Fatness Fitness

urbanfatboy
urbanfatboy Posts: 193
I'm currently trying to increase fitness and lose weight in time to go up to Glentress wioth some much fitter people. Now I knoe that eating carbs puts the pounds on, but I'm also aware that i need some if I'm going on rides of more than an hour.

Currently, I try to get out abut 3 times a week for about 90 minutes of quite hard riding, combination of road and 'cross terrrain. IO usyally have a day off in between to recover. The confusion is what to don on returning from the rides, usaully quite late (9.30) and I've not eate dinner. On eht one hand, I hear I should load up on crbs to aid recovery, but on the other, It seems that the carbs will just counter the weight loss effort that I've just put in.

What is the answer?

Comments

  • Crisps and Chocolate
  • richa
    richa Posts: 1,631
    I think that carb/protein mix is ideal to aid recovery.

    I have used cycling (in the most) to lose a few pounds this year. Whilst I think there is plenty of info on 'what to eat while you train', there is a lot less clear info on 'what to eat while you train - if you want to lose weight'.

    I wouldn't recommend 'loading up' on anything. I would look to have a light well balanced supper.

    I think that with (just) 3 sessions of 90 mins that you don't need to be adding anything to your diet - just eat sensible meals (Chicken, Pasta, Baked Potatoes, Salads, etc).


    Rich
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    Rich
  • 16mm
    16mm Posts: 545
    Eat a usual size dinner, with normal mix of carbs, fat and protein (or go to bed a bit hungry perhaps)?
    The extra exergy expended will result is weight loss, or at least weight management as you convert fat to muscle.
    Probabaly not worth worrying too much, just enjoy it.

    Take some food with you to eat on the way round, requireing less dinner?

    ta
    Mike
  • what you cousl always do is eat well the day before and then have dinner at lunch time with all food groups represented and then once you hae finished your ride in the evening have something like a peanut butter sandwich on wholewheat bread a piece of fruit and a glass of milk. Or a fruit salad with freh yoghurt and granola or muesli.

    I have started doing club ride on tuesday evenings and the late meal thing bothered me too but I find doing the meals this way round gives me enough energy to do the club ride, go to bed feeling full and have enough left to get up early the next day and go riding before work.

    Gats

    'You must eat to train and race hard - not to get skinny'
  • Jonathan Mcp
    Jonathan Mcp Posts: 2,472
    <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by urbanfatboy</i>

    I'm currently trying to increase fitness and lose weight in time to go up to Glentress wioth some much fitter people. <b>Now I knoe that eating carbs puts the pounds on</b>, but I'm also aware that i need some if I'm going on rides of more than an hour.

    Currently, I try to get out abut 3 times a week for about 90 minutes of quite hard riding, combination of road and 'cross terrrain. IO usyally have a day off in between to recover. The confusion is what to don on returning from the rides, usaully quite late (9.30) and I've not eate dinner. On eht one hand, I hear I should load up on crbs to aid recovery, but on the other, It seems that the carbs will just counter the weight loss effort that I've just put in.

    What is the answer?
    <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">


    Erm, pro cyclists eat a carb rich diet, and they (Ullrich excepted) are not describable as fat.

    the key to weight loss is to eat less energy than your body uses during normal living & exercise.

    While the low carb diets do cause weight loss, their effect on long term weight maintenance isn't clear.

    a healthy balanced diet is the way forward, with more riding to mean energy used is greater than energy consumed. And for exercise of up to a couple of hours, your muscles will ahve used glycogen, which they then need to replace, and glycogen is based upon glucose/carbs.

    In terms of recovery, try a protein/carb snack. Some suggestison in this months C+ that Chocolate milk fulfills this role nicely.

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  • urbanfatboy
    urbanfatboy Posts: 193
    Is their a simpler alternative to chocolate milk?
  • urbanfatboy
    urbanfatboy Posts: 193
    What about a pint of Guinness? That seems like it should be full of all sorts of recovery stuff, no?
  • domtyler
    domtyler Posts: 2,648
    edited February 2011
    How can you get simpler than chocolate milk?

    I have really craved alcohol after going for long rides before so now always take some kind of fuel out with me. I nice bottle of strong ale is hard to beat after an intensive ride out though!! [:p]

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  • liversedge
    liversedge Posts: 1,003
    Always eat protein with your carbs after a ride - it ensures the carbs go into the muscles apparently (I'd find a scholarly link if I was better a google scholar searches!). I've never found out how the liver works in this equation though - maybe some of the medical types around here can explain that one.

    Avoid refined sugars as they hit your blood insulin levels which will "block" fat burning (alledgedly?) - they also tend to come in foods that are high in fat anyway - same with white flour.

    You can ride for 2 hours at a low-moderate intensity without food (just using the stores in your legs) - so use those rides to burn the excess and dont worry about nutrition before or during - just after.

    Your body can only absorb about 80g of carbs an hour so don't eat more than that whilst riding - but keep drip feeding yourself rather than spiking.

    In my personal experience as I have become fitter I have become more efficient and burn less calories at lower intensities. I have to resort to HIIT to burn the cals these days ... fortunately they are more time efficient. They hurt more though.

    Hope this is of some use and isn't too controversial.

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