Training & Nutrition - How's this for a post-ride meal?

Hubby and I are just getting back into cycling after a couple of decades off. We're both 50+ and we're taking things slowly at first. Prior to re-entering cycling we were both walkers, so we are not in bad shape (relatively speaking). :) We're now able to ride 20+ miles at a time. Today we rode 16. I'm trying to make whatever modifications are necessary to our eating plan so that we get enough protein and healthy carbs to help rebuild muscle but also help us lose a little bit of extra weight (10-15 pounds).

As soon as we arrived back home this morning we each consumed:
Water
1 Kashi TLC bar (7 g protein, 19 g carbs, 4 g fiber)
1/2 banana

Then we fixed breakfast:
2 eggs
1 piece of toast w/butter (Hubby ate 2 slices)
1 cup coffee

For lunch:
I ate: 1 chicken tenderloin w/ 1 slice whole grain bread and mango/tomato salsa, 1 Tbsp or so peanuts, 8 oz. 2% milk
Hubby: PB&J sandwich on wheat, 1 orange

Late afternoon, I felt hungry so I had a snack:
1 med. apple
1 Tbsp. or so peanuts

Dinner will be:
Pork loin roast with leftover mango/tomato salsa
Grilled asparagus and red potatoes
Green salad
Slice wheat bread
Fruit for dessert


Does that sound like a healthy balance of carbs and protein? Anything I should add or delete? Speaking for myself, my energy is good; in fact I haven't felt this good in years.

I can consume more than Hubby and I get hungry sooner since I regularly eat 4-5 times thoughout the day and never skip meals. Sometimes I feel hungry when I go to bed, and I wonder if that is a sign I unintentionally under-ate during the day. Should I not allow myself to feel hungry at all? I don't want to deplete my muscles and lose any strength.

Yen

V nice. Wish I'd been at your house today!

Thanks :).... but I'm hoping someone will suggest any improvements. More protein? Anything???

After all that food I feel a tiny bit hungry. I don't know if I should eat or not... it's 8:00 p.m.

well, to make it better I'd
1. east before riding
2. Get more food at breakfast. I generally recommend all meals and snacks have veggies and protein. So make it a scramble with spinach or wolf down some baby carrots. You're still pretty low on protein during the day when you need to do some rebuilding, and your hubby moreso.

I suspect that my protein intake is a little low and I'm trying to figure out how to build it up. What do you suggest eating to add protein, anything in particular? I don't want to get obsessive about this, I'm not interested in body building or anything like that...... I don't want to eat tofu, nor do I want to use protein powder unless it's really necessary. I just want to eat a regular, balanced diet low in refined sugars/carbs and high in vegies/fruit and lean proteins w/ complex carbs. I guess I need to research this a bit to learn more.

Protein powder isn't necessary, just convenient. What I usually do is on Sundays I grill up a bunch of marinated chicken breast and I eat one with breakfast, since it's hard to get enough protein in the morning in a way my stomach can stand. Add a ittle bit more protein with lunch, a iece of string cheese with your snack, and you should be ok and feel more full later. Make that green salad with a fish oil and vinegar dressing and you get a gold star too!


But my preferred diet is simple: I eat 5-8 times a day with 30-60 grams of varied protein per meal, plus veggies of every type, and whatever fruit I want. I also consume fish oil. When I achieve this, my metabolism goes through the roof and very little supplementation with protein powder is needed.

I highly recommend Dr. John Berardi's "Precision Nutrition" as an eating plan. Check it out online.
However, I think protein powder is wonderful. It's pure protein so it's low calorie, and it's easy to use and convenient. Great to use for late night cravings mixed with cottage cheese (which is also a good source of protein)

You could east a thousand grams of protein a day and not get muscular. Neither will your hubby. You have to lift a lot of heavy weight a long time for that to happen. Howeverm sicne you're over 50, you *are* losing bone mass every year and lifting weight is the way to reverse that damage, so I recommend it highly.

