what do you eat for breakfast and lunch?

[surgtech1956]

How are those whole wheat fig newton's????

[deedolce]

man, I should eat better. I get away with it for now.

Breakfast : poptart
Lunch: Frozen bean and meat burrito and a banana
DInners vary.

[pooks]

Perhaps i'm supposed to be shocked by what you eat, but actually I'm impressed by how little you eat. Only one poptart? LOL

[deedolce]

Yep. I never was a big eater. My family claims I used to cut rice grains in half to eat. But I can gain weight pretty darn easily. Ever since I hit my mid 40's, especially! grumble.

[teigyr]

Well, I'm not so much of a regular fig newton girl so it's hard to say. They work well for riding and I don't think they are horrible for you. Truth be told, I'd rather eat peanut butter cups

I don't really notice a difference though between the whole wheat and the regular. I am used to whole wheat; I know some people aren't and really don't like it. Costco had the WW ones so I am stocked!

[Popoki_Nui]

Wow. You folks eat a lot.

Breakfast (about 10am): ~4oz grilled beef, chicken or fish. Small chunk of cheese. Tea or decaf coffee, black.

Lunch: lunch?

Dinner (about 4pm): small mixed salad, no dressing, often with a hardboiled egg. Tea or decaf coffee, black.

Evening snack (not every night): cup of mixed nuts, or a couple cups of popcorn.

Lots of water and plain tea (black, green, herbal) in between. Ride days I'll have my morning protein in a sandwich between wholewheat bread or in a wholewheat wrap. And a juice and power bar midway thru the ride.

Not helpful for weight loss, though.

[shawnada]

You eat in one day what I eat in 1 1/2 meals. Do you feel tired all the time or do you do ok? Your carbs are next to nothing and calories and nutrients are scary low.

[Popoki_Nui]

You eat in one day what I eat in 1 1/2 meals. Do you feel tired all the time or do you do ok? Your carbs are next to nothing and calories and nutrients are scary low.

Yeah, well...it's what I have to do to keep the weight from packing on. I make sure to take a high quality women-specific miltivitamin every day, plus fish oil supplements and so on.

I used to eat most of you, but I ballooned up to 242 pounds in spite of lots cycling, hiking, walking, and generally being more active than I've been since I was a teen. Not much else I can do...

[onimity]

Wow, I am amazed at how little some of you eat!

I am not a breakfast eater but since I've been riding to work have become one.

On weekdays:

Breakfast 1: a big glass of (whole) milk and a banana/apple/etc., more if I actually feel hungry.

I ride a little over 10 miles into work, stop about 7 miles in and have a Gu or similar before the big hills begin, otherwise I am shaky and mean when I get to work!

Breakfast 2: Oatmeal, juice and anything is free for the taking in the office kitchen. Maybe a bagel, maybe a breakfast burrito, maybe just some more juice.

Snacks: I snack at my desk throughout the day; I make a habit of bringing snacks with me throughout the week so that I always have a good variety on hand. Things like: crackers, granola/yogurt, trail mix, dried figs, wasabi peas, sunflower seeds, and of course chocolate (dark). Lots of juice, lots of water.

Lunch: Sometimes I'll eat out (never fast food though), sometimes I'll pack a lunch, just depends on what's going on work-wise. If I pack a lunch it's usually leftovers or a frozen Indian entree from the health food store (convenient, but I can recognize all of the ingredients!), some sort of fruit or vegetable and a big salad.

The big snack: before the ride back home I have a big snack, and then eat some sort of energy snack as I ride, a pack of shot blocks or Sharkies fruit snacks.

I have a glass of juice and another small snack when I get home.

Then Dinner, usually cheese/crackers and salad to start, then some meat/fish with pasta/rice/bread and another veggie, squash is a favorite, or yams, or broccoli, or artichokes. I usually try to pick something local and in-season. I eat out a decent amount for dinner too, but usually the pattern is the same. I love food. I eat almost any type of cuisine and try to get a wide variety of foods in my diet.

On weekends I usually go for longer rides so I like a bigger breakfast before I head out. One of my favorite things to do is to make 'leftover breakfast burritos' Egg+cheese+tortilla+salsa+leftovers. It's amazing how good things like butternut squash or salmon can be in a breakfast burrito!

Popoki Nui, do you track the number of calories that you eat a day? I ask not because I am a calorie counter in the limiting sense, but because it seems that you are not even getting enough calories to sustain your normal (non-cycling) needs. If your caloric intake is too low the body can go into panic-mode and slow your metabolism down to a snail's pace. Not to mention that you burn muscle, etc.

