What did you eat today?

[Susan Otcenas]

How you do any physical activity on just a banana is beyond me.

They are big bananas. Seriously, though, a banana is ~ 100 calories and digests pretty quickly. So, it's enough to get me through the swim. I figure I probably burn 300 calories in an hour of swimming. I'm usually hungry by the time I'm done, though, so I have to have something else before I can run. Sometimes I have a Gu instead, which is also 100 calories and is less likely to sit in my stomach. If I were going to do a longer run or a more intense run (my runs are very slow/low HR right now), I would do the Gu for sure, supplementing every 30-45 minutes *during* the run with another Gu. On *really* long runs (over 1:30 or so) I have a GU every 30 minutes. That's only 200 calories in per hour, and I burn 660 per hour at my aerobic threshold HR of 143, which is where I'm doing most of my training right now.

Finding the right balance of consuming enough calories to fuel the workouts, without eating *so* much that I either a) get a cramp or b) don't lose any weight, is a challenge. Right now I have "a"pretty well dialed but am struggling with "b". I'm down 7-8 pounds since the beginning of the year, but still have 8 more to go before getting back to my race weight. Mostly because I'm always hungry and sometimes make poor choices instead of good choices!

Speaking of which, I'd best get off the computer and head home to make that chicken breast NOW before I get ravenous. Otherwise, I'll end up deciding it's too much work/takes too much time and go out to eat instead.

[Owlie]

They are big bananas. Seriously, though, a banana is ~ 100 calories and digests pretty quickly. So, it's enough to get me through the swim. I figure I probably burn 300 calories in an hour of swimming. I'm usually hungry by the time I'm done, though, so I have to have something else before I can run. Sometimes I have a Gu instead, which is also 100 calories and is less likely to sit in my stomach. If I were going to do a longer run or a more intense run (my runs are very slow/low HR right now), I would do the Gu for sure, supplementing every 30-45 minutes *during* the run with another Gu. On *really* long runs (over 1:30 or so) I have a GU every 30 minutes. That's only 200 calories in per hour, and I burn 660 per hour at my aerobic threshold HR of 143, which is where I'm doing most of my training right now.

Finding the right balance of consuming enough calories to fuel the workouts, without eating *so* much that I either a) get a cramp or b) don't lose any weight, is a challenge. Right now I have "a"pretty well dialed but am struggling with "b". I'm down 7-8 pounds since the beginning of the year, but still have 8 more to go before getting back to my race weight. Mostly because I'm always hungry and sometimes make poor choices instead of good choices!

Speaking of which, I'd best get off the computer and head home to make that chicken breast NOW before I get ravenous. Otherwise, I'll end up deciding it's too much work/takes too much time and go out to eat instead.

See, I really need protein if I'm going to do working out/riding/whatever. Fruit alone is gone in 5 minutes. So I can't fathom just a banana. A banana and two slices of bacon and a piece of toast (with sufficient time to digest), sure. On the the other hand, I can't eat much early in the morning.

[GLC1968]

. Otherwise, I'll end up deciding it's too much work/takes too much time and go out to eat instead.

Story of my life and EXACTLY the reason I struggle with losing weight!

When we cook at home, I lose. When we don't, I don't. Simple, right? Too bad simple does not equal easy, huh?

Today was a crazy food day as I was off and had about a thousand errands to run.

B: 1 cups of strawberries and half a container of plain greek yogurt

Then nothing until 1 pm when I was starving and broke down and bought Wendy's fries and a diet coke. Then had a coffee from starbucks with half n half in it.

D: sauteed sausage, cabbage and onions - delicious!
S: more fresh strawberries (bought a huge container at Costco to use up!)

[spokewench]

B: 1 piece wg toast 1 egg, coffee oj
L: small helping of au gratin potatoes
S: 2 pieces of cheddar cheese
D: cooked a bunch of beef taco meat (will freeze some); had two tacos, rice, whole pinto beans, 1 beer

[limewave]

Today is 4.5 hours on the bike . . . and things have changed. All of them will be on the trail

B: Eggs and Ezekiel Toast
S: Full bowl of oats w/ PB & Cranberries
L: UltraMeal Shake w/ Banana, Big Salad
S: (Pre-Ride) Power Smoothie--frzn spinach, blueberries, raspberries, Endura, Phytoganix
Ride: Endura, Salted Sweet Potato Chunks, Homemade Luna Bars, Whey protein, Water
PostRide: Veggie Omelette, Cinnamon raisin toast w/ Sunbutter

If I can stomach it today: greek yogurt and granola

If I am able to eat all of this, it's 2000 calories. Since I won't get done with my ride until around 8PM and will be eating dinner at 8:30, I don't want to eat too much before bed and get into a snacking black-hole. I'm hoping to eat dinner, soak in the tub for a few minutes and go to bed. I can eat a big, nourishing breakfast in the morning

[Catrin]

Limewave - have fun, sounds awesome!

