Eating for post work cycle?

Gavin

Keen to get out more in the evening, straight after work, but I tend to be somewhat hungry after work!

What do people do, eat in work ? Wait, god forbid ?

They have microwaves in my places, anything in particular anyone would recommend to eat ?

Wheety

Dolmio pasta and one of their sauces?

petethedrummer

Porridge?

lukester

+1 for porridge.

Lumen

Veggie curry ready meal + multiple naans.

edit: sorry, you mean just before leaving work? I find that a large lunch then a banana mid-afternoon gets me through.

DirkVoodoo

As long as it's not too salty or fatty, maybe try some noodles. Easy to make.

Although it violates the above mantra of low salt/fat, my guilty pleasure is crunchy peanut butter on toast. Nom nom nom!

"Pot Noodle is spankin' gorgeous"

ROK ON

When I go for an evening spin I invariably head to Mao for lunc and get a lunch portion of nasi goreng and a smoothie.
Always works for me.

Caroline_ie

Can you not have ei:a banana 5 minutes before you leave work?

Blowfish

Depends on how long the spin is going to be. If it's up to about 40k, a big lunch is fine, longer and I'd go for fruit/nutrigrain and make sure I've dinner that just needs reheating when I get home.

petethedrummer

Right now I'm having a bowl of cornflakes before my ride home. Cornflakes make you go faster than rice krispies.

Gavin

A small snack wouldn't cut it, I have a big lunch every day and am starving come hometime. I think I have worms.

Porridge might not be a bad idea alright, I'll look into this microwaveable stuff. Cheers culinary chums

blorg

A muffin or a bagel. I also tend to eat lots of chocolate, all the time. Eating some right now in fact.

nitrogen

Cereal and a banana, with grated chocolate on top.

Beasty

petethedrummer wrote: »

Right now I'm having a bowl of cornflakes before my ride home. Cornflakes make you go faster than rice krispies.

How much faster? Do you think we should put something in the Wiki about this?

Lumen

All Bran in beetroot juice?

ryan_sherlock

blorg wrote: »

A muffin or a bagel.

I'm with blorg on the bagel - I usually grab on 1.5 hours before I head out for training if it is in the evening.

thebouldwhacker

I'm in the same boat, no matter what I eat for lunch I will be hungry by 5pm.
I used to eat cereal (2x weetabix; bran flakes; some porridge oats+ 1/2 spoon of sugar) but sometimes it was too heavy so now I eat two bananas, apple/pear, cereal bar and coffee about 4/4:30 and bring a snack with me depending on my distance.

Not ideal so any better ideas gratefully accepted:)

blorg

Beasty wrote: »

How much faster? Do you think we should put something in the Wiki about this?

I believe Bran Flakes make you go even faster, although you may go around in circles and burn up quickly. I'm a Corn Flakes guy myself.



By the way when in France touring, doing the Raid or Marmotte, etc. I do eat pastries for breakfast

Diarmuid

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

I'm with blorg on the bagel - I usually grab on 1.5 hours before I head out for training if it is in the evening.

bagels are loaded with calories, which maybe what you want before a spin. However if you are looking to lose weight I wouldn't go overboard with them.

ryan_sherlock

Diarmuid wrote: »

bagels are loaded with calories, which maybe what you want before a spin. However if you are looking to lose weight I wouldn't go overboard with them.

Yup - exactly what you need. Look at the nutritional breakdown - pretty good! Depending on the type of workout (AR to intense) you would burn between 400 and 1200 cals per hours. A 270 cal bagel does not dent that much - careful of the creamcheese though.

If you are looking to lose weight, I would be VERY careful about skimping on food before spins. Lower quality workouts, and possibly the hunger monsters during/after which would more than destroy the earlier 'good' work. "Bonk training" is a thing to be very careful with - in general, I would not recommend it.

petethedrummer

Beasty wrote: »

How much faster? Do you think we should put something in the Wiki about this?

