Nutrigrain v Powerbar gels

Caroline_ie

Hi People - Since we are in a great fitness tips mood ... here are 2 options I want your opinion on ...

Nutrigrain elevenses V Power bar gels -

I am trying to lose 10lbs myself and I think I could take more advantage of the long cycles and eat less crap to keep me going. I was looking at the amount of Fat in an elevenses and ordered a 24 pack on Powerbar gels to try... as there is a 0 fat content. My logic is ... on a saturday, we'd be stopping for food half way somehwre for a sandwitch, so I would eat solid food anyway. But the gels could be a good alternative to the 'richness' ( yet yummyness ) of the elevenses


What do you people think ...?

Elevenses:


Powerbars:

tunney

Fat doesn't make you fat you know.

mloc123

Fat isn't bad as such tho', and its important to get enough fat in your diet. 4g and 0.45 saturates isn't huge so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would (and do) concentrate more on overall calories.

Lumen

Calories is calories. I'd go for whatever is tastier and easiest on the stomach.

Alternatively, Alli is on sale at the chemist round the corner. The treatment effects would ensure you had a table to yourself at Laragh.

Caroline_ie

tunney wrote: »

Fat doesn't make you fat you know.

lol :pac:
I know but I just wan to avoid eating useless calories -
I lost 30lbs a few years ago calories counting, but wasn't doing any sport and especially no endurance things at all.

Caroline_ie

you guys are taking the piss ...

Nietzschean

might be a better idea to avoid that post cycle Indian........ ?

Nietzschean

Lumen wrote: »

Calories is calories.

thats true but i'd be curious aswell, given we are mainly trying to avoid a boink and stay on a sugar rush while cycling during a cycle is there any advantage to fat? if you have a pure carb intake will whatever fat you might have gotten from the food be taken from the onboard stores?

mloc123

Fat isn't useless tho. I would concentrate on Mon-Fri calorie defecit and for long weekend spins eat what you use. Worked well enough for me, down 5 stone since october.

ROK ON

I would be very interested in seeing where this is going.

In the past year I have lost 30lbs, with no real change to diet, just a very significant increas in cycling. My weight has now stayed rougly the same since Christmas, so cyclig alone is now unlikely to shift any more weight.

I would like to lose maybe another 21lbs in the next year (but for it to stay off), but I want to balance that with my enjoyable lifestyle, and not deny myself lifes little pleasure completely.

So replacing useless calories but retaining taste would be very very important for me.

Caroline_ie

Nietzschean wrote: »

might be a better idea to avoid that post cycle Indian........ ?

It's not the 'indian' itself it's the amount of indian on the plate.

ROK ON

mloc123 wrote: »

Fat isn't useless tho. I would concentrate on Mon-Fri calorie defecit and for long weekend spins eat what you use. Worked well enough for me, down 5 stone since october.

Were you the guy cycling with me toward Donard. If so, fair play to you.
Can you go into more detail about what you consumed before and after the 5st weigh loss.

Lumen

In all seriousness, the last thing you want on a 100+km ride is to be fighting an energy defecit. Diet off the bike, not on it.

If you reduce you calorie intake you may well increase your recovery times. I don't know that there is any way around this, other than doing a Lance/Blorg and weighing/spreadsheeting everything that goes into your mouth.

If I wanted to lose more weight, I'd eat regular small portions and ride hardish for 30-45 minutes every morning and evening. That way you'll be constantly refuelling but hopefully never bonk.

Become tolerant of feeling hungry. It's not necessary if you eat properly, but it feels good.

lukester

mloc123 wrote: »

Fat isn't useless tho. I would concentrate on Mon-Fri calorie defecit and for long weekend spins eat what you use. Worked well enough for me, down 5 stone since october.

5 stone, that's impressive.

@Caroline, on the bars, I'd also focus more on the mon-fri foods.

I know when I'm actively trying to drop a few pounds, I'm pretty strict about what I eat, pretty much all low GI stuff. (The very first time I tried a low GI approach, I shifted a couple of stone with very little exercise.)

