post ride eating for weight loss

[stackie]

I'm trying to figure out what amount to eat post ride. Say I ride my usual ride of 2-3 hrs. I'm not riding hard core, not in that good of shape. Maybe 18-20 average speed with some climbing. Usually eat a banana +/- gu packet on ride.

A part of me wants to just have a cappuccino when I get home and move on with my day, and save the calories for lunch/dinner. But, the old adage about getting fuel into muscles within 30 minutes haunts me. But, then I reason that I'm not riding that hard, I'm not depleting my muscles that much.

Any thoughts?

Jon

[Louis]

I've found that what I eat immediately post-ride is more important if I'm going to ride the next day. I was having no power on day #2 and started to take some Hammer Recoverite after all rides, which seems to help, especially on day #2. Other than that, I just have my normal supper (I tend to ride in the late afternoon) shower, and go to bed.

[bikenut]

I find that if I don't eat well after the ride, I am ravenous for the remainder of the day and evening.

[Ed-B]

You want to feed the muscles and burn the fat.

You should get some protein into your system post ride. The 30 minute window is not considered significant by many knowlegable people on the body building sites, but it is considered important to maintain protein levels over 24 hour periods to retain muscle mass.

You could save the banana for your post ride food, and eat that with a protein shake as a recovery meal. On the mornings when I plan to ride 2-3 hours, I have a cup of coffee and a piece of toast or something light before I head out. I drink a branch chain amino acid (BCAA) mixed with some electrolyte while I'm riding, and I have a banana and protein shake when I get back. This is the same strategy that I use on gym days, and it seems to work for me.

If I'm running a tight diet but still planning to ride and I don't want to bonk while I'm out I'll bring some extra food, but I eat it only if I really think I need it.

Some people cycle carbohydrates, eating more of these foods before and after exercise activities. That's when you can really cut back on the calories and burn some body fat. I follow this, too. I try to eat fewer carbohydrate rich foods on rest days while maintaining my protein levels. Some fat in the daily diet is necessary, too.

As you probably know, over time, you need to burn more calories than you eat to lose weight. Having the energy to perform, and maintaining muscle tissue while losing fat is the challenging part.

[oldpotatoe]

You want to feed the muscles and burn the fat.

You should get some protein into your system post ride. The 30 minute window is not considered significant by many knowlegable people on the body building sites, but it is considered important to maintain protein levels over 24 hour periods to retain muscle mass.

You could save the banana for your post ride food, and eat that with a protein shake as a recovery meal. On the mornings when I plan to ride 2-3 hours, I have a cup of coffee and a piece of toast or something light before I head out. I drink a branch chain amino acid (BCAA) mixed with some electrolyte while I'm riding, and I have a banana and protein shake when I get back. This is the same strategy that I use on gym days, and it seems to work for me.


yummy

[wallymann]

dude...if you're achieving that, you're in pretty dang good shape. cruising at 18mph requires ~200 watts of continuous output, which aint no joke for anyone with a job/life/etc.

I'm trying to figure out what amount to eat post ride. Say I ride my usual ride of 2-3 hrs. I'm not riding hard core, not in that good of shape. Maybe 18-20 average speed with some climbing. Usually eat a banana +/- gu packet on ride.

A part of me wants to just have a cappuccino when I get home and move on with my day, and save the calories for lunch/dinner. But, the old adage about getting fuel into muscles within 30 minutes haunts me. But, then I reason that I'm not riding that hard, I'm not depleting my muscles that much.

Any thoughts?

Jon

[cfox]

Have a protein shake made with almond milk post ride. Tons of protein, <200 calories, and tasty. Oh, and by the way, if you can actually average 20mph for 3hrs with climbing, that means you are in very good shape.*

*wallyman beat me to it

[JAGI410]

Everything in sight + beer + recliner.

I've been trying this for a while. It's not necessarily working, but it's so good.

[malcolm]

serving of whey protein, highly bioavailable and only 80-100 calories for close to 20 grams. If you can spare the calories a small amount of complex carbs.

[1centaur]

Maybe more important for this thread than whether 18-20 is "good shape" or "trying hard" is that it's a range where you can be confident you are burning over 300 calories an hour (maybe 400). And then you'll have several hours after the fact when your body burns more than usual (which is the basis for what you eat right after not turning into fat). So what you eat after to some extent should reflect what you ate before (as well as whether you are riding the next day). One trick to not eating too much after is to fill some of the stomach with more water than you feel like drinking (not ridiculous amounts). A bias to decent protein content makes sense to me, from what I read (carbs before riding). If you have an edge of hunger three hours later that you do not indulge, you are in the right range for weight loss.