Hopefully another half second by Dec 5th.

godihatethehils

I'm very interested in this thread, I usually eat a flapjack and a banana before my spin and then have dinner when I get home. I've always wondered what other people do. And also, in the summer would you eat more before a race or stick to whatever you do training??

teufelswerk

blorg wrote: »

I believe Bran Flakes make you go even faster, although you may go around in circles and burn up quickly. I'm a Corn Flakes guy myself.




I know this is slightly off topic but was having the Bran Flakes the other morning and couldn't get over the resemblence between Julian Clary and Chris Hoy. Am I alone on this?

tomasrojo

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Although it violates the above mantra of low salt/fat, my guilty pleasure is crunchy peanut butter on toast. Nom nom nom!

Meridian peanut butter is low in added salt and has no palm oil or hydrogenated fat. In fact, it's available in salt-free varieties.

You can also make your own. Health food shops sell big bags of raw shelled peanuts.

Peanut butter is ok in terms of fat: it's mostly monounsaturated fat. It's not like eating "a load of rich creamery butter", to quote the Simpsons. It's also high in fibre and protein. It's really quite good for you.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

All Bran in beetroot juice?

I wondered what that sticky stuff on the cobbles just outside the back door of the Bernard Shaw was:D

blorg

teufelswerk wrote: »

I know this is slightly off topic but was having the Bran Flakes the other morning and couldn't get over the resemblence between Julian Clary and Chris Hoy. Am I alone on this?

No, you are not.

As for the calories, I don't think Ryan needs to worry about his weight too much. Generally if you are already at a relatively low weight you need to concern yourself more about fueling the activity and avoiding running out of calories- particularly if it is going to be an intense workout. When looking at bars etc. I am generally looking for ones with as many calories as possible packed into the smallest space possible. Foods like flapjacks are hyper-concentrated calorie-wise.

If you are specifically looking to lose weight though I do think you need to watch what you eat and should generally try to cycle at lower intensities until the weight comes off. You can eat a lot less at lower intensities and fuel yourself almost entirely from your fat stores. My 2c, worked for me anyway when I was losing weight, I cycled very long distances relatively slowly while eating very little indeed. I did not bonk until all the weight came off and I started to go faster.

ROK ON

Night Time/after work spins I do the following and it is working
(1) Big lunch,
(2) Banana or Granola Bar and liquid befor I get on the bike.
(3) Bowl of soup when I get home.

Now I am trying to lose weight, so I am making an effort not to eat while on spins. Apart from spins over 100km I have found that I do not need to eat on the bike. Before my back pocket were stuffed with all sorts of stuff, just in case. However, most after work spins that I do are in the region of 50-60km.
No I bring a granola bar, just in case.

This does relate to night spins, where I would have eaten a breakfast and lunch during the day. It would be different going out in the morning.

Harrybelafonte

I say Bran Flakes bad, too much salt

thebouldwhacker

blorg wrote: »

If you are specifically looking to lose weight though I do think you need to watch what you eat and should generally try to cycle at lower intensities until the weight comes off. You can eat a lot less at lower intensities and fuel yourself almost entirely from your fat stores. My 2c, worked for me anyway when I was losing weight, I cycled very long distances relatively slowly while eating very little indeed. I did not bonk until all the weight came off and I started to go faster.

Hi Blorg, intresting point there. Could you expand on this please?

MadHatter

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Hi Blorg, intresting point there. Could you expand on this please?

Google "fat burning zone" for some background info. The idea is you cycle in Zone 2 or thereabouts where you stress your aerobic system and the body will turn to fat cells for fuel (not initally, but after an hour or so of cycling). If you increase the intensity you stress the aneraobic system where the body in more inclined to burn energy stored in your muscles.

Regular long Zone 2 rides train the body to burn fat as a fuel. Weight loss is achieved by burning more calories that you consume. If you have excess fat, you can burn this off and you don't need to eat huge amounts to refuel.

That's the general idea.

blorg

@Harrybelafonte- often cyclists are short on salt and indeed carry supplies of the stuff to add to their water on long spins. You lose a lot of salt through sweat. Either way I wouldn't be particularly concerned.