Also during those phases, on the bike I try to eat as little as I can while avoiding loss of energy. Obviously this depends on the intensity, and listening to what the body wants. On a longish, say 4 hour spin, I'd try and eat very little, if anything, during the first 2 hours, then I'd have lunch, and continue the spin after.

Another tip I used earlier this year was to go for a short spin fasted, i.e. without breakfast, I was doing about an hour before work 3 times a week. This apparently kickstarts the body's use of fat as a fuel.

ROK ON

Lumen wrote: »

Become tolerant of feeling hungry. It's not necessary if you eat properly, but it feels good.

Sorry for pedanticism, what feels good, eating well or hunger tolerance?
I can't understand how hunger tolerance would feel good, then I have never tried it.

Nietzschean

ROK ON wrote: »

I can't understand how hunger tolerance would feel good, then I have never tried it.

you don't notice it really after a while, and then you loose weight so feel good! only lost 3.6 stone since october myself, nice work mloc, 5 is very impressive!

ROK ON

@Niet: Well done ( I feel sort of a loser now for losing only 2st). Again, what changed in terms of diet, or was it very little and just the bike?

Lumen

ROK ON wrote: »

I can't understand how hunger tolerance would feel good, then I have never tried it.

It feels good because you are achieving something important for yourself, in the same way as having tired legs after a hard cycle.

Fasting.

"Fasting for religious and spiritual reasons has been a part of human custom since before written history."

What were you doing last Sunday?

FrankGrimes

Hey Caroline, there's some really excellent info on weight loss over at the Fitness forum. I lost 7kg in 6 weeks by broadly (not religiously) sticking to its guidelines with a roughly 40% protein 40% carbs 20% fat diet (agree that fat in itself is not the biggest challenge -its generally too much carbs), though I was doing serious boxing training at the time.

This post and this one cover most of the main points.

On training cycles I made a concious effort to cut down my intake. On a 100km ride I'll now generally eat one granola bar (mainly cos I like em and they feel substantial and I guess they take a bit longer than Nutrigrains to break down, totally unscientific though), 750ml of carb drink, 750ml of water and maybe one other bar depending on how I'm feeling.

For an event like the W200 it was a different story though. I don't like the Power gels or jellies as I feel they give too sudden a boost followed by a lull or even a crash. Tried Perpetuem powder and Roctane gels during the W200 and they really did a great job as they are both designed for ultra endurance events and give a delayed slower release.

I'm gonna look up prices for both online and will probably buy a chunk of each to have for furture events and as backup in case needed on training rides. Will post back with what I find.

mloc123

Will post more detail this evening but basically..

Before:

Eat anything

After:

2000 Calories a day and started running aswell as cycling.

Nietzschean

ROK ON wrote: »

@Niet: Well done ( I feel sort of a loser now for losing only 2st). Again, what changed in terms of diet, or was it very little and just the bike?

thanks

nothing too special really eating wise, just eliminated all junk food. wasn't doing much cycling at the time(only got a road bike 1.5mts ago...) so just gym 5/6 days a week for 2 - 3 hrs at a time.... so unlike most other people's weight loss thing after a month i was eating more than before! (just no junk or alcohol)

ROK ON

Lumen wrote: »

It feels good because you are achieving something important for yourself, in the same way as having tired legs after a hard cycle.

Fasting.

"Fasting for religious and spiritual reasons has been a part of human custom since before written history."

What were you doing last Sunday?

I considered that. I actually ate significantly less last Sunday than I normally would, and apparently burned 8500 calories. Small breakfast and a banana. A few sandwiches, 3 granola bars, a bar of chocolate and those horrible chips etc back at UCD.
When I got home I felt sick. Ate like a pig yday (first full Irish brekkie in 4 months - felt great).

I can get what people are saying, but I want a balance. I have a goal to lose more weight, but want to do it in a way that is in someway comaptable with my desired lifestle choice as a sybarite.

