E-quality

Just so you know...eating right before physical activity isn't ideal. Digestion actually takes effort on your bodies part and puts a load on your cardiovascular system. Basically, digesting food and exercising at the same time is harder harder for your heart to handle.

I'd honestly eat after getting to work. A clif bar or two are much healthier than a piece of toast (whole grain or not) with butter. Clif bars have slow digesting carbs (oats), protien, good fats, a lot of vitamins, etc. I like them because they're healthy, well rounded and are very convenient and fast. I might recommend something different if you didn't leave 30 minutes after waking up but that's not the case.

I have plenty of time in the morning so I eat a cereal that I created. I mix some thick rolled oats (healthier than quick oats), sunflower seeds, flax seeds, soy milk and then either whey protien or raisins and cinnamon...depending on if I feel the need for more protien or not.

I actually ate two blueberry crisp clif bars this morning because someone bought them for me because they were on clearance. I never tried that flavor before but they're great.

BroadSTPhilly

Nutritionally shouldn't steal cut oats be the same as rolled outs?

scoatw

I ride 8 miles in one way. I eat Oatmeal w/cinnamon and maple syrup. Oatmeal is full of carbohydrates, which fuels me for my ride to work. 2 hours later I have a snack of a bagel w/peanut butter. Which, again is full of carbohydrates. My basic diet during the day is mostly carbs and Protein. Look at the BODY FOR LIFE diet. It works for me and is geared for athletes.

E-quality

Steel cut oats will have more nutrients than thinck rolled oats. Thick rolled oats will have more nutrients than rolled oats. Rolled oats will have more nutrients than quick oats. Basically, the more processed the grain is, the less nutrients it wall have.

Also, the more processed the grain is, the quicker it'll break down during digestion. Oats are healthy because they digest slowly and have a lot of fiber. You take that away as you process it.

Those two things are the reasons that whole grains are much healthier than processed grains.

Refined white grains are essentially table sugar to your body and are totally unhealthy.

I eat the cereal cold so I choose to not use steel cut oats. They're a little to tough to chew with cold soy milk. Thick rolled oats work perfectly in my situation.

Catgrrl70

I generally don't eat until I get to work, but think this is awesome...recommended by a friend to me and now I'm hooked: Miso soup with a little extra dried seaweed crumbled in it. She adds and egg. I prefer tofu for protein. A big bowl of goodness...plus a cup of tea on the side and a banana for a snack later in the morning. I keep the miso and the tofu at work.

tarwheel 

I'm not a morning person either, but I've gotten used to getting up at 5:30 am. Having kids will do it to you. I was always a late rise until we had our daughter, but finally got used to getting up early after years of having a young child that woke up at 6 am. Then having to drop my daughter off at elementary school sealed it.

However, when I decided to start bike commuting, I realized that I would need to get up 1/2 to 1 hour earlier to do it. I made up my mind it was something I wanted to do, and just did it. The first week or so was tough, but then it just became routine.

Jonahhobbes

A small cup of brown rice, (I switch on the rice cooker on getting up), a small tin of salmon and some cottage cheese. Also a large cup of scalding tea

I'm not sure about all this don't eat breakfast to promote weightloss, I'm commuting not training and don't often get the chance to eat straight after my commute in. I need to be pretty focused after my shower as I'm straight into my work and can't be doing with feeling all weak with low blood sugars.

DataJunkie

I'm trying it. I am at a normal weight but would like to shed 10 lbs for training purposes.
This morning was the first day. God I was hungry on the way in.
I am going to give it a few weeks to see if I finally drop into the 150s. Mid to low 160s at 5'9" is not bad. I just want a flat stomach. Not to mention hauling 10 less pounds up and down the rockies would be nice.

jo8243

The average american eats either no breakfast or a high carb and high sugar breakfast with very little or no protein. Then they wonder why they are fat and/or hungry in 2 hours or have cardiovascular problems/diabetes. FAIL!

You need to eat lean protein. I eat the same type of foods for breakfast as I do for lunch and dinner. Why do people differentiate those meals?

This morning at 5:30am before my 7 mile commute I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich, pinto beans, and carrots.