@thebouldwhacker- at lower exercise intensities you burn a higher percentage of your energy from fat stores. At higher intensities the percentage taken from fat stores decreases and more is taken in the form of muscle glycogen. You will burn more calories overall and indeed more fat overall at higher intensities but the percentage from fat will be lower.

You will however not be able to do as much high intensity exercise so overall you could burn more by doing lower intensity for a longer time.

While your fat stores are effectively unlimited your glycogen stores are very limited and need constant replenishment during exercise or you will "bonk." This means you have to eat during extended high-intensity exercise to replenish no matter what your weight is. Lower intensity and the need for food is reduced.

This worked for me anyway as I had plenty of time to spend on the bike. If you are time limited you may be better off doing higher intensity work as you will burn more calories in a given period of time. You will be physically incapable of doing as much of it though. Also, for weight loss diet is typically much more important than exercise.

Beasty

petethedrummer wrote: »

Hopefully another half second by Dec 5th.

You definitely eased up over the line - I reckon you have that half a second in you

niceonetom

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

I say Bran Flakes bad, too much salt

Is salt something we cyclists should be especially concerned with? I don't use much of it, but I don't avoid it either.

The amount of salt I sweat out while cycling would surely offset a sprinkle on my potatoes... no?

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

Is salt something we cyclists should be especially concerned with? I don't use much of it, but I don't avoid it either.

The amount of salt I sweat out while cycling would surely offset a sprinkle on my potatoes... no?

IANAD, but AIUI if you have functioning kidneys then moderate salt intake is not a problem, and if you have non-functioning kidneys you probably shouldn't be cycling for sport.

I really need to find a Firefox plugin for auto-acronym expansion. edit: found one

godihatethehils

tomasrojo wrote: »

Meridian peanut butter is low in added salt and has no palm oil or hydrogenated fat. In fact, it's available in salt-free varieties.

You can also make your own. Health food shops sell big bags of raw shelled peanuts.

Peanut butter is ok in terms of fat: it's mostly monounsaturated fat. It's not like eating "a load of rich creamery butter", to quote the Simpsons. It's also high in fibre and protein. It's really quite good for you.

Scott eats it...that's enough proof for me

petethedrummer

Beasty wrote: »

You definitely eased up over the line

Involuntarily

tomasrojo

niceonetom wrote: »

Is salt something we cyclists should be especially concerned with? I don't use much of it, but I don't avoid it either.

The amount of salt I sweat out while cycling would surely offset a sprinkle on my potatoes... no?

Not sure of the importance of salt for cyclists, but in general dietary terms, people eat way too much salt. You need very little salt in your diet generally, and chronic intake of excess salt is associated with illnesses in late middle age and later life.

Wayne Anderson in the FSAI has been trying to get food companies to cut down on added salt for years.
http://www.fsai.ie/details.aspx?id=7034

blorg

@tomasrojo- this is true and it is mainly due to eating too much processed foods. However cyclists eating a healthy diet primarily of non-processed foods and exercising at a high enough intensity can actually end up with salt deficiency. This typically causes muscle cramping during extended exercise.

Salt is a major component of most "sports" food and drinks. Of course, there they call them "electrolytes" as "packed with salt" may have a negative connotation

Harrybelafonte

Take point about needing salt, but personally still try and stay away, mostly down to family history tbf

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

@tomasrojo- this is true and it is mainly due to eating too much processed foods. However cyclists eating a healthy diet primarily of non-processed foods and exercising at a high enough intensity can actually end up with salt deficiency. This typically causes muscle cramping during extended exercise.

Presumably the difference between you and the fattie in the chipper queue is that your salt is lost through perspiration (stomach->blood->sweat->), whereas his is lost through urination (stomach->blood->kidneys->bladder->). Thus, the sporty route for salt excretion does not stress the kidneys.

I'm unclear about links between salt and hypertension. If hypertension causes kidney disease, and kidney disease limits renal salt excretion, then salt consumption is presumably an aggravating factor in people with hypertension/kidney disease but may be a cause of neither.