[Reesha]

Today is 4.5 hours on the bike . . . and things have changed. All of them will be on the trail

B: Eggs and Ezekiel Toast
S: Full bowl of oats w/ PB & Cranberries
L: UltraMeal Shake w/ Banana, Big Salad
S: (Pre-Ride) Power Smoothie--frzn spinach, blueberries, raspberries, Endura, Phytoganix
Ride: Endura, Salted Sweet Potato Chunks, Homemade Luna Bars, Whey protein, Water
PostRide: Veggie Omelette, Cinnamon raisin toast w/ Sunbutter

If I can stomach it today: greek yogurt and granola

If I am able to eat all of this, it's 2000 calories. Since I won't get done with my ride until around 8PM and will be eating dinner at 8:30, I don't want to eat too much before bed and get into a snacking black-hole. I'm hoping to eat dinner, soak in the tub for a few minutes and go to bed. I can eat a big, nourishing breakfast in the morning

How do you prep the sweet potato chunks for travel?

[limewave]

How do you prep the sweet potato chunks for travel?

Not sure yet, that is my task for this morning. I'm thinking about microwaving the sweet potato and then smashing it with a fork and mixing in salt. Then rolling the potato smush into bite-size balls.

[Reesha]

I just ate a microwaved sweet potato

[Catrin]

Not sure yet, that is my task for this morning. I'm thinking about microwaving the sweet potato and then smashing it with a fork and mixing in salt. Then rolling the potato smush into bite-size balls.

I will be curious to hear how this works for you. I would like to get away a bit from energy bars this year - not entirely but add a few more real food choices on the bike. Also curious to hear how the liquid nutrition works for you as well - I suspect that I may need to do a bit more of this as well to get enough calories on long ride days.

[solobiker]

B: Turkey sausage and an apple

S: A few almonds

L: Leftover turkey from Easter and some veggies

S: Pretzels and another apple

D: I am making a Thai recipe with rice, chinese sausage, chopped up veggies, and a variety of spice/sauces. yummm Garlic and serrano peppers.

[Crankin]

A few almonds before circuit training class that whipped my azz
B: coffee, egg white omelette with cheddar and green chili salsa, 2 pieces turkey bacon, orange, handful of almonds and 2 dried apricots (I was still starving)
L: low fat cottage cheese with blueberries, almonds, cranberries, an apple
S: more nuts and cranberries
D: pork chop (the thick kind... DH made dinner), combo of zucchini, onions, mushrooms in a vinaigrette sauce, 2 pieces dark chocolate, glass of red wine

[limewave]

Yesterday I mashed up microwaved sweet potato (no skin). I added salt, ground oatmeal, and dried basil. I've been trying to think of something savory to eat for my endurance rides. Also, I'm trying to avoid packaged gels and goos that may have sugar. In an old thread some of us discussed losing focus and feeling foggy while riding single track and we concluded that it was probably caused from a sugar crash.

I rolled the smashed potato into bite-size balls and put them in paper candy wraps inside a ziploc bag. The potato was too moist for the paper, next time I'll use foil or plastic. The potato was very moist and easy to swallow which I liked. After riding for 3-4 hours, it can be hard to chew.

I alternated sweet potato ball and homemade min luna bars every 45 minutes and supplemented with a water bottle of endura. My goal was to take in approx 130 calories every hour.

Even though my pace was slower than I liked, I had a good ride. I felt focused, never felt too fatigued, and was able to ride aggressively (out of the saddle for corners, technical sections, etc) up to the very end.

So far so good . . .
If anyone is interested in reading about my first 4-hour ride, I'm going to write a post for my blog later today.

[solobiker]

I eat pretty well for the most part, although today I made some poor choices...jasmin rice meal (homemade), some chocolate and some kashi cereal as a snack. My dinner was good ( Steak with some veggies). It is frustrating though because DH is sitting right across from me know eating a whole bag of tostito chips right after dinner. He is a skinny guy, 5' 10" and weighs about 140#. He can eat and drink whatever he wants and does not exercise except on the weekends and even then it is not very much. Just had to whine about it. Sorry Just frustrating because I eat far better then he does and I do far more exrcise...including at work as I am a therapist so I am on my feet all day and he has a desk job. I am happy he can stay trim...just wish I could eating the way he does.

[Crankin]

I'm eating like a normal person this weekend, I think because I am glad Passover is over.
B: 4 slices low salt turkey rolled up with mayo, bowl of Irish oatmeal with blueberries, coffee
L: in the middle of a 53 mile ride, turkey and veggie whole wheat wrap. During the ride, I also had a Luna Bar and 1.5 bottles of Nuun and half a bottle of plain water.
S: a couple of pieces of Machengo cheese and 4 ww pita rounds
D: this is where I went a little overboard. We went to an upscale Mexican restaurant where I had a glass of red wine, salsa and a few chips and home made guacamole, which I mostly ate with my fork. Main course carne asada, which was just a piece of skirt steak and beans, and veggies. I had about2/3 of the steak. Then, we went to an ice cream place, where I had a kiddie sized cup of chocolate ripple custard.