Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

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josephk86
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Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby josephk86 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:05 pm

Hi all,

Generally I eat a Banana or something while I'm cycling on longer rides to keep my energy up. As far as trying to lose weight while cycling, does eating on a ride have a (marginally) detrimental effect to the weight loss...is it better for weight loss not to eat while cycling....so you burn the fat rather than energy taken in from food?

Joe

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Addictr3
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Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby Addictr3 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:26 pm

josephk86 wrote:Hi all,

Generally I eat a Banana or something while I'm cycling on longer rides to keep my energy up. As far as trying to lose weight while cycling, does eating on a ride have a (marginally) detrimental effect to the weight loss...is it better for weight loss not to eat while cycling....so you burn the fat rather than energy taken in from food?

Joe
Hey Joseph,

Weight loss and fat loss a two different things; firstly eating over your set energy needs (calories) allows you to gain weight. Eating below your daily burn will create deficent which results in weight loss.

Eating on the bike doesnt stop fat burn nor does it increase if you dont. If you want to eat then do so, if you dont, dont. Not eating and thinking you will burn fat doesnt quite make sense. If you eat a banana and it allows you to ride longer than not eating, then eat.

Work out what you need a day to lose weight and stick to that goal. Beware of the myth and rubbish people spew when they say you need to enter the fat burning zone etc etc, ride hard, eat well and rest :)

Energy intake from food is what keeps you moving right, thus providing you in burning more calories. N
If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough.

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Zynster
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Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby Zynster » Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:51 pm

If you're going hard on the bike you will use up glycogen stores in the muscles, and when that runs out you slow down, or bonk as it's known in racing. If you are going slower you burn fat rather than glycogen, and you can go all day on fat. This the "fat burning zone" that Addictr3 is rubbishing. There's nothing mystical about it. The better your fat burning capacity, the less glycogen you're using, and the more you'll have left in the tank for the sprint. This why some cyclists are training fasted and racing loaded.

For weight loss, eating a banana will stop fat burning. The digestive system prioritises carb digestion over fat. It will give you a bit extra glycogen to replenish your muscle's supplies and hence allow you to go faster, but it will hinder fat burning until that banana is digested. My advice is to go for long slow rides (90-120min) in the morning while in a fasted state (before breakfast).

Some light reading:
http://thatpaleoguy.com/2012/02/13/more ... ce-sports/
http://waroninsulin.com/nutrition/the-i ... sis-part-i
Fausto Coppi Reparto Corse | Giant Farrago Cross

brawlo
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Location: Goulburn, NSW

Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby brawlo » Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:06 pm

The thing to remember about weight loss is that you need to have the fuel to burn to do the exercise to burn off the fat. Simply going by in<out=loss doesn't work properly. It's about eating the right stuff to give you the energy to burn off the calories and fat. I've heard many times over from people who make such a "discovery" about eating properly. They are amazed at how much they actually eat. It's about the right foods at the right times, spread throughout the day. Lots of people actually end up eating more than they used to, but just change what they eat.

Remember, eating a banana is likely a ot better than a sugar laden "health" bar or some other processed snack. Don't be too hard on yourself.

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Zynster
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Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby Zynster » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:05 pm

brawlo wrote:you need to have the fuel to burn to do the exercise to burn off the fat.
Fat is the fuel. Why do you think our bodies store fat? Every kg of fat is 9000 calories. That's a massive fuel supply we're carrying around.
Fausto Coppi Reparto Corse | Giant Farrago Cross

brawlo
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Location: Goulburn, NSW

Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby brawlo » Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:53 pm

IIRC, if you go without the nutrition and expect your body to just chew up the fat, then you will find that your body will eat into it's muscle first before going for the fat.

My wife and daughter sometimes tune into Biggest Loser and I have seen topic explained there. Trainers wailing on the contestants because they have the idea that they eat stuff all and exercise to lose weight. In fact they don't have the nutritional intake to drive the muscles to sustain the training and bomb out and flatline in weight loss.

Reduced food intake is not necessarily the answer, depending on what your intake was. Eating the right foods means a whole lot more. You can in fact eat more and consume less calories, once again depending on what you were eating beforehand.

r2160
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Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby r2160 » Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:41 pm

It is more about eating properly. I tend to take some snack bars (I like the cadel winners bars) if my ride is going to be longer than 1.5 hours and I try to eat something small every hour to keep me going.

