eating for endurance/weight loss

[brightlamp]

I am wondering if anyone else has any advice on what to eat for endurance and still be able to loss weight. Currently I am 40lb. overweight and I bike everyday (commute to work 9 miles) and on Sunday I am doing long distance riding - current goal of increasing milage by 10 miles a week working up to 100 mile rides - this weekend I will be riding 60 miles.

I am concerned on what I should be eating to not bonk and to have energy to maintain my activity level and yet be able to drop those pounds....

many thanks.

[DeniseGoldberg]

I can't give you any direct advice, but I have two sports nutrition books that I think could be very helpful.

The first is Eat Smart, Play Hard : Customized Food Plans for All Your Sports and Fitness Pursuits by Liz Applegate, and the second is Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Third Edition by Nancy Clark. Both books include information about losing weight as well as eating to fuel your activities. And both authors are registered dieticians who are well known in the exercise world.

Information on Nancy Clark can be found at www.nancyclarkrd.com (http://www.nancyclarkrd.com/).

Information on Liz Applegate can be found at http://teaching.ucdavis.edu/nut10/applegate.htm.

[nuthatch]

I'm sort of the same riding routine you are - commuting 12 miles each weekday and long weekend rides (if the #*%@! winter will ever end). I only worry about bonking on those long weekend rides and it seems to work to eat small amounts of high energy type food spaced out during the ride along with some sort of electrolyte replacement drink, then eating SOON after finishing the ride, but just a regular lunch or dinner, not vast quantities. I was bonking when I waited until the end of the ride and then having all sorts of recovery issues if I didn't eat within that 30-45 minute window after I rode. The extra calories from the ride snacking never had any impact on the weight loss. So much depends on the thriftiness of our metabolism, though!

[mtbstarr]

This is all stuff I have gleaned from my friends, trainer, and what-not. Generally they have told me to fuel consistently throughout a ride, especially the first half of it. Anything taken in in the last 30 minutes of a ride will be for comfort only because it will hit after the ride is over. Ditto on the previous about eating right afterwards. As for the rest of the meal eating.....alot of riders stress eating a lot of food the night and the morning before hard efforts or long ones. I read in a Title 9 news letter that men will metabolize large doses over long periods of time, so carbo loading does work for them. Women will not. We are eat and use immediatly kind of beings. So, eat what you need, and fuel throughout the rides. Any extra calorie intake piles up, so the article said. I took it to heart and lost 5 pounds in just a couple of weeks.

Personally I love salads. I eat three a week for supper :) Other than that I eat six small meals/snacks throughout the day ranging from 200 to 400 calories a pop. Just my prefs.

Hope it helps.

[brightlamp]

Thanks for everyone's advice, this weekend (if the weather permits...snow in New England!) I will eat before/durring my ride. Currently I have been only taking in water, and a odawalla bar. Has anyone ever has any success talking with a sports nutritionist?

[brightlamp]

I did some looking in the web and found this great site about nutrition and athletes. Most of it has been written by Nancy Clark who was also suggested by Denise Goldberg in a previous post to mine inquiry. Thanks!

http://www.naturalstrength.com/nutrition/default.asp

[Bike Goddess]

Ms Bright lamp- See my post on weight loss help. If you can do 2 long rides on the weekend that's even better! We in California are luck to be able to ride year round (except for the rain). Kudos to you for braving your winter weather to ride to work! I am impressed!

Nancy :)