Does that sound like a healthy balance of carbs and protein? Anything I should add or delete? Speaking for myself, my energy is good; in fact I haven't felt this good in years.

I can consume more than Hubby and I get hungry sooner since I regularly eat 4-5 times thoughout the day and never skip meals. Sometimes I feel hungry when I go to bed, and I wonder if that is a sign I unintentionally under-ate during the day. Should I not allow myself to feel hungry at all? I don't want to deplete my muscles and lose any strength.

YenYou might not be getting enough carbs into your body after the ride. This will result in lower insulin and leptin levels. You'll end up feeling hungry quicker. Leave the the Kashi for breakfast and take in a recovery drink of about 200-300 calories with high-GI fast-acting carbs like maltodextrin/dextrose.

Protein intake of 80-120gm/day is fine. You're probably on the high-end of this scale. Not much more needed even if you're bodybuilders.

To lose weight, work on burning off more calories. Try to get in a 2-3 hour ride on the weekend if you can (30-50 miles). It's the 2nd-3rd hour that burns off fat at 2-5x the rate of the 1st hour.

Hubby and I are just getting back into cycling after a couple of decades off. We're both 50+ and we're taking things slowly at first. Prior to re-entering cycling we were both walkers, so we are not in bad shape (relatively speaking). :) We're now able to ride 20+ miles at a time. Today we rode 16. I'm trying to make whatever modifications are necessary to our eating plan so that we get enough protein and healthy carbs to help rebuild muscle but also help us lose a little bit of extra weight (10-15 pounds).

As soon as we arrived back home this morning we each consumed:
Water
1 Kashi TLC bar (7 g protein, 19 g carbs, 4 g fiber)
1/2 banana

Then we fixed breakfast:
2 eggs
1 piece of toast w/butter (Hubby ate 2 slices)
1 cup coffee

For lunch:
I ate: 1 chicken tenderloin w/ 1 slice whole grain bread and mango/tomato salsa, 1 Tbsp or so peanuts, 8 oz. 2% milk
Hubby: PB&J sandwich on wheat, 1 orange

Late afternoon, I felt hungry so I had a snack:
1 med. apple
1 Tbsp. or so peanuts

Dinner will be:
Pork loin roast with leftover mango/tomato salsa
Grilled asparagus and red potatoes
Green salad
Slice wheat bread
Fruit for dessert


Does that sound like a healthy balance of carbs and protein? Anything I should add or delete? Speaking for myself, my energy is good; in fact I haven't felt this good in years.

I can consume more than Hubby and I get hungry sooner since I regularly eat 4-5 times thoughout the day and never skip meals. Sometimes I feel hungry when I go to bed, and I wonder if that is a sign I unintentionally under-ate during the day. Should I not allow myself to feel hungry at all? I don't want to deplete my muscles and lose any strength.

Yen

I like it. :) You cook for real then? Awesome!

Yes, I cook for real, but mostly when I'm on vacation, like now. When I work, Hubby does most of the cooking (he actually likes it!). I like to try new recipes (such as the chicken w/ mango-tomato salsa - yum!) and pork roast when I have a lot of time.

Thanks everyone for the tips and resources for further learning. It's interesting to find that it's a greater challenge for me to eat enough, rather than to stop eating too much! I realized yesterday that I have not really adjusted my caloric intake since adding cycling and boosting my walking. Prior to this, I walked a little daily and managed to lose weight doing that, but lately I added a lot more walking (including higher intensity with hills, steps, and intervals) as well as cycling. It's no wonder I feel hungry at night. When I was a lot younger I felt good about that because I believed I was just losing weight. Now, I am concerned about losing muscle.:eek:

Wash everything down with apple cider vinegar.

Uh, why? How much? What will that do for me?

Some believe that it helps with metabolism and other things, and some believe you have too much acid in your blood already, and need to down baking soda to counterract that. It's minutiae and you should ignore it.