. If I do, I will mail it to you on the basis that everything helps.

Good luck with the pump, I have found it to be fantastic for exercise. The ability to tune your basal rate to exercise has proved invaluable for me.

Regards,
Gordon

Kerrmit1992

Yeah I've been on DAFNE. I find the insulin pen isn't the greatest when it comes to managing diabetes. Buzzing to go on the pump.

I was told by my diabetic nurse that they have a triathlete that doesn't require much if any quick acting insulin due to what he eats and how often he exercises.

I'm hoping shifting some weight will help with how much background I'm taking too as I need quite a lot at the moment but when I was at my fittest I was taking so much less.

bobmcstuff

What I eat when cutting weight on a day to day basis is pretty much exclusively based on calories contained. In 4-5 weeks January into February I dropped 5.5kg (taking me to the middle of my healthy BMI range) by aiming for a nominal 1,000 calorie a day deficit during the week (and more like breakeven/over at the weekend).

Therefore I tended to eat foods which were more "calorie efficient" i.e., you feel like you've had more food for the calories. This meant pretty much lots of vegetables, low calorie meals, carrot sticks as snacks etc., and meant I naturally cut down on carbs a bit and sweet/fatty foods a lot (because they're more calorie dense so I always feel less full afterwards).