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Cycling hunger...

Old 07-24-19, 07:36 PM
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Cycling hunger...

I love lifting at the gym, been crazy about it for 6 years. I have always followed my lifting with 30 to 45 mins of running. Recently my knee's decided to tell me that I'm getting old so I bought 2019 Specialized Roubaix. Got fitted, made the upgrades and hit the road. I still lift, and I do some light cardio on the elliptical, however after work I hit the road on the bike. The problem is that the nutritional differences between lifting and cycling are completely different. I'm used to having a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fat and do great with it all day. However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings. Yesterday I did 30 miles. I ate an hour before, snaked on the ride, and at 30 mins after. I figured I burned 2100 calories. 3 hours later I was crazy hungry. I snacked, ate healthy, ate junk. I would have eaten a football if it would have helped. So hungry after riding, this can't be a good thing. What do you all do?

Last edited by RastaManCan; 07-24-19 at 07:42 PM.
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Old 07-24-19, 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
I love to lift in the gym, been crazy about it for 6 years. I have always followed my lifting with 30 to 45 mins of running. Recently my knee's decided to tell me that I'm getting old so I bought 2019 Specialized Roubaix. Got fitted, made the upgrades and hit the road. I still lift, and I do some light cardio on the elliptical, however after work I hit the road on the bike. The problem is that the nutritional differences between lifting and cycling are completely different. I'm used to having a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fat and did great with it all day. However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings. Yesterday I did 30 miles. I ate an hour before, snaked on the ride, and at 30 mins after. I figured I burned 2100 calories. I tried everything yesterday, I would have eaten a football if it would have helped. So hungry, this can't be a good thing. What do you all do?
Carbs before and during the ride, protein after.

Also I'd guess some of this is your body reacting to a new activity. It'll probably normalize.
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Old 07-24-19, 07:49 PM
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You aren't confusing thirst for hunger are you. You didn't mention anything about hydration. Thirty miles of riding in the heat we are having here will be two 24oz. bottles and maybe a little more for my riding.
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Old 07-24-19, 11:03 PM
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Originally Posted by ksryder
Carbs before and during the ride, protein after.

Also I'd guess some of this is your body reacting to a new activity. It'll probably normalize.
Thx for your reply. I vaguely considered that. Now that I'm reading it, it makes more sense. I never expected anything like this and it's disheartening eating so many calories so quickly after a great workout. I guess as long as I keep riding consistently that I'll still come out on the better side. It's harder to moderate the calories after having such a massive burn. I guess I better dig deeper into my diet and track things closer so I can understand it as I start to acclimate.
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Old 07-24-19, 11:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
You aren't confusing thirst for hunger are you. You didn't mention anything about hydration. Thirty miles of riding in the heat we are having here will be two 24oz. bottles and maybe a little more for my riding.
I polished off both bottles of water and then another after I finished. I wasn't thinking about water and I hope that was enough. Truthfully, I'm just not sure about that. Thx
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Old 07-25-19, 03:39 AM
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
I love lifting at the gym, been crazy about it for 6 years. I have always followed my lifting with 30 to 45 mins of running. Recently my knee's decided to tell me that I'm getting old so I bought 2019 Specialized Roubaix. Got fitted, made the upgrades and hit the road. I still lift, and I do some light cardio on the elliptical, however after work I hit the road on the bike. The problem is that the nutritional differences between lifting and cycling are completely different. I'm used to having a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fat and do great with it all day. However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings. Yesterday I did 30 miles. I ate an hour before, snaked on the ride, and at 30 mins after. I figured I burned 2100 calories. 3 hours later I was crazy hungry. I snacked, ate healthy, ate junk. I would have eaten a football if it would have helped. So hungry after riding, this can't be a good thing. What do you all do?

30 miles = 50 km.

If you burn 100 calories every 5 km, approximately, then over 50 km, you probably would have burned 1000 calories.

Feel free to eat as many of those 1000 calories you want!

If you're trying to gain weight, you'll probably want to eat more.
If you're trying to maintain, enjoy every calorie of the 1000.
If you're trying to lose, you might want to reign it in at 500 or 750 or so.

Are you keeping track of the calories you consume?

