Do you use cycling to enable gastronomic excess?

[MattTuck]

Saw the below article in the WSJ today. (http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-workouts-of-two-professional-foodies-1407169529?mod=WSJ_hp_EditorsPicks)

At this point, I'm still firmly in weight loss mode. Coming up on almost 20 pounds lost this year, with 20+ to go. But I'm curious, for those who are at a weight they're happy with, what is your relationship with food like? and how does riding affect that?


When eating is a job requirement, a high-octane fitness routine is a necessity, according to Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal. The two 34-year-old New Yorkers recently left jobs as music executives to concentrate full-time on their five-year-old restaurant-review website, the Infatuation. Both run and mix in exercises to boost their flexibility and strength.

When one goes really overboard food wise, Mr. Steinthal says, "you can always run an extra mile or two in the morning."

The site, which includes an app, focuses on New York and San Francisco, and is expanding in the fall to cities including Chicago and Denver. Users search for restaurants by categories such as "date night" or "impressing out of towners." Mr. Stang says it aims to take the conversational tone of a friend who always suggests the best dish but doesn't take food too seriously.
Related Reading

How to Get Back on Track After Vacation Eating

The men try to find the balance between "eating irresponsibly" and exercise, says Mr. Stang, a former vice president of marketing at Atlantic Records. He recently started practicing yoga, while Mr. Steinthal, a former vice president of public relations at Warner Bros. Records, is a regular at spin classes.

They have incorporated running into their work, inviting users of the website to participate in group runs using the social-media hashtag "#ATHLEEEEEATS." (It's a play on an earlier hashtag, #EEEEEATS, which Mr. Stang, Mr. Steinthal and their site's readers use for food photos.) Together, the group has run two half-marathons in Brooklyn. After training sessions and races, the runners often refuel with a feast, such as margaritas and Mexican food. Plans for group indoor cycling rides at SoulCycle spin studio are also in the works, Mr. Steinthal said.

"No one wants to live a life where you don't get to eat delicious things that might not be really good for you," Mr. Stang says.
The Workout

Mr. Stang runs three or four times a week, circling the 6-mile loop in Central Park at least once each time. Now training for his second New York City Marathon, he does longer runs on weekends to build up to the November race.

Mr. Stang, who suffered a stress fracture in his tibia while training last year, two months ago started practicing yoga in hopes of preventing injury this year. He goes to a class three times a week and says it has helped him to almost touch his toes. "I'm tall and lanky, so I have to work pretty hard to stay somewhat flexible," Mr. Stang says.

Mr. Steinthal gets in at least three runs a week of 5 to 7 miles each, usually along New York's East River. A couple times a week, he'll follow the run with a session at the gym in his apartment building including planks, kettle bell lifts, and core work on an exercise ball. For each exercise, he does three sets of 10 repetitions. Sean Fitzpatrick, a college friend of Mr. Steinthal's who is a trainer, provided him with the workout and updates it periodically.

Mr. Steinthal goes to SoulCycle to spin once or twice a week. He tries never to miss the hour-long Wednesday "Warrior" class taught by Laurie Cole. "She gets your bike game together," he says.

So who's the faster runner? Mr. Stang says he's the faster of the two—but not by much, Mr. Steinthal counters, adding that Mr. Stang's legs are longer.
The Diet

Both men keep breakfast and lunch light, "because dinners tend to get heavy," Mr. Stang says. For him, breakfast might be granola, scrambled eggs, or toast with avocado.

Mr. Steinthal is a cereal fanatic and rotates Special K and Honey Bunches of Oats, among others. Lunch is usually salad or a falafel sandwich, though lately they've been taking "lunchtime excursions" to find the best tacos in the city.

When trying out a restaurant to review for the site, Mr. Steinthal says, "it's all-out gluttony." They ask the waiter for the most popular dishes and order at least a couple of appetizers, several main courses, sides and dessert, and eat everything family style. As long as it tastes great, what's on the plate gets eaten, Mr. Steinthal says.
The Gear

Both men are partial to Nike Dri-Fit shirts (about $55) and shorts for their workouts. Mr. Steinthal wears Nike sneakers and is currently wearing the brand's LunarEclipse 4 style ($135).

