Ok short version; I was very ill last year and lost 2 stone. I had no energy and pretty despondent. Got back into cycling and started swimming this year as a way of bringing my endorphins up and trying to make the most of the lost bulk.
The problem I am having is I am just finding myself absolutely shot of energy when out. Either part way through a ride, or through a swim. It doesn’t feel like the wall and there’s never any second wind, so I’m convinced it’s diet based.
If anyone has any good books to recommend that I can buy/get from the library then please pipe up.
Failing that, what works for others?
I’m not looking to lose any more weight, happy with where I am.

If you were eating well and able to exercise before you were ill then theres not much you need to do differently (assuming you haven’t changed what you eat in the meantime).

However if you were ill for some time then expect to it take quite a bit longer to get your fitness back than it took to loose it. If you are eating well enough already, eating something else won’t change that

Hmm. I see where you are coming from, but my diet was terrible before; lots of alcohol (ah delicious beers and ciders), kebabs, pizzas, chips, big portions of all. No bad side effects apart from I couldn’t even swim 2 lengths, got out of breath going up stairs etc.
I got fat sat at a desk and did no exercise at all. What I am interested in now is seeing if there are any recommended books on nutrition so I can look at what I am currently eating and if it needs to change to give me longer stores of energy to help me out when the fitness waves the white flag.

In that case eat food your Grandmother would recognise 🙂

You don’t need to treat food as science or medicine, just learn to cook.

I’d recommend reading at least this guy’s blog and some of the articles on his site, starting with this: http://www.optimumnutrition4sport.com/?p=339

It’s a massive area to just start reading into though. If you’re after general advice, this: “kebabs, pizzas, chips, big portions of all” is not ideal! I think the main changes I made to my diet have been swapping white carbs for Low GI carbs (sweet potato, whole grain pasta, brown rice etc) EXCEPT immediately after exercise, oatmeal or muesli instead of breakfast cereal, whole milk instead of semi skimmed, butter instead of spreads, and much more protein!

Here’s his reading list too: http://www.optimumnutrition4sport.com/?page_id=368 I won’t claim to have read everything on there, but most of my nutrition is based around this guy’s advice. He works with steve cummings and many other pro cyclists and knows his stuff.