For example, what did the folk who lost all the weight cut out. Do you eat chesse's, red meat, chocolate? Did your portion size fall, if so, by how much? I just get a horrible impression that weight loss at a certain stage is all about bland lifeless steamed food, and for me, life is just too short for that.

ROK ON

Thanks Niet and MLOC.

So would you say that counting calories was more important than what you ate (excluding junk).

Am I deluding myself thinking that I can tuck into a nice steak, but a much smaller steak. Or is it a combo of calories and what you eat (excluding junk food, as I am taking that not eating junk is just a given).

lukester

ROK ON wrote: »

So would you say that counting calories was more important than what you ate (excluding junk).

From my experience, what I ate was much more important than the specific amount of calories. I lost 2 stone a few years back and never once counted a calorie.

Obviously, there is a basic calorific requirement and if you burn more than you consume, your weight will start to decrease. But if you eat foods that convert more slowly to sugar, you will see a similar benefit, and you don't need to go hungry.

The simplest approach I found was the South Beach diet, which was devised by a cardiologist for heart patients, nothing to do with weight loss but healthier hearts. He noticed they were losing weight as a side effect.

Nothing wrong with eating steak by the way, especially if it's good, lean steak

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

I can get what people are saying, but I want a balance. I have a goal to lose more weight, but want to do it in a way that is in someway comaptable with my desired lifestle choice as a sybarite.

For example, what did the folk who lost all the weight cut out. Do you eat chesse's, red meat, chocolate? Did your portion size fall, if so, by how much? I just get a horrible impression that weight loss at a certain stage is all about bland lifeless steamed food, and for me, life is just too short for that.

ROK ON wrote: »

Thanks Niet and MLOC.

So would you say that counting calories was more important than what you ate (excluding junk).

Am I deluding myself thinking that I can tuck into a nice steak, but a much smaller steak. Or is it a combo of calories and what you eat (excluding junk food, as I am taking that not eating junk is just a given).

I think that counting calories is the way to go, along with trying to have as balanced a diet as possible (I'm not expert mind). Cut out on the junk food and processed food -if you want a steak, have one, but look at portion sizes, and have plenty of veggies with it -steamed veg is a big favourite of mine, and I don't find it lifeless at all -and not too many potatoes.

less calories will equal weight loss

Jawgap

I'd be part of the 5st Belly Off club too.

I didn't consciously change what I eat - but I found that as I upped my miles on the bike and the frequency with which I went cycling my diet naturally shifted.

I think it also helped that I lived in Rathfarnham at the time and a winter's afternoon cycling up the hill and against the wind isn't a whole lot of fun with a roll, a packet crisps, a chicken pie and a 500ml Club Orange sloshing around.

The fitter I got the more I've wanted to cycle, so it didn't take long for the Friday Night takeaway to be dropped (in favour of a Saturday night one!) because to get a spin in on the weekend I had to be up, out and back before the kids wanted their brekkie.

Only in the last few months as the spins have got longer and longer have I started to consciously think about diet. I also have about one last stone to go, then I'll be satisfied.

In respect of on the bike snacks, I eat my own home granola - very satisfying on a variety of levels!

Aside from that I mostly eat fruit as snacks, and treats are what I have after the big spins. I find that pizza makes a great motivator for the last 10 to 20 km!!!

EDIT - I never really counted calories, but as a rule I always tried to go to bed hungry!

Raam

In respect of on the bike snacks, I eat my own home granola - very satisfying on a variety of levels!

Is that something you make yourself?

Jawgap

Raam wrote: »

Is that something you make yourself?

F^&K!!!!

You're obviously as quick on the board as you are on the bike:)

Yes my home is made of granola - it's all I could afford during the Celtic Tiger and now with the recession we're having to eat it to stay alive!!!

Raam

Jawgap wrote: »

F^&K!!!!

You're obviously as quick on the board as you are on the bike:)

Yes my home is made of granola - it's all I could afford during the Celtic Tiger and now with the recession we're having to eat it to stay alive!!!