Mr. Stang switches brands for his feet, preferring running shoes by Saucony and socks by Feetures ($10.99), which he calls "crucial." His yoga mat cost about $30, and he pays about $120 for a month-to-month membership at ISHTA Yoga in Manhattan. Mr. Steinthal's SoulCycle classes are $34 each.
The Playlists

Mr. Stang leaves the headphones home for his runs, but Mr. Steinthal says he can't run without music. He uses the time to test options for the monthly Spotify playlists he creates for the Infatuation users. Currently in his rotation are "'90s-era punk" like Rancid and Bad Religion, electronic music from Pendulum and the Chemical Brothers, as well as music by the rapper Drake.

[ShaneAtSilca]

for those who are at a weight they're happy with, what is your relationship with food like? and how does riding affect that?

I Happen to really really like cured salted pig.
Riding helps me appear to eat less of it than I do.

[giverdada]

and i've been wondering of late about this too, especially in conjunction with the notion of athletic couch potatoes (where we justify sitting more because we just put out a big effort in our sport of choice).

i love eating. i love eating good food. i find that certain foods stick with me longer, maybe just in my head, and i try to eat fewer of those when possible. sometimes when coming back from vacation or a trip to my parents', i like to eat foods that seem to clean everything right out, like beans or many mexican-style things and indian foods. lots of rice, and i always have been on rice. that said, i don't think most of my 'binge' eating makes me ride or run any more than i usually would. i tend to do heavy eating (fish and chips, burger and fries) after a big workout, and more so in the winter than the summer. in the summer, my preferred post-workout indulgence is beer.

in terms of out and out culinary excess, i don't think we do it much in our household. it would look more like another serving of kale or extra honey in the coffee. so our household/lifestyle eating habits are already pretty 'clean', but i think we do, as family, justify any extra fat eating with how much activity we do. i took the girls (9 and 6) on a 6k walk to downtown yesterday. we had pizza and ice cream and then subwayed back. they slept well. i went for a 12k run. dinner was veggie dogs. all good.

now i'm getting hungry...

[sandyrs]

Now, take this with a grain of salt because I'm not trying to slim myself down to just skin and bones and am a cat 4 with no aspirations beyond pushing myself, looking decent, and enjoying CX racing with the occasional crit over the summer.

I'm 6'5", ~180lbs, and ride about 10 hours every week, mostly on the road. I try not to gorge myself after rides, but on a day to day basis I eat the most of any of my friends, cycling or otherwise. The way I eat doesn't feel like excess, but I'm sure it would appear so to someone with no knowledge of my exercise habits.

[ojingoh]

Cycling makes me eat less -- through a combination of:

time spent on bike means time spent out of the cookie jar
post-exercise metabolic rate bump
post-exercise appetite suppression
results beget results

[batman1425]

Not my motivation but a nice fringe benefit. I can't really eat anything I want with my current riding load, but can eat more than I would otherwise - which is nice when I feel like indulging. That said, I still like to eat good for me stuff - cycling or not.

When I was rowing in college, I could eat ANYTHING. I was eating 5-6000 calories a day to maintain weight. The hard part was eating good stuff for all those calories when your food source is the dining hall.

[Peter B]

Eat to ride.

Ride to eat.

[Seramount]

6', 150 lbs.

currently riding 125 mi/wk and swimming 10K m/week. my personal battle is to not LOSE weight.

did a 50-miler yesterday and spent the rest of the day eating almost continuously.

but, I don't consume just anything...focus on healthy, whole foods and avoid crappy, processed stuff like the plague.

[Lewis Moon]

In an article in the most recent Velo, Inigo San Millan linked overtraining to not eating enough ...I think his words were "every case".

A fine line to walk.

[Black Dog]

Having shed 30+ pounds over the last year and having always battled with weight gain....yes. I am 5'9" and I am down to the low 150's (still 5-10 pounds above my racing weight when I was cat 1/pro). I love riding and I love food. Being addicted to both. I use one addiction to help control the other. I realize that food will always be a battle and I accept that I will always be thinking about the next meal even when I am not hungry. It sucks but I rather be lean and not self conscious about excess fat than indulge my food desires. Being overweight kills my self image and I want to set a healthy examples for my young kids. I never want them to battle weight, body image, and related issues. I was chubby as a kid and cycling saved me from the path to obesity and a life lived full of self loathing over body image.

[Ti Designs]

I don't have a culinary excess, I have a riding excess. I just eat a lot to keep up...

[witcombusa]

Eat to ride.

Ride to eat.


That's my motto as well. Don't give a damn what the scale says, just how I feel.
Mileage and elevation change can be adjusted to suit but NEVER the amount of food :banana:

[josephr]

Eat to ride.

