Comments on: Weight Loss Progress – Week 11

By: ColinJ

ColinJ — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:24:43 +0000

I only use carbo-powder for bike rides over 3 hours. On those, I always lose weight (even allowing for dehydration) so I know that I’m not taking in too many calories, in fact it can be a problem to keep the energy supplies topped up. I’ve ‘bonked’ or ‘hit the wall’ a few times by not eating and/or drinking enough on long/hard rides and I try to avoid that now – it’s a horrible feeling. I’m only aiming to top up the glycogen stores as I’m going along. Obviously I’m burning fat too and that’s something I want to do so I wouldn’t take in calories to cover that.

For shorter rides I just use water and orange juice mixed 2:1.

On longer rides I add three 20 g scoops of powder per 750 mL of drink. Sometimes, especially if it is hot, I add a small amount of salt to the drinks. On a 50 mile (80 km) ride, I’d normally drink two 750 mL bottles, but on the hilly one coming up it will be more like 2.0 L, but probably nothing to eat.

I’d drink four 750 mL bottles on a 100 mile (160 km) ride, perhaps with a can of Coca Cola or an energy gel to perk me up towards the end, and probably eat a couple of sandwiches, a piece of cake or some chocolate – anything to get a few more calories in.

The longest rides that I’ve done have been 125-140 miles (200-225 km). I’d drink (say) six 750 mL bottles plus a couple of Coca Colas, and eat three or four sandwiches plus a piece of cake and a bar of chocolate. I actually struggle to eat and drink enough when I’m tired, but that’s when I need it most.

By: Alun

Alun — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:13:38 +0000

Colin,

Just a thought.

5kgs of Maltodextrin contains about 19,000kcals according to a site I looked at. Have you accounted for it in your calorie intake?

Alun

By: ColinJ

ColinJ — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:27:11 +0000

Hi Alun.

Yes, I finally hit a total of 5 kgs (11 pounds) loss. It doesn’t sound a huge amount, but I had a 5 kg bag of Maltodextrin (carbo-powder) delivered today and when I picked it up it struck me that it was actually quite heavy. I still want to lose three times that again though.

The exercise bike is really only for when I can’t get out on the real one so I (hopefully) won’t be using it much again this year until about November. Mind you, the forecast isn’t so good for the next few days so you never know!

I’ve just looked at the CycleChat photos – that looked like a nice day out on the bikes!

Yes, see you on the 5th April in Mytholmroyd.
Colin

By: Alun

Alun — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:11:49 +0000

Hi Colin,

Good to see you’re sticking at it. You’re still losing weight, even if it’s not as fast as you would like.

What’s happened to the exercise bike, you haven’t mentioned that recently?

Check out Longers’ Foolow photos on the “Cyclechat Jersey Relay Journal” I’m not going to Penistone with him, that’s for sure.

I’ll see you in a couple of weeks on the “Mytholmroyd Marathon”

Alun