I mean... are you making your own on the bike snacks, and if so, what is the recipe?

FrankGrimes

The 5 changes I noticed the biggest differences from were:

1. Big bowl of porridge for breakfast. Add pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, 1 or 2 dried apple rings and about a teaspoon of honey. I was sceptical as I rarely ate breakfast before, but this made a major change to my hunger levels throughout the day and so reduced overall calorie intake too. Tastes surprisingly good too.

2. Drastically reduce bread intake, even wholemeal/wholegrain pan. Have a salad instead of a sandwich. Takes some conscious preparation but not too bad when you get the hang of it. I now have bottles of balsamic vinegar, chilli powder, walnuts, and a jar of pumpkin and sunflower seeds at my desk for adding to salads as necessary. The porridge in the morning means the salad still keeps you full.

3. Forget the traditional dinner of a bit of meat with a bit of veg and a massive portion of potato, pasta or rice. Fistful piece of spud, rice or pasta and a bigger portion of veg with a decent meat/fish protein source is what ya want. And don't eat it late at night like my schedule often forces - reduce carb intake as the day goes on.

4. Always have fruit to hand at home and in work. Red apples, kiwis and grapes are my favourite. I might chop em up and throw them in a bowl with some nuts and a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt for a lovely fruit salad.

5. Always have a nut and raisin mix to hand for snacking - a handful is quite filling and contains good oils and fats and is better than a bar, though obviously only in reasonable quantities.

I'd say those 5 things accounted for 80% of the benefit and there's really no hardship involved with them - I think beyond that you get diminishing returns (e.g. stay away from that meat, only eat this one might give a marginal benefit but might be what makes you feel like you're on a tough diet). I plan on keeping up those 5 steps and in order to get back into it I have to plan ahead and do a weekly shopping for work aswell as home and remember to bring in a tea towel and utensils as needed.

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

I mean... are you making your own on the bike snacks, and if so, what is the recipe?

+1 -he is a smart ass though, so I can see where the confusion came from

Jawgap

Raam wrote: »

I mean... are you making your own on the bike snacks, and if so, what is the recipe?

I'll get it and post it, but it's a basic granola recipe.

I've messed around with it and it's useful enough because you can vary the proportions to suit your particular needs - sometimes I add chocolate or different dried fruits etc.

At the risk of ridicule I also sometimes make up a batch of ganola balls - like nut clusters which are handy enough as a bite-size snack rather than trying to chew a bar.

lukester

Jawgap wrote: »

ganola balls - like nut clusters which are handy enough as a bite-size snack rather than trying to chew a bar.

Interested to see the recipe for this too. Have been considering trying dried figs, granola balls would make a nice complement.

Jawgap

No probs - I'll slap it up later or tomorrow.

I've also got a recipe for peanut bars that are quite nice too. I'll stick that up.

Raam

http://www.roadcycler.com/2007/10/screw-powerbar-make-your-own-energy-bar/

I made the third recipe listed there. Very tasty, although I've not tried them on the bike yet.

kennyb3

do many of you cycle before work? i seem to have alot to do in the evenings lately. also i ve no shower facilities at work otherwise i would cycle in

CheGuedara

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Hi People - Since we are in a great fitness tips mood ... here are 2 options I want your opinion on ...

Nutrigrain elevenses V Power bar gels -

I am trying to lose 10lbs myself and I think I could take more advantage of the long cycles and eat less crap to keep me going. I was looking at the amount of Fat in an elevenses and ordered a 24 pack on Powerbar gels to try... as there is a 0 fat content. My logic is ... on a saturday, we'd be stopping for food half way somehwre for a sandwitch, so I would eat solid food anyway. But the gels could be a good alternative to the 'richness' ( yet yummyness ) of the elevenses


What do you people think ...?

Don't forget the fuel you take in is just one aspect of the balance - the other is which fuel you actually use.

If you're going hard on the bike you'll be pulling most of your energy from carbohydrate stores in the muscle (or anaerobically if going really hard).