E-quality

I don't think anybody said to not eat breakfast to lose weight but I may have missed it. Breakfast, a healthy one, is extremely important and will affect you the whole day. Not eating before you ride to work will help you burn more calories but you need to eat after. I think someone mentioned that they don't want to eat BEFORE their ride to work in order to burn more calories. That makes sense. Not eating breakfast wouldn't make sense.

jo8243 is right. Breakfast should be a well rounded meal, just like every meal. Breakfast is the most important to get right because it dictates how your day is going to go. Toast, bagels, etc. for breakfast will raise your blood sugar level right away and you'll likely be hungry most of the day because that first meal affects your metabolism and how your body responds to food. Your body will want to store carbs as fat if you start your day off with those types of foods. You'll also likely feel slugish and you won't be as sharp for the rest of the day. Protein and slow digesting carbs (healthy carbs) affect you just the opposite. Whole grains, vegetables, lean meats, nuts, legumes, etc. are good sources of healthy carbs and protiens along with other important nutrients. Eat these instead.

Buglady

When I was doing a 9 mile commute I never ate beforehand. I'd have coffee and some water, then head out. Sometimes I would stop at a nice scenic point in my route to eat a granola bar or fruit, but normally I'd just have some oatmeal once I arrived at work. As long as I ate enough the night before, I was fine.

(My stomach does not wake up early, that's all there is to it..)

Banzai

Precisely what E-quality said...you don't want to actually skip breakfast. Breakfast is very important. WHEN you eat breakfast, though, can certainly vary based on your goals and metabolism. As mentioned earlier, I, and a few others, eat after the ride in as a recovery meal.

The first few times were pretty difficult. After my body got used to tapping other reserves, it got easy and felt very natural. And I have the benefit of not exercising immediately after eating...I don't have enough time in my morning to eat, then wait to digest, and then ride.

mattm

coffee

jgrant75

a bong rip, and a sip of water ... then a 20 mile ride in LA traffic to the beach

bkrownd

The best breakfast I ever had was broiled salmon, rice and miso soup. Perfect breakfast food. Beats the pants off of the usual nauseating American stuff. I can't believe it isn't more common.

DCvision

UPDATE:.. thanks for all the great advice and discussion. I completed my first full week of commuting (riding all 5 days), and for the last three, I adopted the ride first, eat later mode. I didn't feel hungry during my ride and it didn't seem to effect my body's "performance" or anything else. We will see about the weight loss, if it happens any quicker.
When I got to work I ate some healthy cereal with fruit, or a lara bar...

And for all those "get up earlier" comments... not gonna happen!

Thanks!

bkrownd

It's the damn Early Riser Conspiracy! My eyes don't open before 8AM, because that's the way nature darn well intended it to be!

dobovedo

They may not be wrong, but I'm very glad I'm not Swiss. I've tried it and museli ain't for me. Too "mushy".

I'm a late riser with an afternoon office hours so breakfast is usually just enough fuel to get me 10 miles down the road. Lunch at the office follows soon after. I'm a cereal guy myself, but I like it super crispy with a minimum amount of milk. I go for the lightly sweetened stuff. Honey nut toasted oats, frosted shredded wheat, raisin bran, etc.

I also have one of those yogurt smoothie things: Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry-Banana is a fav.

I'll add an English muffin or an apple or raisins if it's a nice day and I wanna add a few miles on the way to work or if I'm planning long miles afterwards.

Like the OP, I'm interested in quick 'n easy and out the door, spending most of my time waking up rather than doing chores and tasks or preparing meals. Unlike the OP, I usually spend a lot of time wandering around, looking for a missing arm warmer or bootie because I didn't prepare the night before.

Industrial

Just to elaborate. When you process oats, you are cutting away nutrients to make them store better/longer or cook faster or get them into cute shapes. So the least amount of processing is ideal(really in anything you eat) for your body but it will take longer to cook and probably will go bad faster. Not to mention it will also look boring.

With oatmeal it's pretty easy though, just don't go super lazy with instant oatmeal and you'll be ok.

And if you couldn't tell, I'm another oatmeal fan. I really HATE getting up in the morning too but I love my oatmeal so I'll usually have the pot filled with the proper amount of water on the stove with another cup with the right amount of oats next to it before I go to bed. Takes about 10 minutes total to make my oatmeal with about half of that just getting the water up to temp. I don't get too crazy with my oatmeal. Just a little bit of salt, honey and butter is good enough for me. I'll add raisins, fruit, nuts or yogurt if I feel like it. Most of the time I'll just have the fruit alongside the oatmeal.

dobovedo

Guess I shoulda read the whole thread before replying...

You can see what works for you, but in my experience, ride first, eat later does not work. All conventional wisdom will say the same thing. Thinner people statistically eat breakfast. Not feeling hungry or hurting performance isn't the only issue. I see the majority of folks here feel the say way.

