hunger after ride

nicko-31

Greeting to all,I'm in the process of starting to ride after a long absence due to lost job bad job and now finally back to being able to get home before dark,any how in the few times that I have been able to go out even on a short ride 17.miles I can't seem to control my hunger when I get home,And my hunger is for any kind of food not just carbs,Also for the time being I 'm just trying to loose weight .Any insight would be appreciated,and I just bought a f-6 heart rate monitor,any suggestions on intensity for loosing weight would also be appreciated.thanks Nicko-31

daveryanwyoming

You need to eat when you get home from a ride. Try to eat fewer calories than you've burned on the ride if you're trying to lose weight, but you definitely need to eat a combination of carbs and protein. If you don't refuel the muscle glycogen you spent during your ride your body will take longer to recover and you'll have a harder time trying to train the following day on depleted muscles. You can still lose weight, the key is to replace fewer calories than you've burned. You can estimate the calories burned with one of the on line calorie counters like: http://www.nutristrategy.com/fitness/cycling.htm When I'm trying to drop weight I shoot for replacing a quarter to half the calories I burned during the ride when I first get back and a bit more throughout the day but still try to maintain a caloric deficit on a daily and weekly basis.

Also check out this: http://www.carbboom.com/education/recovery.php for info on why that first half hour after returning from a workout is so crucial to your continued training and for guidelines on appropriate amounts of carbs and protein for replenishing your stores.

You do need to stay hypocaloric on a daily and weekly basis to drop weight, but you still need to eat to fuel your efforts. The trick is finding the balance that drops weight slowly over time( a pound to pound and a half a week is a good target for weight loss) yet still leaves you with enough energy to train and to improve fitness.

FWIW I dropped over 40 pounds between August and April and simultaneously improved my sustainable one hour power by over 60 watts during that period by eating a bit more regularly(never skip breakfast, healthy snacks during the day) and eating a bit less(smaller portions at main meals and wait five to ten minutes before going back for seconds to make sure I'm really still hungry and not eating too much out of habit). It wasn't hard and I was able to maintain enough energy to train consistently all winter which did wonders for my sustainable power and speed and set me up nicely for good results in the spring races.

Good luck,
Dave

nicko-31

thanks Dave for the info,I was getting a little inpatient from no replies and I appreciate you taking time to respond.