Training & Nutrition - Hungry all the time.

Hello everybody. I posted my return to cycling in the 50+ forum. As my thread title says...I'm hungry all the time. I feel good, but fitday says I'm in about a 100 cal/day deficit. This will change tomrrow when I return to work. Here's my situation. I work a rotating 12 hour shift. I just had three days off...then two days on, then two off, then three on, then two off, then two on and it starts again but on day shift instead of nights. Being on nights now, I am trying to stay up late to get ready for tomorrow night. I will sleep much of tomorrow and probably won't ride again until Monday. I am so hungry right now, it's a real struggle. Fortunately we don't have lots of snack food in the house or I'd be polishing it off as I write this. Is there anything I can do after a ride to help quench the hunger several hours later? I am dieting to lose weight while I do this, but this is really hard. When I was younger and riding 250/week, I would just eat. Any tips are appreciated..thanks.

God bless!

-Ron

often times ... you can actually be thirsty .. but the body will think of it and process it as a hunger ...

i always keep fruit and veggies at my house tho, and will grab a peice or two after a ride...

-Devil-,

I was going to suggest that very thing. Make sure you are well hydrated with water and natural juice. If you have to eat, I would eat fruit.

Thanks...I mistyped. It is 1000 cal/day deficit. I decided to ride today before working tonight. Just got back. At the moment, I'm not hungry. I bet I am after I get out of the shower. I'll try your tips..thanks.

God bless!

-Ron

Ron, I'm in the same predicament as you. I've been off the bike for a while and just getting back into the game. I started riding 20 miles a day in the moring and would be starving the rest of the day. I try to keep fruit (Bananas, raisins, peaches etc) but they have a very short lived effect, being hypoglycemic doesn't help matters either.
I try to eat right for my main meals with some minor cheating but in the end I'm trying to lose about 10 to 15 lbs.
It sounds like your body clock is getting out of wack with the hours you work. I work the swing shift at my job but the hours are stable instead of the fluctuating schedule you have.
One option you may want to try are vegtables (baby carrots, celery sticks, etc and a salad dressing for dipping), that is a low cal option also.

Good luck

Thanks. My wife is making two salads right now for me to take. I'll space them out and take a couple of bananas and see how that works. I just had a chicken salad sandwich and sliced tomatoes...now I'm really hungry. This is the price I pay for getting out of condition, frankly. There isn't any "easy" road back to fitness. My son said the hardes part of basic training for him was th long 14 hours between supper and breakfast, with the morning pt first. He was also hungry all the time. Now he's over at the special forces training squadron and they let them eat ALOT more. They even carry food in their rucksacks to eat at any opportunity they can find. Of course the rucksack weighs 70 pounds and they carry it everywhere they go during the duty day. They have to do pushups and pullups before the enter and when they leave a building as well. They work out 2.5-5 hours each day, depending on the classroom training schedule. I guess I do have it easy.

God bless!

-Ron

Hello everybody. I posted my return to cycling in the 50+ forum. As my thread title says...I'm hungry all the time. I feel good, but fitday says I'm in about a 100 cal/day deficit. This will change tomrrow when I return to work. Here's my situation. I work a rotating 12 hour shift. I just had three days off...then two days on, then two off, then three on, then two off, then two on and it starts again but on day shift instead of nights. Being on nights now, I am trying to stay up late to get ready for tomorrow night. I will sleep much of tomorrow and probably won't ride again until Monday. I am so hungry right now, it's a real struggle. Fortunately we don't have lots of snack food in the house or I'd be polishing it off as I write this. Is there anything I can do after a ride to help quench the hunger several hours later? I am dieting to lose weight while I do this, but this is really hard. When I was younger and riding 250/week, I would just eat. Any tips are appreciated..thanks.

God bless!

-Ron

It's all about blood sugar level - you need to eat to maintain your blood sugar at a constant level. That means complex carbs, protein, fat, and fiber in a nice mixture for your everyday diet.

When you are riding, your blood sugar goes down, but the exercise suppresses your appetite, until you're done. Then it comes back with intensity.

Two things to do. First, if you're rides are in the 2 hour range, get 200 cal/hour of carbs. That will help support your blood sugar. Second, after long rides (in that same range), get some recovery food as soon as possible right away. I got up today, had a small snack, did a hard 35, and had my endurox when I got back. I had a smallish lunch and a normal dinner, and I wasn't hungry.

If you replace the carbs you burn, you don't need to replace the fat you burn.

I think you might be hipoglicemic.Eat more.

When I go in a few minuites, I'll be taking some baby carrots my wife surprised me with to snack on...a few little chunks of sub sandwich innerds (turkey. beef, ham, chees, lettuce, tomato) for breaktime munching. two salads with just toppings and a few croutons. two tanlespoons of ranch dresing to split between the salads. A small round glad tub of trail mix...dried fruit variety. I feel good rioght now after a sandwich ( the sub sandwich I took the innerds out of) and fluids. Looks like alot of food in the little plastic containers, but it wouldn't cover a plate if it were'nt for the lettuce in the salads. I'm not planning on being overly active tonight with the heat the way it is...there will be some unavoidable workout, but probably not more than 3 hours spread over the 12 hour period in 1 hour chunks. I'll keep you posted ytomorrow. Thanks again for all the responses!

God bless!

-Ron

Okay, progress report. I took 1/2 cup dried fruit and nut mix, 3/4 cup baby carrots, one banana and some cold bean and vegetable salad w/vinegar. I also took the meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato of a one inch thick slice of submarine sandwich (no bread) and made small cubes from it to munch on. I took two medium sized lettuce and carrot salads and two tablespoons of buttery ranch dressing. each salad had about 6 croutons. I tried to space this stuff out between my breaktimes and lunch. By 3AM I was out of food. SO I bought a small pack of salted roasted peanuts in the snack machine at the 5am break. I drank lots of water and one 24 ounce diet mountain dew. The 12 hour shift went well, it was very warm all night at the machine, but I actually felt good enough to ride after work. I decided not to due to some chafing from sweat and walking so much last night. Still, it went well with many tiny snacks throughout the night from 7pm -7am. The description of the food makes it sound like a ton of food, but it all fits in a small soft cooler designed for a six pack and some ice. I use those blue ice packs to keep it cool. In reality, it's about a large dinner plate full if you threw it all on there because of the lettuce. Not many calories considering the physical nature of my job, but not totally starving either. After about 5 hours sleep, I sliced a 11/2 inch thick section of the sub and had it for "breakfast" with coffee. That was around 12:30. Waiting for the temperature to drop below 100 so I can get a short ride today...good luck with that.

Works good.

God bless!

-Ron