Am I eating enough?

[Notsototalnewbie]

Yesterday I rode 5 miles to work, 5 miles back, quickly dumped commuting weight and set off to Richmond Park (20 miles there round and back). It is only the second time I've done 30 miles in one day, most days I just do the 10 mile round trip commute.

I felt zonked afterwards and very lightheaded this morning although it has picked up since I scoffed a flapjack and a cereal bar (already had cup of tea and porridge for breakfast).

Yesterday I ate:

2 pieces of toast (jam and peanut butter)
A bowl of homemade lentil and veg soup
A hazlenut yoghurt
A banana
A Green&Blacks choc nutty cereal bar thing
A bowl of veggie spag bol (quorn)
A large glass of chocolate milk (made with full fat milk and Nesquik)

Along with glasses of water, cups of tea and a hot chocolate.

Am I eating enough, is it just a fitness thing?

I don't have a massive amount of weight to lose, maybe a pound or two off my hips but any more and I'd look too thin for my height.

[Greenbank]

Am I eating enough, is it just a fitness thing?

It's a fat metabolism thing.

When I was cycling unfit I would eat the same, if not more, for that kind of distance.
Even when I was much fitter I would eat about the same.

But now I've got my fat metabolism running well I hardly need to eat anything for that kind of distance as I'm getting the majority of my energy from existing fat stores; even if you're very toned (and I'm not!) your body will still be about 10% fat. It's entirely normal.

Now I can do 100km in one go with no food. Or 50km in a couple of hours without any food that day (although this wasn't very clever). And I rarely feel tired after this kind of riding.

Read MV's excellent Distance Training thread for more info.

Top tips:

Don't starve yourself.
Don't risk bonking.
Don't go out on the bike without some bonk rations in your bag.
Don't expect immediate results. It takes a while for the body to adapt to your new exercise regime.

[nuttycyclist]

I think I'm eating too much...

The list of food in the OP is roughly what I'd eat in one sitting... not all day.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I think I'm eating too much...

The list of food in the OP is roughly what I'd eat in one sitting... not all day.

Ditto. Plus some beer

[Notsototalnewbie]

Ta for the advice, I will bear it all in mind. I did not know that your body could be trained to get its energy from existing fat stores rather than begging for food.

Those who think it is enough for one sitting are presumably men with corresponding appetites, I regularly disagree with The Bloke about what constitutes a meal/a big enough portion! A meal that he eats in one go, I will divide in two and take half for lunch at work the next day.

Although I can put away a lot more chocolate than he can.

[nuttycyclist]

Ta for the advice, I will bear it all in mind. I did not know that your body could be trained to get its energy from existing fat stores rather than begging for food.

Those who think it is enough for one sitting are presumably men with corresponding appetites and flabby bellies, I regularly disagree with The Bloke about what constitutes a meal/a big enough portion! A meal that he eats in one go, I will divide in two and take half for lunch at work the next day.

Although I can put away a lot more chocolate than he can.

fixed that for you

[Notsototalnewbie]

Well my body clearly hasn't got the fat metabolising thing down yet, as on return from the FNRTTC I have the desire to eat enough food for a small country 

I was careful not to eat too much at the stop, because my body's response to struggling up hills is to make me feel sick, and I was worried what might happen, which may have something to do with it.

And Nutty having met you I didn't see any flabby belly in evidence!

[Wendy]

The state of my hunger can be astonishing after a commute and a few hours of teaching, so I reckon you could eat more, especially if you're thin for your height and are still hungry.

[nuttycyclist]

...
And Nutty having met you I didn't see any flabby belly in evidence!

I was wearing tight tight tight cycling leggings with a high waistband, and a very baggy  top.

If I wasn't so embarrassed about my overindulgences I'd post a nude (well, from waist up) photo right now just to prove the flab.

Edit:  Worse than I thought   Tape measure says I have a 34" hip line and 40" gut.  Whoops.

[Notsototalnewbie]

Nutty...nutty. You don't know the meaning of the word 'gut' til you've been involved in darts at league level a la Mr NSTN.

Thankfully he is still retaining his lanky lean look due to what must be a lightening metabolism, but he plays with some seriously large bellies. They are professionals in the gut stakes 

I missed taking a photo of the pretty fox at Dartford because the flash didn't have enough juice, looked at the photos on there to see why the batteries had gone so quickly (he'd borrowed the camera to photograph a match) and found instead I had a load of pictures of blokes with beer guts. I was not particularly pleased. 