What did you eat before the ride?
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Old 07-25-19, 06:44 AM
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Originally Posted by ksryder
Carbs before and during the ride, protein after.
I tend to agree and find that a casein protein shake after a ride helps assuage hunger.

Hunger can linger into the next day after really big rides and sometimes a shake the next morning helps satiate the appetite.


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Last edited by TimothyH; 07-25-19 at 06:51 AM.
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Old 07-25-19, 07:20 AM
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related, got curious & found this bike/calorie calculator

https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-biking/
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Old 07-25-19, 11:58 AM
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I find that after a long ride, it takes a whole day ( worst case) for my hunger to return. I never want to eat during or after i ride long or hard. i have to force it. ( the weird thing is that i am a classic overeater /f at guy. no will power nor craving control... but after a ride, nada)!
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Old 07-25-19, 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
I love lifting at the gym, been crazy about it for 6 years. I have always followed my lifting with 30 to 45 mins of running. Recently my knee's decided to tell me that I'm getting old so I bought 2019 Specialized Roubaix. Got fitted, made the upgrades and hit the road. I still lift, and I do some light cardio on the elliptical, however after work I hit the road on the bike. The problem is that the nutritional differences between lifting and cycling are completely different. I'm used to having a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fat and do great with it all day. However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings. Yesterday I did 30 miles. I ate an hour before, snaked on the ride, and at 30 mins after. I figured I burned 2100 calories. 3 hours later I was crazy hungry. I snacked, ate healthy, ate junk. I would have eaten a football if it would have helped. So hungry after riding, this can't be a good thing. What do you all do?
How are you figuring 2100 kcal?
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Old 07-25-19, 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by caloso
How are you figuring 2100 kcal?
What was I harping about in the other forum topic, and nobody wanted to hear it? Lol.
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Old 07-26-19, 06:21 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings.
I'm the same way. After a good weight workout I'm barely hungry, if at all. But after cycling, I'm extremely hungry, especially for carbs. It requires all my willpower to stay on track. What helps me the most is to eat while I'm riding. There are a lot of rides where I could easily complete the ride without food. Problem with that is I then need about double the calories afterward to give me the same level of satiety!

For a quick fix, try eating a little more during your rides and see if that helps. For a longer term strategy, make sure you're keeping a food log/diary/journal of everything you try, so once you get it right, you'll have a record of it.
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Old 07-26-19, 09:04 AM
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
IThe problem is that the nutritional differences between lifting and cycling are completely different. I'm used to having a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fat and do great with it all day. However after I ride I'm crazy hungry for carbs and nothing seems to curb the cravings. Yesterday I did 30 miles. I ate an hour before, snaked on the ride, and at 30 mins after. I figured I burned 2100 calories. 3 hours later I was crazy hungry.
When you ride your body burns a combination of carbs and fat depending on the intensity of your ride. The higher the intensity the higher the % of carbs burned. If you ride all-out for an hour you'll be burning close to 100% carbs. For myself, hunger seems related to how many carbs I burn.

As your fitness improves your body will adjust to burn a higher % of fats while riding at moderate intensity. A reasonable test is being able to ride at a reasonable pace for 3-4 hrs without eating and still feel decent at the end of a ride. You might try lowering the intensity of your rides and see if that affects your hunger. As others have mentioned, you're likely overestimating how many calories your burning. Many estimators based on HR are off by as much as 100%. For reference I weight around 75kg and burn approx 40Cals/mi based on powermeter readings which provide a fairly close estimate of energy used. If you're not trying to lose weight you'll need to replace the calories you burn otherwise you're going to feel hungry.
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Old 07-26-19, 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
What was I harping about in the other forum topic, and nobody wanted to hear it? Lol.
Yeah, it seems a bit.......optimistic?
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Old 07-26-19, 02:37 PM
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I've never felt hungry during a ride or shortly after one. At least not to the point of craving food. I do find that if all I do are short (for me) 20 mile rides that I tend to eat more at meal time and snack more in between. Perhaps to the extent of negating the Calories I burned riding.

Longer rides seem to fair much better. I supposed just the additional time involved uses up the time that while not cycling, I'd be grabbing some thing to put in my belly. Also, since I actually did burn more Calories on the longer rides of 35 to 45 miles I can eat larger portions at meal time.