[norcalbiker]

Not in shape? Riding 18-20 avg with some climbing in 2-3 hours ride?
Wow! All of the sudden I feel really old.

[fuzzalow]

"not in that good of shape. Maybe 18-20 average speed"
dude...if you're achieving that, you're in pretty dang good shape. cruising at 18mph requires ~200 watts of continuous output, which aint no joke for anyone with a job/life/etc.

I too have resigned myself to the lantern rouge groupetto. It seems everyone that rides is faster than me. Or at least say they are.

Every time I get passed by somebody wearing a self-satisfied grin, I feel I've brought joy into somebody's life that day. And that's a good thing.

Ride more. Eat less. Go aerobic pace or lower wattage that doesn't have you burning through glycogen stores.

[cnighbor1]

post ride eating for weight loss
I meet a strong rider on Mt diablo. He was tried and didn't feel his normal strong self. In talking to him he was on a diet that lacked protein I didn't ask anymore ?'s It take 48 hours for protein to get into you system.
Post ride. read other reply's above. weight loss and exercising is a difficult feat to pull off!!

[Ralph]

Being retired, and living where it's usually warm, I finish my usual 35-40 mile ride, 4-5 times per week, just before lunch. During my ride, I figure I use up around 1200 calories, more or less, and take in about 300 or so from weak Gatoraid and some fig bars.

So I do my best to eat a large well balanced replenishing lunch after the ride, (and have been known to take a short nap after that), and I eat a small mostly fruit and veggie low calorie dinner. In addition to a good breakfast, I much prefer to make my large meal of the day my mid day meal. It's easy to over eat after a ride.

[daker13]

weight loss and exercising is a difficult feat to pull off!!

So true.

I think the difficulty of this is usually down-played. I myself used to overeat after exercise in general, and I was always overestimating the amount of calories I'd burned. A lot of people (depending on your goals) say to get your diet under control first, then add exercise to the mix.

To answer your question, based on you saying that you don't feel you've worked out too strenuously, I say skip the post ride food (or have something very light) and just eat a regular meal later.

[verticaldoug]

I think Tyler Hamilton was the one who said when trying to lose weight, the post ride was sparkling water and sleeping pills.

[cfox]

I think Tyler Hamilton was the one who said when trying to lose weight, the post ride was sparkling water and sleeping pills.

It was, taught to him by Bjarne Riis. Anyone who trained with Ferrari or Cecchini was constantly being told they were too fat. Those guys took testosterone not to build muscle but to trick their bodies while starving. Half their doping was to just keep themselves alive during their training.

It's tedious, but the only sure-fire way to lose weight is to honestly and accurately track calories. It was mentioned before, but it's most important for you to figure out how many calories you are actually burning while cycling. It is often thrown around that cycling at at decent pace burns close to 1000 cal/hr. I think that is high; I think it's closer to 600 cal/hr. If you can figure it out, you can make sure you are at a caloric deficit on the days you train. Figure out your BMR and don't over eat on rest days. Do that and you will lose weight. In fact you kinda can't not lose weight.

[wc1934]

Have a protein shake made with almond milk post ride. Tons of protein, <200 calories, and tasty. Oh, and by the way, if you can actually average 20mph for 3hrs with climbing, that means you are in very good shape.*

*wallyman beat me to it

PLUS1
and cfox beat me to it

[WSBA Jr.]

Training w/the junior in the house, he uses a calorie tracking HR monitor. On a two hour ride, which is half hour aerobic warm up, 1 hour tear it inside out climbing and roller intervals, half hour aerobic ride home, calorie count for him was 1200. I did all the high speed pulling. For me, I need to know LT, can plot HR ranges of work. I make sure on the ride home I begin to eat a little (piece of bread w/PB and honey) and drink much of what I have along (Nuun/H2O).

This helps me flush the junk from muscles, starts recovery, and not starving when I walk in. The concept for me to lose the Christmas cookie roll is to buy time...and eat very small amounts often. Stick pretzels and whey protein gets you to the next meal. The large meals are platter size salads, w/protein and minimal carbohydrates. Then I try to make it another 2.5 hours until fruit or a small bowl of protein/vitamin cereal. Indeed, counting the calories, and relating your intake to the work done, is key. I find it must be done before racing season, body just doesn't function if you are trying to lose weight then.

[bikenut]

Not in shape? Riding 18-20 avg with some climbing in 2-3 hours ride?
Wow! All of the sudden I feel really old.