[agagisgroovy]

Firstly, well done on managing 30 miles ... I only managed that a couple of years ago (on a solo, anyway).

Were you eating snacks during the ride? They usually help a lot with keeping your blood sugar level. Shortbread, flapjack and jelly babies (and other sweets) are all very good riding nosh.

[Notsototalnewbie]

Thanks. I managed 54 yesterday, not sure how!

I don't tend to snack on rides because of the feeling sick thing.

I might treat myself to something small like Jelly belly beans to carry in my jersey though...

[Julian]

You won't feel so sick if you keep eating.  The nauseous feeling you get going up hills is because you haven't eaten enough.  If you're prone to nausea when you're tired (I am too) then go for bananas, smoothies or crisps over chocolate and sweet things. 

I've got much better at not needing quite so much food for a ride, but after a long ride I spend the whole of the next day eating. 

[Notsototalnewbie]

Hmmm. I hadn't thought of that. I should have actually *eaten* the banana I brought with me at Junction 31 then.

The thought of hurling in front of a load of people I had only just met was just too mortifying, and seemed to become a real possibility halfway up Shooter's Hill!

[juliet]

Hm, I do find that nausea halfway up a hill can be due to just having eaten (the Hill Immediately After Lunch syndrome), but that goes away pretty fast IME.  Agreed that in general nausea on hills in general is more likely to be not eating enough than anything else.  Or trying too hard (like rowers who famously get told that keeping going on the erg machine thing till they chuck just shows they're trying hard enough.  I disapprove.). 

[Ian H]

Hm, I do find that nausea halfway up a hill can be due to just having eaten

Yes, eating during an event or ride is a tricky thing to get right.

Afterwards, I just eat quite a lot.

[teethgrinder]

Your stomach is a large muscle, which needs a lot of blood to function.
Either, as has been said, you are getting hypoglycemic (the knock or bonk), which means that your stomach hasn't the energy to digest food, so rejects it. You will feel bad if that is the case. Your legs will be burning. I've almost blacked out from it on a few occasions. I did once, but free beer (alcohol also lowers blood sugar levels) after a 400km ride through Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor was another factor in that case.
Or, when you eat, your stomach becomes full and is demanding blood to function. But when you ride up a hill, your legs demand the blood. You only have so much and your heart has a limit as to how fast it can pump the blood around your body. The legs are probably being favoured, which means that your stomach can't cope any longer with the demands of digesting food.
Either way, the best thing seems to be the old addage, to eat little and often.
You won't have a fast fat metabolism from riding less than 50 miles at a time, occasionally. More like 50 miles every day, minimum, would give you a good fat metabolism.
Also, your stomach will become more efficient at digesting food if you keep using it. When you exercise, your whole body function speeds up. Digestive system included.

[Wendy]

There might be another cause - if you're pushing yourself extremely hard going uphill, you might be going very anaerobic.  Your body would then be producing lots of lactate, and too much of that can make some people feel nauseous.  I have hurled before after a set of 500m intervals on skates.   

[Chris S]

I have hurled before after a set of 500m intervals on skates.   

Indeed. I parked my breakfast in the hedge shortly after finishing my one and only ever attempt at a TT. I decided on that day, having already had plenty of hints from my body over the years, that I just don't work that way. I can ride a bike all day, all night and all the next day, but ask me to do it fast, or to run, and it just doesn't work properly.

[Wendy]

LOL!  The more you do it, the better your body gets at handling it.

[Greenbank]

This page has some good info as to where your body gets energy from when it really needs it.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm

[Notsototalnewbie]

This all makes a lot of sense, thanks.

I'm thinking it's fitness that needs building. When I first started cycling regularly three years ago, on my heavy old Raleigh SS (having done no other CV exercise in years), I couldn't cycle from Stockwell to Trafalgar Square without wanting to throw up as I went up the slight incline onto Charing X Rd and feeling like I was dying. Embarrassing but true. The pain in my lungs was so bad I went to my GP wondering if something was badly wrong!

Now of course I can manage much greater distances/inclines without that feeling, and have spent the last three years on and off utility cycling around flat central London, not really pushing myself at all. Now I am tackling hills, it is that same old wanting to throw up/pain in lungs feeling when I really push myself. Which makes me think if I keep practising/building up my fitness, it might eventually go away, at least on the smaller hills!

[mattc]

(like rowers who famously get told that keeping going on the erg machine thing till they chuck just shows they're trying hard enough.  I disapprove.). 

Yes, I've never understood that. Could anyone show me a research paper that shows the benefits of "training until you hurl".