Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
^ Yes. History of self-reporting on BF over the years says that riders who maintain their normal off-the-bike diet eat back their on the bike expenditure. I think what needs to happen is that the rider needs to get used to having less food in their stomach. My observation is that if I'm never hungry, I'm not going to lose weight. If I eat smaller portions, when a larger portion comes along, I simply can't eat that much. Yay! And I have less desire to eat when I return from a ride. I tend to eat before I ride and then have an apple and plenty of water when I return. An apple is ~80 calories and fills me right up.
I tend to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch every day - low fat yogurt with some walnuts, which keeps me going till around 1 PM; then a sandwich and an apple, maybe with a Coke, if I'm at work where they're free. That keeps me going till dinner time, BUT if dinner is delayed, I get the Low Blood Sugar crankiness, and that's when I'm prone to eat a high-Calorie snack. That, and late at night. I learned not to keep nuts around, because a little dish of those guys is around 400 Calories.
One trick I've learned is to eat the same breakfast before, and the same lunch after Sunday rides, rather than looking for cookies and ice cream, "to make up for what I burned".
Of course it matters how long your daily rides are. If they're 100 miles, you'll eat a half a pan of lasagna when you get back.
The one century I've ridden was so well supported that I weighed the same the day after as I did the day before. I blame the little new potatoes, boiled and tossed in olive oil with a sprinkling of salt and pepper that they had at all the rest stops.