Training harder generates more active muscle mass and will lead to slower longer losses (probably) but if weight loss is the goal you kinda have to train a bit differently - 60-70% of HRmax to be generating energy from mainly adipose stores. You'll be shocked how little effort this can actually be

Caroline_ie

Thanks all -
1 thing though, i do not cycle to lose weight, I cycle for pleasure - and the main reason for wanting to lose weight is efficiency on the bike not the other way around. I am fit, just not light enough.

Weight off = lighter up hills = easyer to follow = beat blorg up a hill = more fun cycling overall

The weekdays diet is a good idea and I have been doing that for the past couple of weeks and I do feel better already - I use the calorie counting method, like i did before, but I am not using the spreadsheet this time, I have one for my training already, and lots more in work, I hate excel with a great passion.

I am in no big hurry, I know what it takes to do what I need to do, I am giving myself roughly 3 months to lose 10 lbs ... which is very doable without killing myself. I guess it's not a matter of being sctrict, but rather being consistent and fair.

FrankGrimes

CheGuedara wrote: »

if weight loss is the goal you kinda have to train a bit differently - 60-70% of HRmax to be generating energy from mainly adipose stores. You'll be shocked how little effort this can actually be

Is that actually true? I think what I'd read on the Fitness forum indicated that while exercising at 60-70% of HRmax was more efficient for weight loss in relative terms compared to effort, higher intensity training does still yield more weight loss in absolute terms. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) seemed to be the optimum form of exercise for improving fitness while also losing weight. I'm not an expert on it so I'm not really questioning Che, just raising it to ensure this counterpoint is considered.

Nietzschean

ROK ON wrote: »

So would you say that counting calories was more important than what you ate (excluding junk).

not really, other way around mostly... at the time (should get back to it) was having lots of stir fry meals, lean meat with oodles of veg, generally after the first month i would have been eating maybe ~3000 cals a day, but burning 4000(1.5hr cardio ~ 1,500cals + 1.5 hr weights/core). But what i was doing if nothing else was very time consuming! up to about 18hrs a week in the gym...so not very practical long term but it managed to shift my weight/fitness so far picking up things like cycling which i can do longer term has been pretty handy

CheGuedara

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Is that actually true? I think what I'd read on the Fitness forum indicated that while exercising at 60-70% of HRmax was more efficient for weight loss in relative terms compared to effort, higher intensity training does still yield more weight loss in absolute terms. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) seemed to be the optimum form of exercise for improving fitness while also losing weight. I'm not an expert on it so I'm not really questioning Che, just raising it to ensure this counterpoint is considered.

Sure, i guess it might.

Just as far as my knowlege goes here is the relative contributions of carbohydrate vs fat at specified HR zones, these are old facts of physiology at this point. I'm sure HIIT training does what it's probably supposed to, as far as I can remember its flat out bouts anaerobic exercise punctuated by brief recovery periods (? - open to correction) but I don't know enough about it to comment though.

I was just aiming to put across the idea that when it comes to fueling you may also have to focus on how energy is expended as well as the form it's taken in, esp if there's a particular aim.

jlang

Possibly true, but I imagine you wouldn't do high intensity intervals every day. For optimum weight loss per week rather than per session you need a session you can keep on doing to keep on burning fat without needing a lighter recovery spin.

unionman

Jaw. Still. On. Floor. From. News. Of. Mloc's. 5 stone. weight loss.

Awesome.

Managed to lose 2 stone last year and regain another half stone of that.

My weight loss goal is 2 stone before next year's W200.

mloc123

ROK ON wrote: »

Thanks Niet and MLOC.

So would you say that counting calories was more important than what you ate (excluding junk).

Am I deluding myself thinking that I can tuck into a nice steak, but a much smaller steak. Or is it a combo of calories and what you eat (excluding junk food, as I am taking that not eating junk is just a given).

That was me with yourself and Lukester on the way into Donard. Little more detail on before and after..

