Having gone for a hilly cycle once before breakfast and nearly passing out, i'd agree its better to have something. Oatmeal is always a good one. Slow release complex carbs are what you'd be looking for. A banana is a good option mid ride.
Are you eating no carbs at all? That cannot be good for your health.
Bananas for me,pretty much instant energy from them,feels like a power nap.
I take jellies like haribo or whatever else the petrol station has, with me on the MTB,and pick at them slowly rather than a banana,but I have a backpack with me then and not just a jersey so there is room for that kind of thing. You can get these things called "gels" from a bike shop,they are a little sachet of strong tasting stuff that give you a quick kick of energy,Personally I think they taste like chemicals so I stay away,but they do work
Not a lot of energy to be gotten from meats and that,good for after exercise but not great before it,fruits and other sweet things are the way to go. I'm sure someone will be able to tell you the science,because i'm just telling you what works for me.
I injured my knee in April. Long story short is I had no aerobic activity of any sort for almost 6 months and put on 7kg's hitting 101kg which for a 46 year old who is just over 6 foot tall is about 15kg overweight so I've been on phase one of the Harcombe Diet for the last two weeks and have lost 7kg. It's a no carb, no caffine, no alcohol and no sugar diet. I basically eat bacon and eggs with salad for breakfast, a tuna salad for lunch and meat/chicken/fish with veg for dinner. I can eat as much as I want but prior to my 40km hilly spin around Enniskerry today I didn't realise the importance of having some stored carbs
I felt as weak as a mouse the whole way and never got going. Everything was a slog and I was ready to lie down and sleep by the time I got home.
Having now eaten (2 steaks, + steamed veg and a fresh spicy tomato and coriander salsa washed down with 2 litres of water) I feel much better. the legs are like jelly but other than that I'm tired but fine.
I just checked out fatigue on a bike and found this article about "The Bonk" - https://www.ride25.com/cycling-blog/bonking-birds-bees.
Now I'm not saying I had a bad case of the Bonk or even experienced The Bonk but now that I know what can happen if you don't have carbs on board when heading out for a spin I'm wondering what are the "best" carbs people take on board to prepare for a spin and how much do you need to take on? In order to stick with the diet as much as possible whilst still being able to get out for a safe spin I'd rather take on just enough carbs to fuel a 2-3 hour spin via natural sources such as a banana if possible rather than a plate of white pasta.
Any tips/suggestions?
It takes the body some time to adjust to call on stored fats rather than more accessible sugars and fats. Be careful not to upset this adjustment too soon by 'feeding' it with carbs, especially sugars. Some carb supplement is necessary for moderate efforts over 90 min., but avoid gels etc like the plague.
Consider keeping your spins under 2 hrs, ride easy, stick to your low carb diet and give the body time to adapt. (When well adjusted some ultra athletes can do huge performances on stored fat as opposed to carb fuelling)
Porridge with soy milk, scrambled eggs on toast and black coffee. You shouldn't need to bring anything after that breakfast for 3 hours plus, but a banana would be good just in case.
Carbs are neccessary for cardio work especially at this time of year. High fat low carb diets like you mentioned will take a while to adapt to, and IMO its not worth it if you cycle regularly, unless you need to avoid sugar for some reason.
Phase one of The Harcombe Diet (quick summary here http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/539591/the-harcombe-diet) is about hitting the detox reset button and rapid weight loss for between 5 days and a few weeks depending on your circumstances and your target weight loss so there are absolutely no carbs in phase one and I'm currently in phase one but will be moving to phase two Monday week which re-introduces limited amounts of carbs and dairy including cheese etc. the idea of phase two is to monitor the re-introduction of things in a structured manner to see if some food elements have a disproportionate effect on weight e.g. bread might lead to a lot of bloating and weight gain so you learn what to limit.
There will be carbs in phase two so hopefully I'll plan my carbs to be pre physical activity.
Phase 3 then is about living normally within the guidlines of the diet so no mixing carbs and protein, if you want carbs have a meal of carbs with veg/salad/tomato sauce etc but no meat and similarly if you want a big feck off steak knock yourself out but don't eat any carbs with the meal. Basically keep carbs and protein separated, cut down the alcohol, stay away from added sugar and don't eat processed food if at all possible.
Porridge next weekend before my spins and bring a banana sounds like a plan.
Thanks.
Your 6 months scratching might have more to do with your energy levels than your diet.
Depending on terrain, speed, weight etc you didn't burn anymore than 1000 cals, probably not much with 800 cals.
Your 15kgs of excess fat is 120,000 calories or so, but it can take time, as HiHo says, to adapt your body to do that. Even for an average athlete 100km before breakfast isn't difficult with adaptation.