In which case it's safe to keep scoffing the salt whilst both kidneys and blood pressure are healthy.

What would I know...

tomasrojo

It's not something I'm an expert on, and I'm sure how much salt an individual can take must vary considerably from person to person, as everything biochemical or metabolic does.

Reducing salt intake does lower blood pressure for many people with hypertension, but as Lumen says, perhaps some of that is a response that is particular to people with hypertension in the first place.

Lumen

One more thing while we're on the subject of hydration....

Last September (14 months ago) I started cycling again. In November I got a kidney stone. The doc reckons it was from lack of proper hydration, very unusual in people my age (34 at the time) in cool climates.

Without going into too much detail, the subsequent investigation was quite unpleasant.

Moral of the story: don't take your kidneys for granted, keep them well watered at all times.

blorg

Like any nutrient, a certain amount salt is necessary for your body to function. If you eliminated it completely from your diet you would die. It's all about getting the right amount. Personally I don't eat a lot of processed food and add salt to virtually nothing.

Outside of exercise it would be pretty difficult to end up with a deficiency though, you would really have to try; salt is in a lot of foods and simply not adding additional salt does not mean that you will be deficient in it. Most people indeed eat too much of it. For the vast majority of people the simple "eat less salt" is a simple message worth following.

However if you participate in strenuous exercise best be aware that it is necessary to replace the salt you sweat out along with water- see hyponatremia (in extreme cases this kills people, particularly long distance runners.)

lukester

Lumen wrote: »

Moral of the story: don't take your kidneys for granted, keep them well watered at all times.

This is also where salt/electrolytes come into play- they help with water absorption.

petethedrummer

blorg wrote: »

hyponatremia (in extreme cases this kills people, particularly long distance runners.)

And that woman in the 'Hold Your Wii' contest.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/2009/10/verdict-in-hold-your-wee-for-wii.html

Caroline_ie

petethedrummer wrote: »

And that woman in the 'Hold Your Wii' contest.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/2009/10/verdict-in-hold-your-wee-for-wii.html

The family awarded two tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert as a consolation prize...

thebouldwhacker

I got this off the ART forum last year, gotta say on long spins I find it makes a difference (particularly in the last 15 minutes:rolleyes:)

I use this for 750ml of H2O, 2 table spoons of sugar, equivalent of 1 sachet of salt, 50/100ml orange dilute (to taste), add more or less of each until the taste is right.

petethedrummer

Since we're on food, Kieran McGeeney used to eat €35 worth of fruit every 2 days(Link1, Link2). Is this madness? Or is there method in't? I have to say I do feel better on the rare day that I graze on fruit instead of biscuits. But I don't think I could consume €17.50 worth of it in one day.

lukester

petethedrummer wrote: »

But I don't think I could consume €17.50 worth of it in one day.

Easy peasy, smoothies FTW.

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

Last September (14 months ago) I started cycling again. In November I got a kidney stone. The doc reckons it was from lack of proper hydration, very unusual in people my age (34 at the time) in cool climates.

Without going into too much detail, the subsequent investigation was quite unpleasant.

Moral of the story: don't take your kidneys for granted, keep them well watered at all times.

Fark. Kidney stones run in my family, and I'm more or less resigned to the fact that I'll get one eventually. I didn't realise that cycling (or at least cycling related dehydration) could be a contributory factor in speeding their onset... ah well.

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

Fark. Kidney stones run in my family, and I'm more or less resigned to the fact that I'll get one eventually. I didn't realise that cycling (or at least cycling related dehydration) could be a contributory factor in speeding their onset... ah well.

TBH I doubt cycling was the cause, I wasn't dong many miles at the time and always with a couple of bottles so it's more likely to be off-the-bike dehydration.

The docs couldn't find anything else wrong despite me unleasing the full force of my hypochondria and google-fu at them (I am a very bad patient, as I'm sure you can imagine).

I think it's very easily prevented if you get into a routine of drinking properly. I was probably only drinking a pint or two each day, just forgot that it was important health-wise and never considered the possibility of a stone.