The Cyclist and Weight Loss

By Zach Lail

There are allot of ideas out there about diet and exercise, especially for athletes. I don’t claim to be an expert on diet and nutrition, but I have had allot of experience personally with diet and have found what works well for me and the Athletes I coach. The following is simply my interpretation and spin on what the experts have to say. After all that’s the difference between an expert and a professional, while an expert knows all the answers, a professional simply knows where to find all the answers!

Sports nutrition is relatively simple in my mind, so why don’t more people get it? Well there are a few reasons. With all the work we do, we often feel like we can eat whatever we want. And while I certainly wish this were the case, this is often the downfall for athletes who tend to be heavy and who cannot seem to shake those few extra pounds. I also don't like to focus too much on this particular area because it can be a sensitive area for people that have issues with food and disordered eating, so we'll move ahead with caution.

So what is the issue? Simply put, too many calories will equate to excess body weight and too few will hamper performance. Pretty simple, but there is more to it than that. Chris Carmichael's book states, we need to eat for the physical demand at hand. Simply put, if your caloric expenditure is low, such as during rest weeks and easy days then try to match it with a lower caloric intake. This is why so many ex-athletes tend to gain weight when they stop competing and why so many gain weight in the off-season. It is hard to change old habits such as eating like a horse when you are in the middle of a big training month. Keep that up after retirement, or when you aren't training as much, and watch the pounds pile on. Notice I did not mention recovery days or rest days. This is due to the fact that you still need to take in adequate calories on these days to replenish your glycogen stores for the next workout, protein to help repair any damage to the muscle tissue as well as fat, vitamins and minerals. Failure to do so will seriously hamper performance, just do it within reason. A single day is very different from a rest week, and a long day, hard day or both, are very different from an easy or a short day. And last but not least, just because you did a hard 5 hour workout does not mean you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want. Sorry, extra effort and output does not equate to a doubled or tripled metabolism, contrary to popular opinion, and the food's caloric content does not change because you trained hard that day. This is especially true for those of us who are over 25 or 30 years of age and whose metabolisms have begun to slow.

Moving on to the next culprit, eating the wrong kinds of foods. Now this can be another touchy subject as there are as many diets and opinions floating around as there as there are carbohydrates in a potato. What we will be discussing here are the basics relevant to performance and health. The key principles to be aware of are: 1) making your carbohydrates complex or simple, and 2) keeping your proteins lean and 3) your fats healthy.

Carbohydrates have gotten a bad name over the last decade, but they are essential for performance in endurance athletics. I still can’t believe that real doctors are recommending the low/no carb diets. Does anyone else find this as absurd as I do? The only problem, once again, becomes eating too many of them (or any type of carbohydrate for that matter) when the output doesn't match the input.

The other issue is the glycogen index. I cannot state how important this is. Unfortunately this is not a black and white matter, it is grey and both types of carbohydrate are necessary for performance. Complex carbs tend to burn longer and more evenly, keeping the insulin regulated, leading to better over all performance. These are the kinds of carbohydrates we want to load up on prior to a race or long hard workout. That is not to say that the high glycogen sugars are bad, as they are critical to speeding recovery to depleted muscles immediately after a workout and even during workouts. What we want to avoid with these is eating them before exercise or in between activity, as they will spike the blood sugar, kicking a bunch of insulin into the blood stream, which will not be used and thus stored as fat while leaving us feeling tired and sluggish. Eating these kinds of carbohydrates also tend to lead to an even greater hunger once digested as their initial spike in blood sugar will inevitably be followed by a dramatic drop shortly after, leading to hunger and low-levels of energy.

Endurance athletes tend to focus on carbohydrate intake and pay little attention to protein. As a result, protein deficiency appears often among endurance athletes, with its attendant negative effects on performance and health. Serious endurance athletes do need considerable amounts of protein, far above the normal adult RDA, because maintenance, repair, and growth of lean muscle mass all depend on it, as well as optimum immune system function. Low dietary protein lengthens recovery time, causes muscle weakness, and suppresses the immune system. Chronic protein deficiency will cancel the beneficial effects of your workouts; instead, you will become susceptible to fatigue, lethargy, anemia, and possibly even more severe disorders. Athletes with over-training syndrome usually have protein deficiency.

Speaking of protein, the key here, is the type of protein. Animal proteins, in my opinion, are necessary for ultimate recovery from high-intensity exercise, but need to eaten in moderation because they are higher in saturated fat. They also need to be chosen wisely because some are "fattier" than others. Chicken & fish tend to be leaner than red meat and dairy, but if you are going to go those routes than look for lean cuts of meat and the low-fat dairy selections. The second issue regarding protein involves which proteins at what time? Which protein is best for use before, during, and after exercise has been a subject of much debate. I recommend a combination of both soy and whey protein, used at separate times, to provide the most comprehensive support for an endurance athlete's diet. I believe that whey protein is the premier protein for recovery and enhanced immune system function while soy protein is ideal for fulfilling protein requirements prior to and during endurance exercise. That doesn't mean using soy protein for recovery purposes would be "wrong" or in any way harmful. For optimal benefits though, you'll not find a better protein for recovery and immune system boosting than whey protein. For cardiovascular benefits it's hard to top soy.

And last but not least, the ever unpopular, but absolutely critical fat. Fat has gotten a bad rap in our society, and unfortunately, many often pay the price with unhealthy immune systems or less than stellar performances as a result of excess or not enough fat in the diet. The key is to get your fats from healthy sources, and this is even more critical for athletes who are not only concerned with health and body composition, but with performance as well. You wouldn't put dirty gasoline in your car would you? So why would you put dirty fuel in your body? Indeed, there are some types of fat that should be avoided like the plague. These are saturated fat, and trans fatty acids, the man-made found in highly processed foods are called hydrogenated. Hydrogenated fats lead to artery clogging the same as the saturated kind. Don’t confuse these bad fats with all types of fat. There are, in fact, many healthy fats out there found in healthy foods. Choose polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats over saturated ones. Fish and nuts are high in the healthy and performance enhancing Omega 3 fatty acids and olive, avocado, grape seed and canola oils.

Is hard to keep it too simple without getting the point across. I hope this information proves helpful and gives you some insights as to how to alter your diet to improve both your athletic performance and your body composition. If you feel you need further guidance and supervision, or someone to tell you what exactly to eat and when you should consult a sports nutritionist. Remember to keep it simple in your quest to be the best you can be.