Typical day before would be something like:

2 Bowls of rice krispies.
Roll, crisps, bar, bottle of coke and maybe a yop.
Stir fry/Pasta/Meat and veg etc..
Snacks in the evening could have been toast, cereal,few cups of tea+bar/biscuits.

Now:

2 Wheetabix.
crackers and tea.
Turkey/chicken sandwich(brown bread) and soup.
crackers and tea and an apple.
Same dinners but with a normal portion of carbs and loads of veg.
cup of tea and a fun size bar.

Biggest difference in my opinion was cutting down on sugary food(wheetabix over rice krispies), white bread/pasta/rice and replacing them with wholemeal and keeping an eye on portions. Still have about 15-20 pounds to go tho'

blorg

At the end of the day it is calories in vs calories out. What calorie counting will help is in identifying just how many calories are in some foodstuffs, and how little are in others. Some stuff you could eat until you just couldn't eat any more and there would be next to no calories in it. Calorie Count is a very good site indeed for this.

The other important thing is portion control, it is trivially easy to eat twice what you should be eating simply in terms of the portion size.

Steak is pretty good stuff really, nothing wrong with that. It's the chips you might have with it that will put on the weight.

What Lumen says about hunger tolerance is very true, I would expect to feel a bit hungry on a diet. You don't want to feel crazy hungry but a bit hungry, sure. Going to bed, definitely hungry, if you are not exercising in the evening try to have an early dinner and don't eat anything at all after it. You actually get used to feeling hungry and it is not a problem any more, if anything it is a motivator. If you are doing it right, you will feel a bit hungry.

I managed a 17st-11st drop myself around ten years ago over a six month period. Cycling long distances at a relatively gentle pace was involved but I think the diet is ultimately more important. The Garmin calorie figures are massively overstated, I would not give them much credence. More recently I put on weight after breaking my elbow and lost 3 stone or so- before my first W200 in 2007.

You will burn more calories per hour cycling at a higher intensity but as jlang says you will not be able to keep it up- especially not if you are also trying to diet. If you are on a diet you really need to focus on a pace where most of your energy is coming from your fat stores. Most extreme week I did over 700km on the bike with an average daily intake of 1,200 calories/day. I think I lost 7 lbs that week. I had built up to this gradually and it was the apex. My body was quite adapted by that stage to getting the fuel it needed from my fat stores, and I had no problem doing the cycling.

High intensity on a diet and you will just bonk as the body cannot fuel from fat at that intensity. Note when I was doing this I was a hell of a lot slower than I am now and would basically never try to cycle really hard/fast ever, I only started that after I lost the weight.

You may not want to do this approach, and there are many reasons why you wouldn't, as key to it is reducing the pace you cycle at, which is exactly opposite to the goals of most on the forum.

If you are going to cycle hard you are going to need to fuel that but in that case I would suggest you need to look carefully at your diet on the days you are not on the bike, and look at reducing there- it is easy to get into the habit of eating like a horse on cycling days and then just continuing when you are not cycling. This is how I put on weight after breaking my arm, I just continued eating as normal while cutting out exercise completely.

You can also mix it up and throw in substantial amounts of long slow miles along with your fast efforts. These may or may not be of benefit to your endurance but they will certainly help with the weight control. I still do a fair amount of cycling myself for weight control at relatively low intensities, (as I eat a lot) and you just don't feel it like you do the hard efforts, you can get up and do it again the next day and the next. After the W200 by contrast I had to take Monday off pretty much entirely.

zzzzzzzz

blorg wrote: »

After the W200 by contrast I had to take Monday off pretty much entirely.

I think the key words in this sentence are "pretty much"... you were doing hill repeats on the sally gap, weren't you?!

Jawgap

In addition to diet, it's also important not to underestimate the importance of sleep.

A good night's sleep is not just about recovery, it prevents the body releasing certain stress hormones that affect both appetite and decision-making - so you want to eat more and you find it easier to rationalise it!

interested

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Thanks all -
1 thing though, i do not cycle to lose weight, I cycle for pleasure - and the main reason for wanting to lose weight is efficiency on the bike not the other way around. I am fit, just not light enough.

