Training & Nutrition - Gels\Energy Bars\Energy Drinks & losing weight.

If I was better at using the search function, I'm sure I could find my answers, but I did some searching and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so here goes my question for you all...

I'm in the process of losing weight, actually dropped about 45 pounds since March. I've never paid any attention to on-bike nutrition. I rarely eat anything, and 99% of the time only drink water on the bike. I would like to start eating on the bike to keep my energy level up along with drinking a good energy drink. Problem is, I'm lost when I goto the store and look at all the energy drinks, and especially bars and gels. They are all so loaded with sugar, just goes against what I eat to loose weight. What should I be looking for in a good energy bar, or gel and drink? I prefer the gels over bars because the bars usually melt during my summer rides. Any good suggestions for me as far as the gels and drinks go? Thanks for any help....

I use the Gu products, their gel and drink supplement, along with Cliff bars for longer rides. I have not found that it has slowed my loss. They allow me to stay on the longer and feel better afterwards.

I don't want to slow down my weight loss though. I still want to lose another 20 pounds or so...

When I go to Whole Foods, I buy every single package of their fig bars.

Don't worry about slowing weight loss while on the bike. As Dean mentions, you want to keep fueled so you can go longer and harder, which is better for your weight loss in the long run.

If I was better at using the search function, I'm sure I could find my answers, but I did some searching and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so here goes my question for you all...

I'm in the process of losing weight, actually dropped about 45 pounds since March. I've never paid any attention to on-bike nutrition. I rarely eat anything, and 99% of the time only drink water on the bike. I would like to start eating on the bike to keep my energy level up along with drinking a good energy drink. Problem is, I'm lost when I goto the store and look at all the energy drinks, and especially bars and gels. They are all so loaded with sugar, just goes against what I eat to loose weight. What should I be looking for in a good energy bar, or gel and drink? I prefer the gels over bars because the bars usually melt during my summer rides. Any good suggestions for me as far as the gels and drinks go? Thanks for any help....
Well how long are your rides and at what intensity? Ride nutrition and post ride nutrition is important, otherwise you will be cannibalizing your muscle tissue. That said everything depends on intensity and duration (time wise) of the ride.

I generally ride 20 to 25 miles during the week after work. Try to get in longer rides of about 40 miles or so on the weekends. I live in western PA, so it's rather hilly. Intensity is high, I really push it on my rides.

I just checked out the nutrition labels on the Gu Gels and GU20 and was suprised to see that they don't have much sugar in them. Looks like a good option for me.

I generally ride 20 to 25 miles during the week after work. Try to get in longer rides of about 40 miles or so on the weekends. I live in western PA, so it's rather hilly. Intensity is high, I really push it on my rides.

I just checked out the nutrition labels on the Gu Gels and GU20 and was suprised to see that they don't have much sugar in them. Looks like a good option for me.
They have sugar. Since you are going all out you primary burn through your glycogen, I think, supply. So you need carbohydrates to replenish it. So don't shy away from them.
Found a post that talks a bit about post ride recovery foods: http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=301936&highlight=recovery+drinks
For 20-25 miles I wouldn't really have anything. It's what about hour hour and a half of riding? If you push yourself really hard then have a post ride recovery drink, RIGHT after you come back. Most of the calories would go to the muscles. Danno can explain it better. :) There are specialty recovery drinks out there. I prefer, 1% from traders joe, chocolate milk for various reasons. For longer rides a bottle or two with GU20 should be fine. Personally for about two hour endurance ride I take in about 150 calories through GU2O, then another 320 through chocolate milk as post recovery drink. I do rides in the morning, so I have about 200-300 calories breakfast. Works for me, but you might want to experiment. In the end look at it as a big picture. How many calories did you burn during a ride+regular metabolism (slightly accelerated because of exercise)-food you usually consume-during/post ride foods.

If I was better at using the search function, I'm sure I could find my answers, but I did some searching and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so here goes my question for you all...

I'm in the process of losing weight, actually dropped about 45 pounds since March. I've never paid any attention to on-bike nutrition. I rarely eat anything, and 99% of the time only drink water on the bike. I would like to start eating on the bike to keep my energy level up along with drinking a good energy drink. Problem is, I'm lost when I goto the store and look at all the energy drinks, and especially bars and gels. They are all so loaded with sugar, just goes against what I eat to loose weight. What should I be looking for in a good energy bar, or gel and drink? I prefer the gels over bars because the bars usually melt during my summer rides. Any good suggestions for me as far as the gels and drinks go? Thanks for any help....

Sugar during a workout is not a problem. The problem with sugar normally is that it raises your blood sugar up, you get an insulin spike, and then your body stores the sugar as fat, and then you get hungry again.

When you're working out, you don't get the blood sugar spike, so you don't get the problematic insulin spike. You want to be taking in somewhere around 250 cal/hour, mostly carbs or carbs with a little protein. Doing that will keep your blood sugar constant, which means you will be much less hungry at the end of the ride. If your rides are a couple hours, a recovery drink is a good idea - that will replace the sugar in your muscles quickly and also moderate your blood sugar level. If you do that, you can replace the sugar you burnt but not the fat.

For hydration drinks, I wrote this a few days ago. Some of it applies to gels as well.

http://riderx.info/blogs/riderx/archive/2007/07/13/what-makes-a-good-hydration-drink.aspx

And congratulations on the weight loss.

If I was better at using the search function, I'm sure I could find my answers, but I did some searching and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so here goes my question for you all...

I'm in the process of losing weight, actually dropped about 45 pounds since March. I've never paid any attention to on-bike nutrition. I rarely eat anything, and 99% of the time only drink water on the bike. I would like to start eating on the bike to keep my energy level up along with drinking a good energy drink. Problem is, I'm lost when I goto the store and look at all the energy drinks, and especially bars and gels. They are all so loaded with sugar, just goes against what I eat to loose weight. What should I be looking for in a good energy bar, or gel and drink? I prefer the gels over bars because the bars usually melt during my summer rides. Any good suggestions for me as far as the gels and drinks go? Thanks for any help....

As long as your calories in are less than your calories out, you'll lose weight. Nothing wrong with a bit of sugar, and as long as you don't overdo it, there shouldn't be any problem. The reason why the energy bars and drinks have sugar is that it is easy to process during exertion, when you can't really digest complex carbs and protein. So, during a ride, or after a ride is a fine time to down some sugar.

Hits the spot too. Half a pint of Cherry Garcia and some Apricot pie after today's ride set me straight.