I had a nutritionist put me on a really strict diet a few years back when I was having problems with hypoglycemia. She calculated (who knows how!) that I needed 1,400 calories a day. I ate precisely what she specified (3 meals, 2 snacks) and I gained 20 pounds in short order, lost my muscle tone and the energy to do even the most basic things. I decided that it wasn't working for me and ate the way I normally do. My energy came back, the weight dropped off, and all by eating more. I'm no expert, but these things aren't always totally logical or simple. If that's truly all that you are eating in the course of a day you might try seeing a Dr. that specializes in these things for some advice? We're all very different of course, but I don't think that I could ride even a mile a day eating that little.

Anne

[Raindrop]

Three mornings a week I teach early morning Spinning classes so on those mornings I eat a whole wheat tortilla with sunflower seed butter and water, and coffee.

After class and on the mornings I don't teach I have eggwhites (about a half cup) and a cup of oatmeal or whole grain cold cereal w/dried blueberries.

Mid-morning I have an apple and some nuts, or just sunflower-seeds (I'm addicted to them).

Lunch is pretty much always the same, a small or half of a yam, zapped in the microwave, with spinach and three chicken tenders (the kind you get at costco).

I'm a creature of habit who finds it easiest to eat the same things every day simply because then I know the nutritional value of my intake.

[surgtech1956]

What's sunflower seed butter?

[Zen]

Wow. You folks eat a lot.

Breakfast (about 10am): ~4oz grilled beef, chicken or fish. Small chunk of cheese. Tea or decaf coffee, black.

Lunch: lunch?

Dinner (about 4pm): small mixed salad, no dressing, often with a hardboiled egg. Tea or decaf coffee, black.

Evening snack (not every night): cup of mixed nuts, or a couple cups of popcorn.

Lots of water and plain tea (black, green, herbal) in between. Ride days I'll have my morning protein in a sandwich between wholewheat bread or in a wholewheat wrap. And a juice and power bar midway thru the ride.

Not helpful for weight loss, though.

That's not enough to eat, especially if you're trying to lose weight. Your body sees that it's not getting enough nutrients and is holding on for dear life, literally.

[GLC1968]

I'm getting some good ideas for new meals from this post! Cool!

For me, I like variety but out of ease, these are my go-to breakfasts and lunches:

B -
Protein banana nut muffins (or the pumpkin version)
or
eggs/whites, wheat english muffin, oj
or
GoLean Crunch with skim milk and fruit
or
protien waffles reheated with power butter and apple butter on them
or
oatmeal with protien powder and PB

Morning snack is usually a Kashi bar and my coffee (with skim milk).

L -
tuna with 2 cups of steamed veggies
or
salad with chicken/shrimp/or tuna on it
or
turkey bean chili with lf cheese
or
leftovers from dinner

Afternoon snack is usually a source of protein and a fruit (like grapes and slices of ham, or lf cheese and an apple)

My meals don't vary in size much, but I use my snacks to up my intake on ride days by adding extra bars, extra fruit, extra whatever...

Dinner is usually some meat on the grill and veggies, salad and a starch (potato, rice, bread, etc).

If I stick to this, I lose weight until I get to optimum weight for me, and then I maintain. Problem is, I let biking tons of miles be my excuse to eat more crap that I could possibly burn off and I gain. In the past couple of weeks, I've finally gotten back to this way of eating and I've dropped 5 lbs already (only 20 more to go!).

[Triskeliongirl]

Just curious GLC, how many calories per day do you eat when you are actively losing weight, and roughly how many miles per week are you cycling (commutes included)? I can't imagine you needing to lose another 20 lb though, you look quite lean in the pics you have posted.

[GLC1968]

I'm 5'4" and at 155 (160 two weeks ago). I'm fittest at 135. I don't think I can go lower than that without dumping muscle, so that's my goal. I've still got a ways to go!

My calories really vary a lot, but when I'm losing, I log about 1300 to 1700 calories per day. I'm not the best 'logger', so realistically add 10% to that for fudge factor. I'm probably eating more like 1450 to 1900.

I average about 120 miles a week and I do weight workouts twice a week as well or at least, that's the plan. I've really sucked about getting them in like I should.

As my milage increases (which it will as I try to commute more and train more), I'm pretty sure I'll have to up the calories. I'm trying to not get ahead of myself just yet though as I've been really inconsistant in my riding since February. What I used to find myself doing was planning to increase my eating, not get in my rides, and still ate the extra food. Not good!