Weight off = lighter up hills = easyer to follow = beat blorg up a hill = more fun cycling overall

The weekdays diet is a good idea and I have been doing that for the past couple of weeks and I do feel better already - I use the calorie counting method, like i did before, but I am not using the spreadsheet this time, I have one for my training already, and lots more in work, I hate excel with a great passion.

I am in no big hurry, I know what it takes to do what I need to do, I am giving myself roughly 3 months to lose 10 lbs ... which is very doable without killing myself. I guess it's not a matter of being sctrict, but rather being consistent and fair.

Joining this late as usual. But stopped when I saw this. If someones already mentioned using a HRM then apologies ...
At least once a week wear one and stick to 60% of your max HR for the duration of your ride. If you commute wear it every day but stick to the 60%. That way you should never go aerobic or anerobic.
Since most of the long spins you do with the folks at the weekends typically including climbing it wont be always possible to keep your HR at this fat burning zone.

This works for me when required. Also, only using water in the bottles and a coffee with honey for breakfast before heading out. I always carry food and gels for emergencies and would generally only employ this tactic to drop weight at certain times of the year.

Nice one at the weekend. Bumped into a few of you guys but didnt spot you chief.

Caroline_ie

interested wrote: »

At least once a week wear one and stick to 60% of your max HR for the duration of your ride. If you commute wear it every day but stick to the 60%. That way you should never go aerobic or anerobic.

I use a HRM, my Garmin 305 is a bit temperamental though. I have cycled at 6am last week to see if I could manage, and I can, with nothing in the stomach, which was fine. Low intencity, low HR, before work. I commute just 5km/day which is quite handy to get out and train around workhours. This morning I attempted going to the gym in work, I do it in the winter alot but usually after work. I was up at 6, in the Gym at 6.30, did 35 minutes of cardio, + abs, arms weights... I hate the gym, especially on a nice mornings like this so I will just cycle in the mornings instead, create me a bit of a commute that i don't have, cut down on the food during the week, go back to doing what I was doing when i lost my 1st 30lbs 3 years ago. And enjoy my weekends on the saddle with no much bother

Jawgap

as promised -

Recipe for the Granola Balls

You will need
2 cups of rolled oats (quick oats tend to change the texture and make it feel a bit soapy)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (or chunky depending on your taste)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup dried fruit / nuts / seeds or whatevert takes your fancy

Heat the oven to 180°C. Spread the oats and coconut on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes n the oven, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.

While that's happening, combine the peanut butter, honey and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved, stirring continuously so as to prevent scorching.

Add the toasted oats and coconut to the peanut butter mixture along with the trail mix and stir to combine. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Working with dampened hands, shape into 12 one-inch balls and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

I've also done them replacing some or all of the honey with Tate & Lyle's syrup or treacle (for that extra sugar rush!!) and added different flavourings (vanilla, or orange) just to vary the taste. Different types of brown sugar also tend to alter the taste and I'm sure the energy content - I think the darker the sugar the more energy dense it is.

And replacing the some of the oats with different combinations of pinhead oatmeal, or some bran.

Enjoy.....

Jawgap

Peanut Bar recipe

1/2 cup dry roasted salted peanut
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seed (or more peanuts or other nuts)
1/2 cup dried fruit - whatever takes your fancy
2 cups pinhead oatmeal
2 cups Rice Krispies
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

mix together the peanuts, seeds, dried fruit, pinhead oatmeal and Rice Crispies. You can also add in some wheat germ if you want.

In a microwaveable bowl, combine the peanut butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; microwave on high for two minutes. Add vanilla and stir until blended.

Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until coated.


For squares, pour the mixture into an 8 x 8-inch pan coated with sunflower or other oil; for bars, spoon it into a 9 x 13-inch oblong pan. Press down firmly. (It helps to coat your fingers with butter, margarine, or oil.).

Refrigerate for about an hour to harden, then cut into squares or bars.