Ride to eat.

+1000000! hell yeah!!! Last thing I want to be is like LA weigh out chicken portions, etc during intensive training, etc. I watch what I eat, but if I'm out to dinner with the wife, I'm not gonna skip the ribeye for a salad!
Joe

[Black Dog]

+1000000! hell yeah!!! Last thing I want to be is like LA weigh out chicken portions, etc during intensive training, etc. I watch what I eat, but if I'm out to dinner with the wife, I'm not gonna skip the ribeye for a salad!
Joe

Exactly. Burn the calories earn the calories!!!!

[67-59]

Eat to ride.

Ride to eat.

Yep. I eat pretty healthy food most of the day - oatmeal or whole-grain, low-sugar cereals with fruit/nuts and soy milk, PB&J (organic) on whole grain bread, "real food" for dinner (lots of chicken or beef, potatoes/rice/quinoa, lots of steamed or sauteed veggies)...but all bets are off when it comes to beer and dessert. Strong (high-calorie) Belgian ales, BIG sundaes at night, cookies, pies, whatever.

I ride enough that I keep at about 150 lbs (5'9") with this routine.

[texbike]

My riding helps to counteract a prodigious consumption of Tex-Mex and a dark beer fetish. About 100 miles a week. Lot's of chips, salsa, queso, guacamole, enchiladas, and Negra Modelo in the same time period. It's a losing battle. Oh well...

Texbike

[bluesea]

I just ate 1 lb of raw yellowfin (bought for dinner), on the pretext of feeling hungry and not wanting to bonk on this afternoons 12 mi ride.

[nicrump]

you have confused "culinary" with overeating or eating excessively possibly?

Culinary=of cooking

CIA grads will not be happy.

[weehastogopee]

Great question....it definitely is a benefit...but not the total motivation of riding haha

On my bike tour it was soo awesome because my friend and I ate and ate and ate and it was totally justified because we needed the calories to fuel our riding... I actually lost weight even though we ate so much.

[SolidSnake03]

My issue is more reminding myself to eat enough and to actually take a rest day once a week. I'm a fairly young guy and highly active with a job where I'm on my feet all day. Honestly, between work and working out eating tends to get left behind sometimes.

I make a conscious effort to eat to maintain which basically means keeping myself right at the content/a tiny bit hungry line. I don't use my workouts as an excuse to eat more or anything like that, if anything, my workouts are just as a reminder that I NEED to eat a decent amount or I'll be highly compromising my recovery. If I don't eat enough my body will feed itself...by "eating" muscles since I'm about as lean as I can get <10% BF 130-135pd 5'9

I don't workout to compensate for poor eating or over eating, I work out (run, swim, bike, yoga, lifting, trail running) because I love it and with that comes the need to eat decently if I want to keep doing that.

[skijoring]

Yep. I eat pretty healthy food most of the day - oatmeal or whole-grain, low-sugar cereals with fruit/nuts and soy milk, PB&J (organic) on whole grain bread, "real food" for dinner (lots of chicken or beef, potatoes/rice/quinoa, lots of steamed or sauteed veggies)...but all bets are off when it comes to beer and dessert. Strong (high-calorie) Belgian ales, BIG sundaes at night, cookies, pies, whatever.

I ride enough that I keep at about 150 lbs (5'9") with this routine.

Aren't you the highest mileage guy on this forum-
I seem to remember 10-11K miles per year, yeah?
You can eat whatever you want...

[slidey]

Two independent processes, for me

The only coincidence comes in form of during-activity nourishment, but that's strictly water

[bcroslin]

Just ate half-a-pint of Ben and Jerry's and I'll probably eat the other half later tonight. So, that would be a yes.

[makoti]

my personal battle is to not LOSE weight...avoid crappy, processed stuff like the plague.

Well, THERE'S your problem. ;)

[witcombusa]

Just ate half-a-pint of Ben and Jerry's and I'll probably eat the other half later tonight. So, that would be a yes.


That's will power to limit yourself to one pint! Did you at least throw on some hot fudge and real whipped cream?!

[Cornfed]

... is beer "culinary"?

:)

[Tandem Rider]

... is beer "culinary"?

:)

Yup,

Probably 1/2 my calories, (love my microbrews) and unless Mrs.TR is doing the cooking, 90% of the enjoyment.

[sjbraun]

Not culinary excess, culinary enjoyment.

[MattTuck]

you have confused "culinary" with overeating or eating excessively possibly?

