Training & Nutrition - What to drink?

New to the forums, and new to commuting.

I'm 5'6", 250 pounds, and am going to pick up biking as much to save money as to lose weight.

With that said, I want to know what I should pick up to drink when I stop at the gas station?

I figure regular soda is out. Diet is fine, but not for biking. I dig Powerade & Vitamin Water, but not sure how good that actually is. I *LOVE* RedBull, but save that for downtown mixed with Vodka.

In short, what's the best option for somebody looking to loose weight, yet wants to stay hydrated & get whatever vitamins or nutrients are best?

Water.

How long is your commute? Unless it's more then two hours I would just stick with water.
Poweraid and "Vitamin Water" are just empty calories. They are ok if you are doing a long hard ride, but not if your exercise is short. For example 20 minutes on a trainer barely churning the pedals do not warrant Poweraid or "Vitamin Water". Yet thanks to marketing (I am guessing), people think they need it for every little exercise.

Assuming your commute is less than 30 miles or so, take a couple water bottles (with water) and skip the gas station.

New to the forums, and new to commuting.

I'm 5'6", 250 pounds, and am going to pick up biking as much to save money as to lose weight.

With that said, I want to know what I should pick up to drink when I stop at the gas station?

I figure regular soda is out. Diet is fine, but not for biking. I dig Powerade & Vitamin Water, but not sure how good that actually is. I *LOVE* RedBull, but save that for downtown mixed with Vodka.

In short, what's the best option for somebody looking to loose weight, yet wants to stay hydrated & get whatever vitamins or nutrients are best?

I'm going to disagree with the others.

If you're looking to lose weight, you need to think in terms of blood sugar maintenance - both during the day and while you exercise. During the day, you need to be eating a healthy diet - with lots of vegetables, good protein, limited sugar and refined starches.

During exercise, you will eat into the glycogen (sugar) stores in your body. If you don't eat along the way, your blood sugar will be pretty low and you'll be *really* hungry. At that point it's really hard not to overeat.

Not to mention that you can run out of sugar, which is really miserable.

So, if you find that happening on your rides, you need calories. I generally think that rides of less than 60 minutes you are probably fine drinking just water, though I'd consider a good recovery drink when you're done (chocolate milk is okay if you tolerate it well), or a small snack with a mixture of carbs and protein.

This will help, but not that most studies show that the fastest way to lose weight combines both aerobic exercise and light weightlifting to build muscle.

As for the powerade, it's sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, and you really want to get as much of that as possible out of what you drink. It's especially bad when you ride as the fructose is metabolized differently, and it can cause stomach issues in many people.

Good luck, and come back when you have other questions.

Redbull with alcohol is horrible for the body.

Redbull with alcohol is horrible for the body.

i agree 1 kajillion %. why people drink this is beyond me. also, if you are trying to loose weight, i would try to cut out soda-pop all together. imo, high fructose corn syrup is the number one culprit to america's weight problem. not the only factor, but a major factor nonetheless...

if you want to loose weight, nothing puts on weight like booze, as far as what you should drink when you ride, my vote is all for water, the only thing I put in when I ride is an electrolyte packet but the ones I use have no taste at all so it tastes and quenches like regular water. and I only do that on real long rides or on rides when it's real hot out.