How cyclists eat can be confusing for beginners. As this day there are countless diets, sports nutrition products and advice from various experts.
Each athlete training will have its own mode. You will see inconsistencies in nutrition plans from cyclists. Just because foods work for some people, doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
The most important thing is that we are all different in terms of age, gender, upbringing and body composition weight. Therefore, each person’s diet will also have many differences.
How do cyclists eat?
Sports nutrition is a blend of daily nutrition and training nutrition. Daily nutrition is a very important part because it prepares and stores nutrients for the process of training. You need to spend a lot of time setting up your daily menu.
Creating a new habit of eating right and enough is what you need to do. You don’t have to be in a hurry. Changing eating habits is actually not easy. This could take you several months!
The following diet plan is from trainer and nutritionist Bob Seebohar. He clarified and changed important definitions of daily nutrition and exercise. Let’s find out with increaseheightblog.com what is the difference between a cyclist’s daily meal and training
Each person’s diet is different depending on age, gender and body weight
Daily meal
The foundation of improved health and performance lies in what goes on in your body on a consistent, daily basis. The best thing to do is not to follow a diet but a daily nutrition plan. From there, you can easily adapt to them.
Your main task is to follow a daily nutrition plan that focuses on controlling and optimizing blood sugar. You will do this through balancing the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) that you consume throughout the day.
The concept of Metabolic Effic (metabolic efficiency) describes the relationship between how efficiently you use stored carbohydrates and how many calories of fat you have in your body for energy.
Cyclists will likely store up to 80,000 calories as body fat. However, you only have 1,200-2,000 calories in the form of carbohydrates. Because of this big difference, the goal is for the body to use more fat and retain carbohydrates until you really need them.
The answer to the main problem is to improve metabolic efficiency to use more fat for energy. Besides, an efficient metabolism brings many benefits such as reduced risk of certain diseases, weight loss, reduced body fat, better sleep and faster post-workout recovery.
The great thing is that we don’t need to add any supplements. These substances are all in your daily food. Remember the protein + fat + fiber equation. Because this is how you will improve your daily nutrition.
Doing this every day is easier than you think. Because it is not a diet.
It’s as simple as choosing foods that contain protein, fat, and fiber in most meals and snacks. If you can do this 90% of the time, you’ll be off to a great start that will get you on your way to a healthy diet in no time.
Start by making a list of the foods you eat that fall into the following categories:
- Protein/fat
- Vegetable
- Fruit
- Grains
Once you have a list, choose the foods to eat from top to bottom for a meal. This is to make sure you don’t miss any nutrients.
For example, chicken (protein and fat) with asparagus (vegetables), is a great meal. Because they will control and optimize your blood sugar. Don’t feel like you have to eat four foods at every meal.
Remember, combine a food with protein with fiber and fat. Just like that, you have a daily meal according to your metabolic goals!
Daily meals must be full of nutrients based on the concept of Metabolic Effic
Training meal
What to eat before, during and after the ride can give you more “headaches” than your daily nutrition. According to the advice from nutritionists, you should eat about 1-2 hours before the time of training.
If cycling for more than an hour, you need to fuel your body every 30 minutes. The best time for a post-workout meal is within 60 minutes for the body to quickly recover. To better explain these meals, Mr. Bob gave some examples below:
1. If you practice 1 hour early in the morning
The hard part about morning workouts is that you train on an empty stomach. Do you have enough energy to exercise for 1 hour?
The first thing you need to do is determine your hunger. If you feel hungry as soon as you wake up, eat something like a spoonful of peanut butter or a handful of almonds and a glass of water.
This is a low-intensity exercise and should not exceed 1 hour. So, if you don’t feel too hungry, start working out. A post-workout breakfast is the best to help promote effective nutrient metabolism.
2. Workout on lunch break with colleagues
Group workouts are usually more intense than morning workouts. Timing and intensity make the workout a little more challenging.
You should have a snack at least 1 hour before your workout. Besides, providing enough water during cycling is essential.
Immediately after a workout, lunch will make up for lost energy. Afternoon training helps you quickly regain your mental clarity to work in the afternoon.
3. Long-distance cycling (2-3 hours) on weekends
Nutritionists recommend that you eat a little for the morning. Although not too much, this meal is enough to control your hunger.
Since it is a long trip, you should bring some food to replenish your energy during the trip. You can choose nuts, energy bars… A snack with a little water every 30-45 minutes is necessary.
For long-distance exercise, you need to prepare a snack to bring
4. High-intensity cycling before dinner
Going at this time, you should fuel up with an afternoon snack. You can bring a sports drink or protein smoothie with you when you exercise. Since this is a high-intensity exercise, your body may need a few extra calories to be able to maintain the intensity of the intervals.
increaseheightblog.com hopes that you have an answer for how cyclists eat. From the examples above, you can already choose your meals for before and after your workout. In any case, food is always recommended over training nutrition products.
Reference source
Cycling Nutrition for Beginners https://www.cycleops.com/post/blog-cycling-nutrition-for-beginners Accessed date: 24/7/2020
Hi everyone, I’m Tony Scotti, an expert in the field of height increase with many years of experience researching and applying height increase methods, and have achieved promising results. I have created increase height blog as a personal blog to share knowledge and experience about what I have learned during the process of improving my own height.