As far as eating properly, I have been using the website www.myfitnesspal.com and recording everything I eat. It shows you what you need to be eating and what you need more and less of in order to lose weight.

I have lost 6kg since the start of february and I have noticed that my muscles recover a LOT better.

cheers
Glenn
-----------
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever" Lance Armstrong

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Addictr3
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Location: Manly, Sydney

Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby Addictr3 » Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:22 pm

Zynster wrote:If you're going hard on the bike you will use up glycogen stores in the muscles, and when that runs out you slow down, or bonk as it's known in racing. If you are going slower you burn fat rather than glycogen, and you can go all day on fat. This the "fat burning zone" that Addictr3 is rubbishing. There's nothing mystical about it. The better your fat burning capacity, the less glycogen you're using, and the more you'll have left in the tank for the sprint. This why some cyclists are training fasted and racing loaded.

For weight loss, eating a banana will stop fat burning. The digestive system prioritises carb digestion over fat. It will give you a bit extra glycogen to replenish your muscle's supplies and hence allow you to go faster, but it will hinder fat burning until that banana is digested. My advice is to go for long slow rides (90-120min) in the morning while in a fasted state (before breakfast).

Some light reading:
http://thatpaleoguy.com/2012/02/13/more ... ce-sports/
http://waroninsulin.com/nutrition/the-i ... sis-part-i
For weight loss, eating a banana will stop fat burning - wow
If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough.

Meditator
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Re: Cycling Nutrition & Weight Loss

Postby Meditator » Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:53 pm

Very easy to get confused on this topic. I am not even sure the experts are always right but this is what i am confident i understand about what htey tell us.

Carbohydrates are the ideal energy food. Carbohydrates get converted to glycogen and this is stored in the muscles for use when we need energy.
We glycogen is burnt even in ordinary activities (cause we are always using our muscles) there is a ratio of glycogen to fat being burnt at hte same time. I am not too sure what the ratio is but lets say its 90:10 with 90% being carbs and 10% being fat. This is how things normally go as we go throughout our day.

Then if we are active for a period of time, say up to an hour, the ratio gets burnt like this but of course if you are moving faster you will burn up this fuel faster.

Once we start exercising for over about an hour, the ratio changes and (it could be a gradual change like more fuel in cars) and you start burning more fat to a lesser amount of glycogen. Lets say its now 70:30.

The longer you exercise the higher the ratio of fats to carbs. So generally it is good to work physically or exercise for an extended period of time.
And as a general rule more intensive exercise will burn fast but i am not sure if the ratio changes with more intensive exercise or if its in keeping with time effect.

If you happen to run out of glycogen because you haven't eaten for a long time or you've been exercising for quite a while, then your body will start converting protein to glycogen. Its less efficient and your body may need to start melting down your muscle to make this fuel.

It is better to eat a banana than let your body start converting your muscles. Apparently there is a clue as to when you should eat with regard to glycogen. If you feel hungry you should eat. If you let yourself get really hungry before eating, then you will most likely be burning muscle at this time.

You don't talk about how long you are cycling for or what you eat. When i go on tours and cycle about 100km over a period of about 7 8 or 9 hours, I can usually eat enough at any one meal to keep me going to the next one. I don't tend to snack. I do lose weight and i do develop muscle. My meals are high carb of the complex kind. and high vegetable protein, low fat. last trip i probably should have slowed down my weight loss towards the end cause you end up with a bit of a backlash when you start losing too much weight. (i just read it was about 10% of your bodyweight). Hormones kick in and you start getting really hungry and before you know it, you've piled all the weight back on. I've done that with every trip now.

On my trip i probably should have eaten a bit more and let the weight loss go a little slower. I have heard that weight loss lasts longer when you lose weight slowly and i think this is probably true. Next tour i do i am going to eat a bit more than i usually do.

Anyway, eat the banana if you are hungry but if you aren't, don't bother. Just have a good feed before you and when you've finished have your banana a glass of milk - they say its good to replace the some of what you've just spent. so you end up with some fat burnt off but you don't eat enough to put it back on. They say eating at the end of exercise helps your recovery. if your exercise is only one or even two hours, you don't really need to eat.

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