Culinary=of cooking

CIA grads will not be happy.

Fair enough. See the new thread title :banana:

[CunegoFan]

Stories about binge eating after workouts would be more entertaining.

[pbarry]

I just ate 1 lb of raw yellowfin (bought for dinner), on the pretext of feeling hungry and not wanting to bonk on this afternoons 12 mi ride.

Dang. Not often envious, but this made me so.

[bcroslin]

That's will power to limit yourself to one pint! Did you at least throw on some hot fudge and real whipped cream?!

It actually had fudge in it already. And little peanut butter cups. I think I need to go finish the rest now.

[fiamme red]

Freshly-baked bread (and bagels, bialys, pastries, etc.) from some of the excellent local bakeries is my indulgence, and my motivation to ride more. :)

[plattyjo]

I freelance as a food blogger in addition to my regular public media gig, so thank goodness that cycling helps me to stay trim!

[jimoots]

Day to day, I think am pretty disciplined with my food intake. Yes, I eat a lot, but I eat well, as my primary motivation around diet is eating to be able to ride at my best.

So lots of carbs, lean meats, vegetarian meals.

When I go on holidays and loosen up a little (more bad food, more booze) I definitely notice it on the scales.

A few months of good diet and regular training is easily ruined by a week away living it up drinking and eating and not exercising... can easily put on a couple of kilos in a week. Takes a lot longer than that to burn it off.

[cash05458]

I can pretty much eat what I want...this year I should hit around 10,000 k's in the vermont season...quart and a half of ice creme and a big steak nearly every night...that helps to keep me right around my optimal riding weight (I am one of those lucky enough to have trouble keeping it on)...6'0 tall, 168 to 172 or so...anything less and I lose power...the ice creme helps alot:)...I do it because I care about my sport!

[shovelhd]

No.

[Lewis Moon]

We've been preparing to move for the last month and a half so the scale has been in storage. I just weighed myself for the first time in a while. Yuck. I pretty much knew I had packed on a couple of pounds; I'd ridden myself into a spot of over training in early May and I've been resting and eating my way out of that hole since then. It's taken me a while but I finally feel like I can hammer again...and I'm up ~seven+ pounds. It hasn't hurt me on the flats. I just put up another KOM on my favorite 28 mile TT course by 30 seconds, but man am I dogging it in the hills. I need to come to grips with the fact that, at 6'5' (and 57 years old) I'll never be Nairo Quintana. I work my ass off and I can only climb to #25 in my age group on South Mountain...but I decide to hot rod it on one of the downhill segments and I'm tied for #1. Go figure.

So: to the question at hand...yes and no. Exercise is never an excuse for wretched excess, but calories out need to be balanced by calories in.
Fabu vs beer (http://youtu.be/KfYzui3nyAg)

[67-59]

Aren't you the highest mileage guy on this forum-
I seem to remember 10-11K miles per year, yeah?
You can eat whatever you want...

Did about 15K in 2012 and then 10K in 2013 due to a variety of unusual circumstances.

This year, back on course for a more usual 6K or so...but always looking for ways to get more.:)

[aramis]

6' 165 ish and don't want to lose any weight.

I ride about 10 hrs a week, and if you figure 500 calories an hour that's 5000 extra calories to make up weekly.

I hate eating, honestly. Tom me it's a pain in the ass to make/get food and a lot of stuff makes me sick. I would happily eat less if I didn't feel like crap when I do.

[Waldo]

Apparently I have been indulging in gastronomic excess disproportionately to my riding. I'm 15 lbs over my optimal riding weight, 15 lbs that I put on since December, when I had a long illness, followed by a broken wrist, and preceded in September by arrival of my son. What sort of sucks is that on Saturday I completed Mt. Tam Double Century fairly comfortably, which on some level removes incentive to lose weight.

[Brewstocker]

5'11 140#, 26yo.

Eating is a chore, I am always hungry, and have to stuff my face before I go out on a ride, otherwise I will bonk or get hunger pangs. I also have to bring a crapload of calories even for 2-3 hour rides.

That said, I love food, It just feels like I'm always worrying about being low on fuel.

When is Soylent going mainstream? I'd hop on that.

[Lewis Moon]

5'11 140#, 26yo.

Eating is a chore, I am always hungry, and have to stuff my face before I go out on a ride, otherwise I will bonk or get hunger pangs. I also have to bring a crapload of calories even for 2-3 hour rides.

That said, I love food, It just feels like I'm always worrying about being low on fuel.

