Training & Nutrition - training weight loss questions

A few questions.

If I eat an excess of carbohydrate food, will it be stored as fat (I'm guessing that's what happens when you drink too much beer, right?)
I heard I should eat carbos within half an hour after after training. If I want to loose weight, should I still do this? I'm wondering if it has any effecyt on whether you burn cards or at when you next train - or does it not matter?

Thanks

Big picture:
Eating more than you burn = gaining weight.
Eating less than you burn = losing weight.

Research shows that carb and protein intake post workout (especially in easily digested liquid form) results in those nutrients going to the muscle cells where they are needed rather quickly. Unless you are eating hyoooooge amounts of carbs (or any nutrient) after a workout, then there shouldn't be any risk of putting on fat.

A few questions.

If I eat an excess of carbohydrate food, will it be stored as fat (I'm guessing that's what happens when you drink too much beer, right?)
I heard I should eat carbos within half an hour after after training. If I want to loose weight, should I still do this? I'm wondering if it has any effecyt on whether you burn cards or at when you next train - or does it not matter?

Thanks

www.precisionnutrition.com.

If you're trying to lose weight by cutting calories and exersizing, you need to determine a few things first.
How much do you weight currently? How active is your regular (non-workout) life? These two things dictate how many calories you need to survive at your current weight. Then you need to have at least a best guess of how many calories you burn doing your excersize (biking, aerobics, etc).
More on this in a bit.
My daily exersize is to ride my bike on a trainer in the AM, before breakfast, for 30 minutes. It's all the time I have in the AM so it's all I can do. I stay at 80% of my max heart rate for at least 20 of those minutes, warm up for 5 and cool down for 5. I average 23 mph doing this. I burn around 450 calories during this time. I don't eat before and I eat a banana afterward. But I'm losing weight fast for a reason.

Now, so you don't have to give this info, I'll share mine with you and you can fill in the blanks.
I weigh 172 pounds (down 6 in 17 days, down 9 inches also). This means I need 1720 calories a day just to lay in bed and breathe in order to maintain that weight. My days are mostly sitting, so I add only 20% of daily calories for my lifestyle (40% if you are moderately active-a server in a restaurant is mod active, and 70% if you are an athlete). So I would add another 344 calories. This is just to maintain my weight.
So, in order to stay at 172 (no) I would eat 2064 calories.
BUT, I don't want to stay there! I want to be 130 someday. I've decided that I can easily keep myself at 1600 calories per day. Been doing it two weeks and my stomach has shrunk so it takes less to get the 'full' feeling. Since I'm also burning 450 calories a day on the bike, I'm living on 1150 calories a day.
This means I'm in a defecit of 914 calories a day and every 4 days I should lose a pound. And so far it's working well!
Now, as for what to eat after training, it depends on the training. I consider my bike rides aerobic, not weight training (though my legs say different). After aerobic training I eat good carbs (fruit, veggies, yogurt) NO white foods (rice, bread, noodles). After weight training I eat protien. Just note to stay within the set number of calories you've given yourself for the day. Even protein, eaten in excesive amounts, will be held in the bod as fat.

Good luckk and keep us up to date on your progress. It's easier to stay on your own 'diet' when you can see what others are doing!

ginny thats good sound advice

A few questions.

If I eat an excess of carbohydrate food, will it be stored as fat (I'm guessing that's what happens when you drink too much beer, right?)
I heard I should eat carbos within half an hour after after training. If I want to loose weight, should I still do this? I'm wondering if it has any effecyt on whether you burn cards or at when you next train - or does it not matter?

Thanks

When you eat a lot of carbs at once, your blood sugar goes up. That causes insulin to go up, which helps take the sugar out of your blood and store at as fat. Which causes your blood sugar to go down, and you're hungry again. So, in general, if you can limit simple carbs, things are better.

This is fairly simplistic - the other foods that you eat effect how carbs effect your blood sugar - but it's not a bad guideline. Think about vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein, etc.

When exercising, things are different. As long as you're not taking in too much ( and going about 250-350 cal/hour causes stomach upset), the simple carbs go to your muscles rather than being converted to fat. And carbs (ideally with some protein) right after working out go to replace the glycogen (aka sugar) in your muscles. That moderates your blood sugar and also your appetite.

If you don't take in any sugar during a ride, your blood sugar will go down. Even if you don't bonk (run out of sugar - which is no fun at all), you will have low blood sugar when you finish and will likely get really hungry, which makes it hard not to overeat.

This depends on how much and how hard you ride, but I used to go on rides Saturday morning, and then come back and eat the rest of the day. I now can go out on a 3 hour ride (burning perhaps 1800 calories), drink maybe 500 calories worth during the ride and 250 afterwards (I use accelerade) on top of a smaller-than usual breakfast, and then eat less at lunch than usual. Though I am sometimes a bit hungrier the day afterwards.

Doing that took me from 175 pounds down to 165 pounds last year without a lot of effort (I'm 6'2", and I'm not really trying to be any thinner).

Thanks for that, chaps, great help and advice.

I was maybe a stone overweight about a month ago, and am now maybe half a stone overweight. Lost about a half a stone by going on a 250 mile tour. I ate a lot, as you need to on tour, but the constant exercize just takes it off.
I now maybe get half an hour or an hour if I'm lucky, but I've moderated my diet (though it was pretty much okay before), but mainly I've stopped drinking, which I feel has really helped.