In practice have a coffee, hop on bike without breakfast, plan a shortish ride and throw two bannans into jersey in case of bonk but try get home without it.
BTW one or two ponds a week is probably more sustainable in the long run; a lot of early weight loss on low carb is fluid. Whatever diet says keep fibre high, veg and fruit, and add a little salt if eating mainly whole foods
Thanks lads, some great advice.
Off to bed for a well earned sleep!!
Yeah, 6 months of no exercise and surely the muscles won't be nearly as strong as they used to be. Would more cycling to build back the muscles not be a good solution?
This, stated this simplistically, is just not the case - maybe try to get some expert advice give the diet oath you have chosen.
I was referring to complex carbs such as oats, and that cycling this time of year requires more calories.
Has the lady who wrote this Harcombe Diet book any qualifications in nutrition or food science??... Its Madness following diets that are written by unqualified people, also its a weight loss diet whereas nutrition for sport or cycling should be supporting the workloads and recovery required..
The Harcombe Diet is a diet which set out to answer the age long conundrum of why we have such an obesity problem in the UK, when all everybody wants is to be slim.
Written by a lady who struggled for years with unworkable diets and food cravings (sound familiar?),
Read more at http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/539591/the-harcombe-diet#6LuKkBthp7hoaUQr.99
I started back exercising in October doing a combination of gym (elliptical trainer and specific weights to build up my left leg) plus weekend spins on the bike and all that was fine. It was just yesterday which was the fist spin I went for after starting the Harcombe Diet almost two weeks earlier that knackered me and I realise now the reason is because with no carb intake for 12 days I couldn't produce the normal levels of energy to get through.
BTW, this is what breakfast looks like on this diet - pretty nice and filling actually
OP 7kgs in two weeks is probably mainly fluid rather than 7kgs of fat.
Harcombe sounds like a repackaged Atkins diet; rather than reinventing the wheel have a read of where people fall down on such diets. Two pretty decent sites which might be helpful
http://simplesciencefitness.com/
http://sigmanutrition.com/
You might never have a lot of energy on your diet ot you might adapt well; it doesn't suit a lot of people. If it does suit you it'll take you time to adapt. Either way I wouldn't be sticking rigidly to some diet if I didn't feel well on it or felt listless.
Bacon and eggs is fine but you'd probably do better with way more veg on that plate and less bacon
Op, the thread isn't about the diet but just be careful with it, as Ford2600 said it sounds like Atkins, I did Atkins for the guts of 18 months, rapid weight loss for a while, was great, but zero energy with no carbs, I suffered every time I played football and in the end I ended up putting on a lot of the weight again.
The only thing I found good was just watching what I ate then, all in moderation of course, sugar been cut out alone for you could cut your weight over a few months and good cross training and the bike of course.
No point in dieting if you can't exercise right and you need to carb up probably the day before and the morning of a long cycle, the breakfast you have there won't give you the energy you need and could cause more damage than help.
You've made a great start with that loss but just be careful with it.
Gluck
Hi guys,
I injured my knee in April. Long story short is I had no aerobic activity of any sort for almost 6 months and put on 7kg's hitting 101kg which for a 46 year old who is just over 6 foot tall is about 15kg overweight so I've been on phase one of the Harcombe Diet for the last two weeks and have lost 7kg. It's a no carb, no caffine, no alcohol and no sugar diet. I basically eat bacon and eggs with salad for breakfast, a tuna salad for lunch and meat/chicken/fish with veg for dinner. I can eat as much as I want but prior to my 40km hilly spin around Enniskerry today I didn't realise the importance of having some stored carbs
I felt as weak as a mouse the whole way and never got going. Everything was a slog and I was ready to lie down and sleep by the time I got home.
Having now eaten (2 steaks, + steamed veg and a fresh spicy tomato and coriander salsa washed down with 2 litres of water) I feel much better. the legs are like jelly but other than that I'm tired but fine.
I just checked out fatigue on a bike and found this article about "The Bonk" - https://www.ride25.com/cycling-blog/bonking-birds-bees.
Now I'm not saying I had a bad case of the Bonk or even experienced The Bonk but now that I know what can happen if you don't have carbs on board when heading out for a spin I'm wondering what are the "best" carbs people take on board to prepare for a spin and how much do you need to take on? In order to stick with the diet as much as possible whilst still being able to get out for a safe spin I'd rather take on just enough carbs to fuel a 2-3 hour spin via natural sources such as a banana if possible rather than a plate of white pasta.
Any tips/suggestions?