Gaining weight after a long ride?

[shootingstar]

Seems my eating habits for cycling have changed over the years.

10 years ago, I used to cycle for 15-20 kms. with only 1 c. of juice or milk before eating something more.

Now for breakfast, I have 1/2 -1 c. of milky oatmeal and fruit or tea. Cycle fine for up to approx. 35 kms. which includes several long hills. Then I must eat something like a small bun or pastry or fruit plus drink something (coffee, natural juice). Before continuing onward for another 35-40 kms. After this segment must eat some more, approx. same amount of food as before or abit less. Depends on immediate availability. So a 75-100 kms. ride does mean about 3 little different snack times, with 1 of them being almost a light lunch-size. If I know I am starting off a long ride 4-6 hrs. long, that will not give me enough stopping time or there just won't be enough places to get proper food along the way, then I will eat a bigger breakfast. With 1/2-1 hr. pause afterwards before starting off on bike.

But I don't have any of the sport drinks, bars. Really, it's pretty rare for me to buy and carry granola bars around.

And I don't eat anything while I'm biking. I prefer not to. Would like to digest my food properly off-bike.

If it's cold weather, ie. today was several degrees F below freezing, then tend to eat abit more for breakfast with some warm food in tummy.

[Veronica]

Well, gee I guess my body knew what it was doing.

Sustained energy for breakfast... yummy.

Veronica

[ny biker]

Most of the time, my pre-ride breakfast is Eggo nutri-grain waffles. Lots of carbs, not too heavy, not a lot of fiber to cause GI issues.

For longer rides, I bring 1 packet of gu per 10 miles, plus 1 for good luck (I usually can't tolerate solid food during a ride.). For rides longer than 2 hours, I have one 20 oz. bottle of gatorade, otherwise I drink water. For really long rides, I have 2 bottles of gatorade plus water.

I read Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook back in 2001, and used that as a starting point for figuring out what and how much to eat.

Immediately post-ride, I drink orange juice. Other post-ride nutrition varies depending on where I am (home or in a parking lot somewhere), but I try to lean towards a mix of carbs and protein with not too much fat. Smoothies, cereal with milk, or a cheese sandwich are good. After a really hard ride I'll have Kashi Heart to Heart cereal, which has lots of antioxidants.

If I ride 60 miles or more, I treat myself to dinner at Five Guys (awesome cheeseburgers and fries).

By the way, re: Hammergel or other gel for breakfast, I used to know a guy who did lots of inline skating. For his pre-skate breakfast, he put vanilla gu in his coffee.

[shootingstar]

Dr. Misner suggests the athlete “leave
three hours minimum to digest foods
eaten at breakfast. After breakfast,
drink 10-12 ounces of fluid each hour
up to 30 minutes prior to the start
(24-30 ounces total fluid intake).”

I'm still trying to digest this observation. Presumably he means the calorie expenditure from that breakfast will occur approx. 3 hrs. after it's been eaten.

I consider myself lucky to have at least half hr. rest time after breakfast before jumping onto bike.

[OakLeaf]

Drifting away...

Maybe it's menopause, but I'm finding I need to eat on a ride now, which I never needed to before. Otherwise I'm toast after an hour and a half of hill riding, or two hours pacelining. IF I have a nice BIG bowl of brown rice about four hours before the ride, I won't need to eat on a three-hour ride; otherwise, I have to eat.

I'm new to longer runs, but I'm definitely finding that I do better on runs over 1h15m if I take in calories. So far I've done fine with plain sugar plus electrolytes on runs up to 2 hours. Michele, I could only wish to run 8 mph over a long run! Heck, I could only wish to run 8 mph for a 5K.

[shootingstar]

Drifting away...

Maybe it's menopause, but I'm finding I need to eat on a ride now, which I never needed to before. Otherwise I'm toast after an hour and a half of hill riding, or two hours pacelining. IF I have a nice BIG bowl of brown rice about four hours before the ride, I won't need to eat on a three-hour ride; otherwise, I have to eat.

Gee, in the last few years, the only time I eat any big bowl of rice is for supper. Even then, I have to be abit careful of spiking my sugar levels at the wrong time of day. It's very rare that I have that type of meal for lunch anymore. Would you be eating this brown rice bowl for lunch or breakfast??? for a ride.

And forget about rice congee for breakfast (which I find bland). I'm too North American for my breakfasts but I suppose I would if no choice, if I travelled around in Asia. This is another reason I don't want to rely heavily on sport gels, drinks....a person must be able to sustain themselves...with local or the least processed food wherever worldwide and at home, while cycling on decent distances.

[beccaB]

To whomever was asking about Zone- my husband did that when he was training for triathlons and it seems very sensible. I would stick to real food though, and not the Zone bars or whatever. I think he had to eat on schedule and it was a lot of work to prepare the food and have the right stuff purchased from the grocery store-but I was thinking about that. An analogy maybe-If I bought bad gas from a gas station and my car always ran badly every time I filled up, I would not buy my gas from there anymore. I guess that translates to me putting the right things in my body with thought and consideration.

[OakLeaf]

Would you be eating this brown rice bowl for lunch or breakfast??? for a ride.

A late lunch, before an evening ride. That's why it really takes an effort, because it's all about the timing! I haven't found anything else that gives me the same sustained energy.