I have lost 25 pounds in the past year (and 75 total) by making darn sure I eat some kind of breakfast every day, even if it's quick and simple and boring. I am as much a night owl as can be, but there's absolutely no reason one can't eat a quick breakfast!

Starting with a topped off tank means your daily calories are being supplied when you need them. Adding them afterwards very often leads to feeling hungry later, which is when you are more prone to a) snacking or b) making bad food choices (restaurants are evil).

If weight loss is a goal, my advice is eat first, but if you don't, monitor carefully to make sure you don't fall into bad evening habits.

Jonahhobbes

I just don't know how you guys can do it without a breakfast-you must be Ironmen! I finished a nightshift the other day, very little physical acitivity to my job on nights, but I had forgotten my "lunch", (hmmm dunno want you would call a nightshift meal), so went without food apart from a snack from 20:00 to 08:00 the next day. Cycled home on the way felt sick, had a headache and wobbly legs, had a chocolate bar which got me home but it was pretty horrible and I added around 10mins to my usual time, (some weekend Betty passed me as well! but I dug deep and dropped her on one of the hills ).

My commute is only around 11milesx2, its hilly though in parts with some off road and I carry a 10-12kg pack, including a 12v 4.0ah battery with another one strapped to the frame of my old mountain bike for my homemade light system - so I carry a fair bit of weight.

Honestly hats off to those that can cycle in or home again without a meal inside them.

E-quality

I never heard that but how long do oats need to be stored anyways? I'll get 2 months worth of thick rolled oats at a time and it doesn't go bad. The most important thing with processing oats is the nutrients being stripped away from it. I don't think anyone will have issues with storing oats unless they want to store a lifetime supply.

I've never heard of oats being cut into any sort of shape. That's just strange.

I know that the "norm" is to cook oats but I see no need to at all. It takes time and effort. Why? I eat it cold with soy milk and other grains (I listed everything earlier in the thread) and it's great. I simply put the items in a bowl, pour soy milk over it and eat it. You don't need to put any effort into getting the benefits out of oats.

E-quality

How is eating breakfast after you ride to work not eating breakfast?

This was covered already. Eating right before semi-/intense exercise isn't ideal because it puts an extra load on your cardiovascular system so it's not a bad thing at all to wait an hour after you commute in to eat breakfast. There is actually a benefit to doing this also which is you will burn "fat calories" during your commute which can help you lose weight.

The original poster said that he begins his ride 30 mintues after waking up. He can eat an hour after waking up which is great and he won't stress his heart this way. People that get up much earlier are likely better off eating right after waking up...before their commute.

Desaparecido

The most important thing is that it be balanced. This goes for meals in general. Any meal can seem "healthy" and have nothing that's inherently unhealthy, but if it's lacking in one or more essential things it can still be imbalanced (and therefore unhealthy). While you do need some carbohydrate with each meal, especially for a long bike ride, eating solely carbohydrate is a bit imbalanced.

So, here's what I eat for breakfast:

-1-2 servings of a carbohydrate (can be toast, oatmeal, cereal, whatever, because they're all carbohydrates and all are converted to sugar by the body's metabolism in more or less the same way)
-1-2 servings of fruits or vegetables (A lot of the time, I eat half of an apple or a whole smaller fruit like a plum. Avocados and tomatoes are also a good thing. While bananas are good, bananas have a lot more carbohydrates than most other fruits, so I don't personally eat them more than once a week or so, same with potatoes which are a starch first and foremost.)
-1 serving of protein (Lots of non-meat sources of protein like legumes such as lentils, beans, peanuts are VERY high in carbohydrates, so it's important to strike the right balance between other carbohydrates and non-meat proteins if you're a vegetarian. Also, while eggs are good, eating eggs more than three or so times a week can give you a pretty high dose of cholesterol and so I don't personally recommend eating them more than three times a week.)
-For a drink, I personally drink water or coffee more than I do juice since I eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. However, grape juice and pomegranate juice are very good for your heart. So is eating a clove of fresh garlic each day.

One thing about this set-up is that it's based more-so on categories than individual foods. The reasoning is twofold. For one, if you eat too much of one thing over and over, it's very easy to get sick to death of that food. Also, lots of fruits and vegetables and other things have different things in them that others don't, so it's better to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables than just a single one.

E-quality

Breakfast after the commute in is fine.

Being weak on your ride home after not really eating on your 10 hour shift makes sense. People should eat 3-6 meals a day to keep their metabolism and energy going. Eating breakfast after you commute in shouldn't do this to you. They are two different things.