Changes to metabolism – what next?

Now there’s an idea…

I drink a lot of water too; usually a pint of water with breakfast, around 5 750ml bottles during my 9-5, and a few more pints of water during the evening.

Cramp isn’t necessarly caused by being unfit – yes it can be muscle fatigue but also electrolyte imbalance. Try drinking nuun next time you are exercising. I also struggle to exercise without fast carbs in a similar way to Mol – having recently lost 5kgs and a good % of body fat, this is more noticeable than before.

If you’ve stopped exercising and are putting on weight, is it not a case of eating too much and not burning it off? I’ve found watching the saturated fat content of what i eat has helped the most, along with ditching 95% of my ‘treats’.

Im about 74kg and I probably drink a similar amount of water as OddJob.

Im pretty much continuously drinking it.

I suppose if I did weight my self in the morning after going to the toilet and then in the evening their might be quite a large differential.

As people mention one litre of water = 1kg.

But I’ve never done it.

Very good website for thyroid matters:

http://www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/index.html

tsy – just wee in a pot and weight the pot.

I have often wondered what volume I can store…

Not sure I’d like to weigh my 2’s on the kitchen digi’s though, even less sure the mrs would like it.

So what happens when you get so hungry you can’t think at work, and you find your ability to ride hard disappears? Does this not happen to you? Cos it happened to me.

Er…. everything I would like to say about food and exercise (which I’m aware I have spelled differently about 3 times..) would be much better articulated in a conversation, rather than by text.

I find our relationship with food to be a fascinating subject, historically, generationally, socially, biologically, in evolutionary terms and from a medical/health point of view.

To answer the above, yes it does happen on occasion, but IN MY OPINION AND EXPERIENCE, this is a relatively temporary effect, and easy to deal with; just have a Mars bar, or a pie, or your dinner. My misgivings about the iDave thing is as above; I think, for me, it’s too close to being too important. I just eat less, and even skip meals when I’m not hungry. In terms of ‘training’ or just riding which is more accurate these days, I know I can ride for 3 hours without much to eat or drink, and I know that I will feel wasted for about 4 hours afterwards if I choose not to eat straightaway, but it’s only temporary, and not worth changing my feeding for.

When I started racing, and was training hard, I didn’t use any gels or sports drinks; water and the odd kit kat when I was dying was about it.
In later years I used sports food and drink a lot on my bike, and recovery stuff afterwards, but put weight on as a consequence.

My view is that we can regulate our weight by food intake and exercise because we are animals, but the social, historical blah blah of food in our society messes that up.

Eat less move more works for me, and I appreciate that you don’t find it so.

but IN MY OPINION AND EXPERIENCE, this is a relatively temporary effect

Not in mine 🙂 We are all actually quite different, it’s a learning experience – hence this thread.

I know that I will feel wasted for about 4 hours afterwards if I choose not to eat straightaway, but it’s only temporary

Lasts for a few days for me. That means the run on the following day will be crap, the intervals the day after will be a waste of time, and so on.

but the social, historical blah blah of food in our society messes that up

This is true.

Are you aware of the study where they fed people 1500 calories a day of 90% fat, protein or carbs?

I’m not familiar with it, link?

I think what has been underestimated is the length of time that eating habits take to become ingrained; it’s very much a familial thing, and that in turn is dictated by society. I think my kids have hopefully escaped the post-war rebound thing that I experienced; when my parents and grandparents seemed to go mad with food.

I suspect too, although have no proof at all, that sports nutrition is a bit like bike weights; there is a small but measureable improvement, but mostly it’s not that critical for most people. Most of us are so far away from reaching our potential for much more simple reasons to do with time and motivation and opportunity, rather than eating a certain thing.

In Denmark, if your eating with a fiamily and you eat more than half of what is out on the table the there wasn’t enough food. I think there is less obesity here than on the uk, but it is amazing how few people are not at least slightly overweight these days wherever you look other than those on tv and competing in sports.

I have stopped using energy drinks and don’t take too much food on long rides, but I take some money to buy a bounty bar (current favourite) but knowing that this less likely to happen than eating the 3 energy bars in my pocket. In all honesty, I haven’t ridden outside since November so it’s not a big issue.

Not got a link, it was in the 50s tho a long time ago. The carb group gained weight despite being on 1500 calories a day.

there is a small but measureable improvement, but mostly it’s not that critical for most people

The difference between eating and not eating (not specifically sports drinks) on a 5 hour ride is significant in most people!