When is Soylent going mainstream? I'd hop on that.

I hate you.

[MattTuck]

5'11 140#, 26yo.

Eating is a chore, I am always hungry, and have to stuff my face before I go out on a ride, otherwise I will bonk or get hunger pangs. I also have to bring a crapload of calories even for 2-3 hour rides.

That said, I love food, It just feels like I'm always worrying about being low on fuel.

When is Soylent going mainstream? I'd hop on that.

Same height. The last time I was 140, I think I was in 6th grade.

You must be a beast on the hills.

[unterhausen]

I always said that cycling is an eating disorder in disguise, and then someone coined the term "exercise bulimia" Since I started riding seriously again a few years ago, I haven't really gotten my weight down like I used to be able to do.

[Germany_chris]

Does bourbon count as gastronomic excess?

[noglider]

Please don't hate me when I say this: I've never struggled with my weight. A couple of times, maybe three, I noticed a little spare tire around my waist. I didn't like it, so I cut back on sweets or fast food. Problem solved.

This year, I'm riding a lot more than before. I don't do it to control my weight, but it does control my weight consequently. I'm interested in building strength and in a little bit of racing. This is my first year racing, and I'm 53 years old. I race most Wednesday evenings at the velodrome here in NYC this summer.

As a consequence of all my extra riding and also as a consequence of working a more physically vigorous job, I'm eating a lot more. In fact, whenever I don't feel right, it takes me a while to realize that I haven't eaten enough.

So it's not exactly accurate to say I'm riding in order to eat more, but I am riding more and eating more.

I should add that my diet has been a good diet for a long time. I eat sweets too much, but I don't eat much processed food. I cooked my own dinner tonight from whole ingredients: vegetables, shrimp, spices, polenta, an egg, and herbs. OK, maybe the polenta is considered processed, but still, I think I eat pretty well. Over the years, I've changed my diet very gradually, teaching myself to enjoy eating the things I ought to eat. It works for me.

[plattyjo]

Speaking of food and cycling, Chris King is bringing his gourmet century (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014/08/05/for-epicurean-cyclists-the-chris-king-gourmet-century-returns-to-sonoma-in-october/) back to CA after an 11-year hiatus...

[pbarry]

5'11 140#, 26yo.

Eating is a chore, I am always hungry, and have to stuff my face before I go out on a ride, otherwise I will bonk or get hunger pangs. I also have to bring a crapload of calories even for 2-3 hour rides.

That said, I love food, It just feels like I'm always worrying about being low on fuel.

When is Soylent going mainstream? I'd hop on that.

Eat more well-balanced meals, if you don't already. That means three courses at minimum, for dinner. Stuffing your face with empty carbs won't fuel serious miles. OTOH, you might have a tapeworm. ;)

[Brewstocker]

Eat more well-balanced meals, if you don't already. That means three courses at minimum, for dinner. Stuffing your face with empty carbs won't fuel serious miles. OTOH, you might have a tapeworm. ;)

I eat fairly healthy, luckily I work at a tech company that provides well-balanced meals. But when I'm on the bike I eat a lot of sugar + about 60 ounces of Gatorade per day (which reminds me I really need to buy an unsweetened electrolyte mix).

Also, I live in San Francisco, so I eat a lot of burritos.... a lot of burritos...

[MattTuck]

Speaking of food and cycling, Chris King is bringing his gourmet century (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014/08/05/for-epicurean-cyclists-the-chris-king-gourmet-century-returns-to-sonoma-in-october/) back to CA after an 11-year hiatus...

Now that sounds tasty. Thanks for posting.

There's also the farm to farm century up in Oregon, but that is more about farm fresh ingredients than haute cuisine.

[Repack Rider]

In Marin County the annual Thanksgiving Day "Appetite Seminar (http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/seminar.htm)" dates back to the mid-seventies, before the term "mountain bike" was even coined. The stated purpose of the ride was to work up an appetite (http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/seminar2.htm).

[Seramount]

I eat fairly healthy...about 60 ounces of Gatorade per day...

those two statements seem at odds...

[Brewstocker]

those two statements seem at odds...

Yeah, I definitely need a new electrolyte/calorie supplement for rides.

I do eat healthy, well-balanced meals at least two times a day though. Usually something like:
Broccoli or other veggie
quinoa, brown rice or other complex carb
Salmon, seitan/tofu, or other lean protein

And then after a ride it's usually a Super Egg Burrito with all the fixins.