ok i know theres loads of articles etc about this subject but im curious to know what my fellow shecyclers do

what do you eat after a ride?

do you have different types of food/meals on rest days?

or do you just eat anything you fancy on any day?

my current mind set due to dieting; is to eat something light on a rest day like homemade soup or stir fry and on the nights after riding i feel like i can treat myself to something more carby like pasta, curry etc. 

just musing, this isnt a serious training thread.

Chocolate cake

I tend to eat what I want but I'm trying to make the effort to include more veggies at the moment.

Basically after riding you should be eating something with carbs and protien to replace what you have lost.  fat is not bad as long as it is the right kind of fat, unfortunately for me chocolate cake isn't in that category.  As I am doing a lot of miles at the moment my usual routine is get in have a chocolate milkshake, they is actually research to show that they are an excellent recovery drink, then after a while have something pasta or rice based.  On non-biking days I do eat less but I eat the same meals wise, just when I'm on my bike I'm always eating so I just cut out the food I would eat extra.

I've been adding veg to every meal I make recently (ie if I have curry I just throw in a handfull of frozen veg as well as the chicken I normall use) as although they say 5 portions of fruit and veg a day it should be nearer 9, that has two good effects.  The first being that it is making my diet heathier but the second is that I eat less of the unheathly stuff as it is filling me up more.

Thought maybe I should give a sensible answer!  Let me know if you want to know anything specific, I'm quite geeky and read lots of books on the subject, if I followed my own advice I'd be a lean mean fighting machine, but I still believe that food should be enjoyable and I love chocolate and pizza.

A chocolate milkshake is definitely a good post-ride option. Anita Bean's Sports Nutrition book is excellent if you want to know what you should really be doing with your diet. Personally, I find it's easy to over-estimate how hard I've been working on a ride and then over-reward on the calories, like Trio said knowing what you should be doing and doing it aren't always the same thing. I found I was better at really managing my diet when I was doing a lot of running as compared to now I'm doing more biking, although I'm not sure why that is the case. 

And Debz, KFC would be way down my list of things to eat!

i love food thats the problem! i spend most of my day dreaming about whats for tea....

i have to be really careful what i eat as i put on weight v easily.

i've always eaten heathily with lots of veg each meal and i have fruit every day - i think the problem for me has been too much booze and to much on my plate!

i just wondered if you should eat something like pasta before teh ride or if it was better to eat something like that after teh ride. im confused by replacing and having something good in preparation for teh ride.

heres an e.g. yesterday i had muslei, 5 bits of fruit and a yoghurt - then i went riding and really pushed myself to near sickness/weakness - got hime at 9pm and ate half a pizza (should have had soup again by felt like treating myself) the night previously i'd had homemade soup for tea. so i hadn't carbed up before teh ride but i treated myself after the ride - is that right or wrong? trio?

Ads is that all you had to eat yesterday?  How long were you riding for?  My body wouldn't like that I would need at least a sandwich for lunch.

I don't tend to put weight on or lose it easily, but my body will happily be about a stone overweight at all times, I've only recently got below 10 stone for the first time since I was about 15!

Anyway they say now that carb loading should be done over a few days, you don't eat more you just change the proportion of what you eat so less fat and protien more carbs.  This is only really relevant for a big event/ride.

Really you should try and mantain a good carb intake, with your soup have a bread roll.  Rice is even better than pasta, try and stick to whole grain varieties.  But I think you might not be eating enough.  The human body is really clever and if you are not getting enough food then it stores all the fat you give it so it can survive if it gets less, annoying as you think right I'm eating less I should lose weight.  The other big thing is muscle weighs more than fat so instead of concentrating on weight, take your waist and hip measurements and compare them.  Also when your clothes feel a little looser.

A few years ago I kept a food diary and compared it to the exercise I was doing, running and gym work at the time, I wasn't eating enough!  By upping my intake I was able to exercise more effectively and that helped with the weight!

I'm a geek ads that is all it is I love reading about stuff.  Pity I didn't follow all the advice, then I'd be amazing

I have no natural talent either so I have to work on it.  Ask TH how much I have improved since our first ride in Wales.

Ads, you still do not say at what time, and for how long your were actually riding for on that food intake, like Trio I could not exist all day on that diet if I was not riding, let alone if I had been out all day cycling!  Though I confess I would not get home and eat a pizza, or KFC as someone else has done. 

Found pizzas far too fatty recently, and last time I had KFC I thought it was disgusting and over salted, and that was after lusting for it for the final 20km or so of a 600km ride!!!!

hey sharon, low food intake is due to conscious dieting at the moment as ive put on 1/2 stone. (im only 5'3 and currently weigh just under 10st)

Just need a kick start then i'll be sensible again - i know its wrong but its the only way for me to get started on a diet.

the ride was about 10 miles (15km) offroad in peak so pretty hilly! not a massive ride at all.

ps. kfc etc is nasty! i love greasy pizza's though. 

I had pizza for my lunch, it is my favorite food.  But my dinner will be a lot heathier!!!

Ads your weight is in the heathy range for your height, we are the same height!  I have spent most of my adult life above 10stone!  Only recently have I dropped under it.  Everyone has a different body type.  More important is what size you are, so what size clothes you take.  I have met people same height and weight as me who are a lot lot bigger.  I've only met you once and briefly but I definetly don't remember you being overweight!

Seriously though, don't restrict your diet too much, you won't lose weight that way.  An adult female really needs a minimum of 1800 calories a day, going below 1500 is considered an eating disorder.

I'm not keen on dieting.  As Trio said, the body stores up fat reserves if it think you're starving it.

Also imo. you crave all the things that aren't allowed.  

So I think it is common sense:  Eat more a good few days before rides, try and make the plate at least half full of veggies or salad.  Get as many food groups into your days eating as possible and voila.

Women are bad at leaving out things that we think make us fat, e.g. nuts and avocados, these in fact are so nutritious (Sp?) 

Oh yes and treat yourself, also as trio says, life wouldn't be worth living without choolate. 

My two penneth..also a real food geek as I'm intolerant to cows milk and wheat but easier to manage.

For brekky I have a smoothie... all fresh and home made... pineapple,avacado, celery, spinich, cucumber, apple juice and lime... small handfull of cooked brown rice for carbs.

full of good fats, metabolism boosting ingrediants, carbs and vits.

Lunch will be either a sarny, salad or baked spud then dinner will be protein and salad... no carbs if i can help it.

I am very rarely hungry in fact only if i cheat and have sugar ( buns at work etc)

I used to have real energy problems and resolved this after reading articles by SIS and changing my diet.  SIS reckon women are 25% worse at carb loading than men...generalisation for sure but I know for sure it doesnt work for me.  I have to east at least an hour before a ride and I didnt use GO electolyte I would "bonk" after about an hour and a half less if we are really pushing it.

Riding over carbed is no good for you especially if recently eaten...if you ride with food in your stomach it gets turned into insuline and can either make you sick or crash energy wise.

 Its def a science and everyone is different

Hey ads

 have you thought about getting your body composition tested? if you climb and bike then you probably have a lot of muscle which weighs heavier than fat. Since i started climibng, i've gone up half a stone, and most of that is just muscle. Although some of it is fat, but that was a good thing! 

 While it may depress you (my last test did!) it gives you a good indication of how much you should be eating on a rest day/training day and also incentive to eat healthily or train harder. 

 just a though!

kate