DSFDF i'm sure.
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Old 07-27-19, 09:40 AM
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Originally Posted by RastaManCan
..................... I never expected anything like this and it's disheartening eating so many calories so quickly after a great workout........................It's harder to moderate the calories after having such a massive burn. I guess I better dig deeper into my diet and track things closer so I can understand it as I start to acclimate.
Keep at it and things will work out just fine. As for myself, just glad this 69yo geezer doesn't have to keep track of anything other than to "keep on breathing, keep on breathing."
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Old 07-29-19, 11:24 AM
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Originally Posted by gregf83
When you ride your body burns a combination of carbs and fat depending on the intensity of your ride. The higher the intensity the higher the % of carbs burned. If you ride all-out for an hour you'll be burning close to 100% carbs. For myself, hunger seems related to how many carbs I burn.

As your fitness improves your body will adjust to burn a higher % of fats while riding at moderate intensity. A reasonable test is being able to ride at a reasonable pace for 3-4 hrs without eating and still feel decent at the end of a ride. You might try lowering the intensity of your rides and see if that affects your hunger. As others have mentioned, you're likely overestimating how many calories your burning. Many estimators based on HR are off by as much as 100%. For reference I weight around 75kg and burn approx 40Cals/mi based on powermeter readings which provide a fairly close estimate of energy used. If you're not trying to lose weight you'll need to replace the calories you burn otherwise you're going to feel hungry.
Best advice, My experience is the same. Get your body tuned to make better use of available nutrients. Takes time to adapt. If hunger after the ride is making you gain weight, seemingly unavoidably, during the adaptive process try eating more carbs, and only carbs, on the bike, not less. That will make you less hungry after. As you begin to feel better, gradually cut back on the on-bike carbs until you get to zero for 30 miles, but based on your post-ride hunger. That'll take a while.

You'll need more protein if your legs hurt on the bike, otherwise not. A handful of walnuts is a very effective post-ride hunger stopper and they're good for you.

I weigh 70kg. On a recent 153 mile, 10,000', 10 hour ride I burned ~4100 calories, based on my power meter. Because of the ride length, I rode as hard as I could which was not that hard, and ate ~1500 calories on the bike, less than half my burn. As Greg says, I can easily ride 3 hours, even hard, without eating and not be particularly hungry after. Drink lots, though.
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Old 07-29-19, 02:42 PM
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I'm also starving after I ride. I used to ride three times a week and lift three days a week, with one day off. As I've aged and had injury after injury, I ride twice and lift twice, take another day off, and on the last day, do something lighter like pilates or barre. I lost 20 lbs and it wasn't that hard !!!
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Old 07-29-19, 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by BloomBikeShop
For a quick fix, try eating a little more during your rides and see if that helps. For a longer term strategy, make sure you're keeping a food log/diary/journal of everything you try, so once you get it right, you'll have a record of it.
This is what works for me although I generally do not crave solid food during a ride. In a recent book on sports nutrition, the authors recommended keeping up with calorie needs during the ride and avoiding a calorie deficit. I have been consuming calories in a sport drink from Hammer Nutrition at the rate of about 150 calories per hour. I'm able to finish a 5-6 hour ride and not be famished. there are numerous sport nutrition book available. Find one specific to cycling or other endurance sport and good luck.
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Old 07-29-19, 04:47 PM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
related, got curious & found this bike/calorie calculator

https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-biking/
Spot checks suggest that can be 50-100% high.

25-35 kcal/mile is a more reasonable assumption without better data.

1 Watt = 1 joule/second, so 100W in 1 hour = 360,000 joules or 360kj.

1 Calorie = 4.2kj although cycling metabolic efficiency is never better than 25% so you can approximate 4 Calories in = 4.2kj out and round to 1 Calorie in = 1 kj out.

On "flat" terrain out-and-back using a power meter with +/-1.5% accuracy I measure about 100W averaging 15 MPH for 360 Calories / hour and 24 / mile; 150W at 18 MPH for 540 Calories / hour and 32 / mile; and 200W at 20 MPH for 720 Calories / hour and 36 / mile.

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Old 07-29-19, 11:32 PM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
related, got curious & found this bike/calorie calculator

https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-biking/
That calculator might be somewhat accurate if your not used to riding but if u are somewhat fit and ride enough u will burn about 30 cal a mile . The more fit u are even less maybe 25 a mile.
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