Training & Nutrition - Sugar craving on rest days

Does anyone else get these? After several days of riding, I take a rest day and suddenly my urge to eat something sugary like candy jumps through the roof. Otherwise I eat really healthy on my bike days.

I get cravings for sugar and beef jerky.

On the other hand, I am dieting and losing weight, so I am craving food 24x7.

Yeah. Simple sugars especially -- I need soda like I need air and internet access -- but all sorts of food.

A runner friend told me once that exercise is a natural hunger suppressant. Maybe that's it.

3 bite rule:

Eat 3 bites of anything, within reason and your safe.

For me, that amounts to the 3 bites of german chocolate cake I had today because I've been craving it since my birthday, June 7th. I figure 90 days without any sweets warranted my ability to have 3 small bites (considering my wife bought the cake and has been eating it in front of me:p)

And ya, its my off days that I tend to eat a bit more, and crave sweets.

Propel saves me from any soda cravings normally, if they hit at all anymore.

I saw a nutritionist last year and when she saw on my food log that I regularly popped a few mouthfuls of butterscotch chips a few hours after dinner (I was dying for sugar!), she pinpointed that I wasn't getting enough carbs in my diet and that my body was craving sugar as a way to get it. I upped my carb intake with healthy stuff like yogurt/fruit/cereal or dried fruit or half a pb&j along with my dinner or a few hours after. My cravings for bad sugar disappeared. You can't stifle your body from getting what it needs, esp when doing lots of exercise. And when it's your rest day, your body is trying to replenish its glycogen and your metabolism is still in high gear. It's not all in your head.

That was interesting, today a rest day I was craving a candy bar all day... interesting!