post-training craving for salty/fatty stuff

[latelatebloomer]

This is a little different that the other post-training question. I'm doing a long, hard indoor training twice a week. It's on spin bikes but focused on race training. I do it 'cause I like the challenge, I'm not a racer. I do chocolate soymilk for my recovery drink. But on the 1/2 hour drive home, I've started to crave, and I mean voraciously crave, salty fatty somethings such as chips or fries. Sometimes I win the battle, sometimes not. I want to be substantially lighter by the spring, so these foods are definitely WHAT NOT TO EAT. My questions are 1) What is my body really asking for? 2) What is the least harmful pacifier?

[Zen]

What your body wants or what your mind wants?
Can you take another route home and bypass Temptation?
Stick with your chocolate milk but maybe bring some trail mix to munch till you get home?

[KnottedYet]

you're hungry. You worked hard, and chocolate milk isn't enough for your body at that point.

Pack a nice healthful and filling mini-meal to eat before your drive? How about a salad? Raw veges and nice salty (not fatty) dip? Dry roasted nuts? Rice cakes and thin sliced cheese? A sandwich?

[Starfish]

Those sound like good ideas. A few, pre-measured almonds? What about a small amount of whole milk for the chocolate milk, just to get that rich smoothness & fat, but in a small amount?

Or, maybe some kind of packaged drink that also has a good helping of soluble fibre with its protein? Wonder if that might help fill you up until you got home?

Don't do what I did all spring and summer. I managed to not lose one pound, and even gain some, even doing 80 mile training rides up to 8,000 feet of climbing, in the rain. It SEEMED like I should have earned a whole pizza every Saturday after my long ride...

Speaking from experience, it is possible to gain weight, even doing long, hard workouts, including distance and intervals, eating the wrong things.

Good luck!

[RoadRaven]

Its probably the salt you are wanting after all the sweating... salty nuts are probably a good option.

[DirtDiva]

Yeah, I think it's the salt you're really after. It's pretty easy to sweat a lot at a spin class, eh... Do you drink an electrolyte drink as you spin to help replace some of the salt you're loosing? If you're not already it might help. Probably the easiest thing to help deal to the cravings though is to find something salty but lower in fat (and, let's face it, most things are lower in fat than fast food fries) to munch on after your ride. A Vegemite and cheese sandwich would be perfect.

[Thorn]

Seconding the dry roasted almonds. I get terrible "eat everything in sight" feelings after a long ride. But, if I eat a handful of almonds and some water or juice and I'm good for a couple of hours. It works so well I started to use almonds as my mid afternoon snack.

[OakLeaf]

A Vegemite and cheese sandwich would be perfect.

Perfect for what? Certainly not to eat!

[Susan126]

With all that sweating your body lost a lot of salt and electrolytes. You need to replace it and your body is telling you so. But that doesn't mean you have to replace it with fries (althought fries would work for me ). Also, with heavy fast spinning your muscles are getting quite the workout too. The muscles will need protein to rebuild and repair after a workout like that. I usually carry a pria protein bar with me when I go to the gym for a workout. It stays off the cravings until I can get home and have dinner.

Sadly as much as I love soy milk it HATES me! I get terrible lower bowel pains and other things, ahem, 10 minutes after drinking anything soy.

[smilingcat]

One quicky way of knowing if you need to replenish your electrolyte. Drink Gatorade.

If it tastes sweet, you're low on electrolyte, drink more up to date sport drink: Cytomax, Accelerade, Gu... or eat banana, orange, boiled red potato with the skin...

If it tastes salty, no need to drink sport drinks or take additional salt.

Smilingcat

[latelatebloomer]

That sweet/salty taste test is clever, I'll try it tonight. I start with a bottle of 50% gatorade and top off with water about half way through, maybe I'll bring 2 bottles and not top off. In this group we are all pouring sweat for a long time - we do a 1/2 hour intense warmup leading to low-cadence, high resistance intervals up to 9 minutes long (that's this month, next month I think we do lactose tolerance drills after warmup. I am truly depleted by the end and I think trying to drive home on the soy milk just isn't enough. (I'm not a bad person, I'm just starving!) I'll bring some salty nuts and maybe some baby carrots to crunch.

Thanks for your help, everyone. I'll let you know how it goes.

I reckon I should experiment with some better beverages, too. Maybe my trainer can hook me up with some samples.

[RoadRaven]

A Vegemite and cheese sandwich would be perfect.

Perfect for what? Certainly not to eat!

Def to eat!
Perfect choice DD!!!!
Thats what I almost always make myself when I get home on Staurdays after a race. I am so hungry by then, and its what I usually crave. I load it with waaaaay more vegemite than i would on other days...

[crazycanuck]

How about just a vegemite sandwich.

mmmmm....tasty!mmmmmm

If not, you can always try the Endura optimizer chocolate recovery drink! www.endura.com.au

c

[latelatebloomer]

Hi, everyone - I'm just back from tonight's training. I almost doubled my gatorade intake, and then had my chocolate soymilk on the way home. No uncontrollable inner wild beast demanding junk food. The gatorade tasted sweet the whole time, so I think the answer to my question is that I was quite depleted of salts.

I will experiment with better sports beverages, too. Thanks a bunch!

[RoadRaven]

I will experiment with better sports beverages, too.

How about a tablespoon of vegemite in a bottle of water, shaken not stirred