So.. case study. I’m hungry but I am dealing with it. I’ve had slow carb food all day, done pretty well. I’m going out to eat with a mate tonight but he’s a fitness freak so he’ll understand strange dietary requirements. I can proabably find something idavey in London, but unless I can get a ton of beans I’ll probably still be hungry after eating. Maybe even if I do get a ton of beans. Then I’ll stay hungry all night and tomorrow I reckon the carb demons will be knocking on the door and I will be training tomorrow night…

I’m thinking a choccy bar might work for me here.

I thought that test had been repeated more recently.

The difference between eating and not eating (not specifically sports drinks) on a 5 hour ride is significant in most people!

Yes, I didn’t really mean that.

Do you think, and I’ve phrased this as a question to avoid me sounding like a nutter, that it’s possible to train your self to perform with what you might consider sub-optimal nutrition?

I mean the idea that we need X amount of water and X amount of glucose in each hour of exercise is all well and good and provable in the lab, but by always striving to be perfectly hydrated and glucosed and protein recovery-drinked, are we missing out on developing the ability to perform in less than ideal conditions?

The eason I ask is because I’ve seen people do the ‘I need 3 litres of water for a 3 hour ride’ thing, yet I’m perfectly happy to take far less, and with gels and stuff, yes they are great, but I can do without far more than others it would seem.

See, that puts me off iDave too; the beans. Just no way. On a normal fairly low fibre diet I can poo three times a day. Add in any form of leguminous veg and I’d have to start working from home, from a small room.

Do you think, and I’ve phrased this as a question to avoid me sounding like a nutter, that it’s possible to train your self to perform with what you might consider sub-optimal nutrition?

Well it’s absolutely possible to change how easily your body uses different metabolic pathways – your body adapts, so if you don’t have much carbs available it gets better at burning fat.

However we all have a pre-determined tendency to burn more fat or more carbs based on how much fast or slow twitch muscle fibres we tend to.

I bet the people who ride for hours with just a banana are likely to be skinny, older, and steady but strong riders. I bet the ones that like to guzzle gels are bigger (either fat or muscle) and like to blast up and down hills and take rests.

Sprint vs enduro atheltes; fast vs slow twitch.

Your body can only process half a pint of water at a time in a given period, the rest passes straight through, or so I heard.

So.. case study. I’m hungry but I am dealing with it. I’ve had slow carb food all day, done pretty well. I’m going out to eat with a mate tonight but he’s a fitness freak so he’ll understand strange dietary requirements. I can proabably find something idavey in London, but unless I can get a ton of beans I’ll probably still be hungry after eating. Maybe even if I do get a ton of beans. Then I’ll stay hungry all night and tomorrow I reckon the carb demons will be knocking on the door and I will be training tomorrow night…

See…. this bit sounds very much like one of my work colleagues on a diet…

I would say, from my point of view, that this is not a sustainable way of living because you’re not oblivious to it; it’s in your face all the time and is making you feel uncomfortable and is causing you concern about how you will train as an addition.

Whereas I had a massive meal in a pub the other day, then didn’t eat for over 24 hours because I wasn’t hungry. I’ve had breakfast today, done 2 hours gently on my bike and will eat again before bed, probably just a sandwich.

My experience eom the idave diet is that I am not particularly hungry except just before my evening meal when I am tempted to eat anything i can get my hands on whilst cooking. If I am riding then I ea something sugary before I leave and take something with me if it will be more than an hour or so, otherwise just water. I normally eat when I get back beause it is a meal time anyway.

For me these days idave is no sugar, no grain, no hunger, no problem and no weight loss. Kind of ballanced really 🙂

I would say, from my point of view, that this is not a sustainable way of living

I do not miss the starch at mealtimes at all. It’s pretty easy. I miss lattes but I can handle that mostly. I miss sweet snacks, and I have them from time to time.

As for sustainable – it doesn’t really need to be. I’m perfectly fine and healthy without this. I must stress that this is about working towards a racing snake weight to allow me to win MTB races, NOT a fundamental health issue.

It must be water…Fat is 10 calories per gram, so 3 KG of fat equates to 30,000 calories. I doubt you ate that much in 3 days – That’s Partridge Toblerone blowout territory.

Whereas I had a massive meal in a pub the other day, then didn’t eat for over 24 hours because I wasn’t hungry. I’ve had breakfast today, done 2 hours gently on my bike and will eat again before bed, probably just a sandwich.

Now I’d say that’s not a very healthy relationship with food either and is more likely to lead to your body storing fat when you do eat as it doesn’t know when it is going to get fuelled again.