Right.

Im cycling a lot more now than i have been – pretty much all day sat and sunday – usually downhill, pushing generally not uplifts, and usually 2-3 time a week – 2-3hrs after work predominantly dh again and some dj but if started to do some (gentle to start with but working up to some real hills) distance cycling.

Im 6’2″ and on average 10.5stone. Ive been this weight for quite a long time, last time i have my fat content test it was 4.8%. I say im weight efficient.

I have noticed that although i eat a) relatively healthily with the exception of my bacon sandwich habit b) generally quite a lot on a day to day basis, if i do a heavy weeks cycling i seem if anything to lose weight as opposed to gain muscle, so im wondering if as im pretty low fat when i get low on energy im burning protein rather than fat (which i dont have).

Im thinking about try to carb load during the day before cycling in the evening (some kind milkshake effort?) and then protein shake after exercise.

Any one hear know much about nutrition / protein shakes that can give me some advice?

Cheers

J

that fella from Torq who often writes for the ST mag seems to know his onions. Can’t remember his name but you could try there

At 10.5 stone and 6’2″ you should quit biking and start distance running, you’d be bloody fantastic.

Damn. I am 5’7″ & 11 stone and while not buff nuff am hardly a total fatty. Do you have to be tethered down in high winds mate? 😉

Oh and Yazoo Choc milk for a protein/carb hit after exercise.

Kinda depends what you class as distance cycling, if you’re going over 2 hours you (especially with your build) you should be taking on food to keep going. Can’t say you’d need to carb load before, just eat a balanced diet and maybe have a high carb snack/drink before heading out on the bike. Protein shakes are mostly about improving recovery after rides, useful if doing high intensity stuff or very long distances (I’d say at least 3 hours) but for shorter/steady rides I question the need for them.
You should probably also look at doing core workouts and gym work (assuming you’re carrying on DHing) and build up some muscle mass that way, good core strength is useful for distance riding to.

for recovery you need protein and carbs, most people go for a recovery shake i prefer a protein shake and some snacks (banannas fig rolls etc.)

during exercise you burn glcogen and then replenish this from fat stores later. It is particually important to stock up before sleep (when your body repairs itself) I know competing body builders who get up in the night for protein shakes to stop muscle wastage.

i find a protein shake a day helps me to build muscle when cycling rather than just loosing weight

Im 6’2″ and on average 10.5stone

You lucky bast…. 🙂

I use whey protein powder bought in bulk from myprotein.co.uk. 30g protein within 20 minutes of finishing a ride.

Its not all that great being this weight efficient – at less fat than a pint of milk it gets chilly in winter. I think my dad’s description of me having the physique of a ‘racing snake’ is quite accurate.

Im not that worried about putting loads of muscle on – i know from experience that me and gyms don’t mix and i doubt i’ll ever be ‘ripped’ Just maintaining a healthy weight or putting on a few pounds of muscle purely from cycling would be good.

When i say distance cycling its probably not distance to you guys – but it is to me after not doing anything but DH runs for the last few years.

Did the first one with my mate on sat – first time he’d been out since he’d had the cast of his borked ankle so just a gentle cycle along relatively flat rail line and canals with a couple of gentle inclines towards the end about 30miles or so.

Looking to slowly build that up so i can do a similar distance on single track as well, or maybe twice that on easy offroad/road rides.

my housemate gets through 200g of whey protein a day, plus steak for deinner, tuna/chicken for lunch and snacks respectively. But he’s huge (6ft, 14.5st, very little fat).

I go for 30g (of protein, so about 38g of powder) after excercise and the same again before bed. Add in a generic multi vitamin pill before excercise and before bed on busy days. It looks expensive, but if you think of it in terms of other drinks its not actualy too bad.

All good advice but be prepared for the bad breath and epic farting bouts if you start eating huge amounts of protein.

Are you trying to bulk up? Cycling will help but a bit of resistance training will make a big difference. I’m not saying get to the gym but press ups, pull ups, dips etc will make a big difference to your bike handling down-hill.

Recovery wise I’d be more concerned about replacing your glycogen stores – lots of low fat slow release carbs (oats, wholemeal pasta, potatoes, brown rice and some protein to rebuild muscle. Natural protein wise you can go for cottage cheese, tuna, turkey, chicken, eggs etc etc. Don’t think you have to empty Holland & Barrett to build yourself up a bit – yes it’s probably quicker to go for tubs of powder but you never really know exactly what you’re taking 😯

you never really know exactly what you’re taking

just like cream cheese and chicken to be fair!

I only ever make my own cream cheese using…double cream and chedder?

I’ve never worked out how to make my own chicken – gluing the bits back together never seems to work.

whey protein is pretty much dried milk, so yep, i know exactly what im getting.

you’d have to be pretty hungry for your body to start eating into your muscle mass. I start to lose weight quickly if I do a lot of exercise – I’ll drop 1/4 of a stone over three days of exercise and that’s with eating as much as I can fit in.

I pretty much constantly force feed myself to keep my weight around 60kg. At the moment Im 58kg – 9 1/4 stone. Biggest breakfast I can eat – oats, museli, wholemeal toast and honey. morning snacks – couple of bananas and oranges. Biggest lunch I can fit in – Pasta, rice, potatoes(yep all together), tuna, boiled egg, vegetables. afternoon snacks, more fruit. large evening meal – more of either rice/spuds/pasta, chicken breast and vegetables. Then I usually eat again later on before going to bed – toast & honey.

I couldn’t possibly eat anymore, there is no more time in the day to eat more – Im eating now ! It’s a fast metabolism – I suspect like me you need to carb load everyday.

Kev

Kev

You’re just eating the wrong things. Get to KFC!

yeah that’s been said before !

I used to do a protein shake after lunch everday but it didn’t make a sh*t of difference to my weight, size, shape or anything so I stopped using it and added more pasta & tuna into the food bowl.

Kev

Keva:

I start to lose weight quickly if I do a lot of exercise – I’ll drop 1/4 of a stone over three days of exercise and that’s with eating as much as I can fit in.

I have biked 190 miles off road and ran 10km in the last 9 days.

My daily calorific intake is between 1700-1800 usually.

But because I went to 2 small BBQs in those 9 days I have put on weight.

I hate you. I really do.

😉