Through talking with fellow cyclists, I find some confuse the speed reading they see when they glance down at the computer with the actual ending average speed readout. Not saying this is the case but 18-20 ending ave speed with hills is exceptional.

[oldpotatoe]

Everything in sight + beer + recliner.

I've been trying this for a while. It's not necessarily working, but it's so good.

Today, warm, nice ride, 3 beers->clean bike, some Rollo bits..couch...

[potatochip]

Hard boiled eggs and some chocolate


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[Steve in SLO]

Whatever happened to good ol' Fig Newtons during and chocolate milk after?

[Ralph]

I still ride on Fig Newtons and Gatorade. But no sugar products afterward.

[hainy]

I have started doing fasting rides on my 50k ride before work as I was trying to shift a couple of kilos and it seems to work. You don't eat before hand but sports drink and water of course is allowed. Then it is toast and cereal afterwards ro refuel.

On sat 100 -150k I will eat beforehand and after a really tough ride I finish with 10 easy minutes on the rollers a can of coke and toast/peanut butter while I am stretching. This seems help recovery for sunday which is a shorter 100k more intense ride with some younger guys.

[miguel]

im doing pretty well with no eating on rides 4 hours/60 miles or less. it's early still and if you are still doing multiple 2-3hr 18-20mph(that would be 36-60 mile) rides consistently you will get faster and lose weight by june. if you are doing this to lose weight you should be trying to eat clean all the time off the bike as well. really consider cutting sugar and bad carbs.

[alessandro]

I think Tyler Hamilton was the one who said when trying to lose weight, the post ride was sparkling water and sleeping pills.

It was, taught to him by Bjarne Riis. Anyone who trained with Ferrari or Cecchini was constantly being told they were too fat. Those guys took testosterone not to build muscle but to trick their bodies while starving. Half their doping was to just keep themselves alive during their training.

Ahhh, Stackie, you are too fat. ;)
It was also Tyler who said that he needed to put a towel on his chair to eat dinner because his ass was so bony.

[dgauthier]

I'm trying to figure out what amount to eat post ride. Say I ride my usual ride of 2-3 hrs. I'm not riding hard core, not in that good of shape. Maybe 18-20 average speed with some climbing. Usually eat a banana +/- gu packet on ride.

A part of me wants to just have a cappuccino when I get home and move on with my day, and save the calories for lunch/dinner. But, the old adage about getting fuel into muscles within 30 minutes haunts me. But, then I reason that I'm not riding that hard, I'm not depleting my muscles that much.

Any thoughts?

Jon

I recommend you pick up a good book on sports nutrition. Any good book will have chapters on how to lose or gain weight as required without harming your performance. I bought this years ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Training-Nutrition-Diet-Guide-Performance/dp/1884125220/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396629272&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=training+nutrition+edmund+burke

It seems to be out of print now, but there are many good books in print to choose from.

[LesMiner]

I went on a more serious weight loss program this year to get down to a healthy weight, my BMI now is 24. During all that time I worked out 3 days a week, Monday 1.5 hrs, Wednesday 1.5 hrs, and Friday 2 hrs. I had to pay more attention to fueling before and after working out as my weight went down. I did a couple of 2 hour outdoor rides when weather and time permitted. I found unless I ate something in the second hour I would just bonk. I have been following what Chris Carmichael put in his books. Cyclists, like many on this forum, average 600 kjoules an hour so they need 120 to 180 calories for recovery. He is more on taking in carbohydrates than protein. His point is that carbohydrates are processed much more quickly than protein. Protein does need to be in one's diet. I eat more carbo before working out and a hard boiled egg just before the workout. I eat another hard boiled egg immediately after the workout and then dinner another 45 minutes or so later. That scheme seems to work.

[greenrositti]

All the stuff above...calorie defecit, lots of water, etc. etc.

Here's a big one no one has mentioned, though: get plenty of sleep!

[redir]

I don't think skipping food after a ride is a good idea. Average speed is not a very good indicator of how hard a ride is. In my neck of the woods if you are averaging 18mph on a 3 hour ride then you are definitely in good shape because you will be doing about 5k ft of climbing in that time. But in Florida? Maybe not so much.

I like a small sized lunch type meal with a bowl of ice cream after a good weekend ride.

Some studies show that snacking before dinner is a good idea because otherwise you might gorge for dinner which is bad. Drinking water is another good way to fool your body into sedation.

[shovelhd]

I'm a big believer in protein right after a race or hard training ride. I use whey, whole milk, and occasionally a scoop of ice cream. It's a lot of calories, but strength is more important to me than weight.