Training & Nutrition - Where to start.

I have been a commuter/touring cyclist for all of my cycling life. I have recently started a new job that has upped my commute to ４０ miles daily. Prior to this my commuting was very low due to the fact I am an IT consultant and worked heavily from home for the past year. This upped my weight by about 30lbs as I am an eater. I luv food. So, I have always been a bit of a clyde.

Now the weightloss will come with the increased mileage and appropriate diet. So, that is my secondary goal. My primary goal is to eat right to enable me to do this 40 mile commute daily and recover for the ride home and the next days ride. Building on top of this I want to structure the ride home to build my fitness level so perhaps some intervals of some specification are called for on the return journey. I do not want to push it on the way to work to much as no showers=sink and baby wipe hygenic approach at the office and I do not want to be exhausted all day. So it will be 65 percent HR on the way in.

To accent this I want to do some at home strength training to help regain some of my muscle mass and stoke the metabolism. Probably 3 times per week, prior to ride and at home so nothing fancy just dumbells.

With most of this in mind, considering I am a bit lost on the nutritional front. What would experienced cyclists with nutritional expertise advise on eating so I do not burn myself out. I think healthy food is pretty straightforward. Most of us know to eat turkey, fish and chicken, veggies, oats etc etc etc. But, I am always at a bit of a loss as to when to eat what. For example, I read about having some high GI foods after the ride to help with recovery, but is supposed to hinder wiehgt loss.

Like i said. I just want to make sure I recover properly, I think the weightloss will come with the increased mileage and improved diet.

If you were just starting out on a training schedule of 20m in the morning and 20m at night. How would you approach your first 3 months? Oh, perhaps I should mention that all of these 40m are based in an ultra urban environment so lots of stops and go. Tokyo is not known for its open plains and wandering buffalo. How would you setup your nutritional diet and mileage training as a newbie.

Sorry for the rambling.

I think Carmichael's "Food for fitness" has a lot of really good information. South beach diet is also okay as long as you don't base your training nutrition around it.

I try to eat a natural diet, which means not a lot of processed flour, white sugar, and not too much protein and fat. Lots of fruit, vegatables, whole grains, and quality protein.

But for the cycling, you need the simple carbs - that's what your muscles burn. Ideally, you need some simple carbs right before you ride, and some good carbs - say 250-350 calories - after you are done.

I do not think that high GI carbs right after a workout compromise weight loss. In fact, I think they enhance weight loss, for the simple reason that a big challenge is not to eat too much after workout. I have a good track record drinking Endurox after workouts and then not really being too hungry - if you replace the carbs you burn, you don't have to replace the fat, and you will be much less sore. I dropped about 15 pounds over the last 9 months without really trying by eating quality during the day and focusing on good recovery nutrition.

My only concerns are:

1) 20 miles will get you into the fat burning zone, but my not be long enough to really put a dent in your fat reserves. Though doing it twice a day will help.
2) If you love food, it may be hard to make better choices.

Intervals are good to get faster, but they won't do much to increase your base metabolism - and they can compromise your aerobic improvements if you do them too much.

Thanks eric,

Yes, the love of food thing is an issue but not much really. I can control it fairly well when I want to. But, as I mentioned I consulted from home for the previous 1.5 years the fridge was a little closer to me than I would of preferred. But, I am fairly sure that the weight loss will come back off again with this distance commute. It is all just mathematics at the end of the day I suppose. In vs Out.

But, as I mentioned my major concern is ensuring I am eating the right combination of healthy food to enable good recovery daily so I can jump back into it the next day. I will take your advice on board about the carbs before and after and limit it to a few hundred cals. I was the kind of commuter before who would scoff back everything I could find after the ride in as I was so hungry from the commute. But, if I can find out what is the ideal recovery meal than I will have no problem sticking to just that this time around.