I always take a couple of bottles of Gatorade. The 20-oz bottles fit nicely in my bottle cages, and I always have plenty of it around the house because it's my drink of choice for most situations. I drink at least two or three bottles a day, with meals, while riding, mowing the grass, watching TV, or pretty much anytime I get thirsty. Essentially, for the last few years it's taken the place of the Cokes I used to drink. In fact, I'm drinking a bottle of Gatorade right now.

Used to . But they only have one flavor I can hack.. Their cool blue raspberry. Since I can't find it anyone longer my present drink is endurox.

I think most are bagging on Gatorade, but not knowing about or have used their Endurance Formula.

From their website,"Endurance Formula is designed to provide 1.5 the amount of sodium as original Gatorade, three times the potassium as well as chloride, magnesium and calcium."

Endurance also costs about 10 times what regular powder does.

I just bought a new can of powder today at the store. I still love it. Orange this time.

Ok that's all great but the issue remains that it is a poor fuel.

NUTRITION FACTS:

Serving Size 1 Tbsp / 8 fl oz.
Servings Per Container about 102 (makes 29, 24 oz. servings)

Calories - 50
Total Fat - 0g
Sodium - 200mg
Potassium - 90mg
Total Carbohydrate - 14g
Sugars - 14g
Protein - 0g
Calcium - less than 2% of the daily value of this nutrient
Magnesium - less than 2% of the daily value of this nutrient


A 24 oz serving would only have 150 calories. You would have to consume 48 oz of Gatorade Endurance (300 calories) to get 43 fewer calories than Hammer Sustained Energy (343 calories) for 24 oz. And 6 x 14 grams of sugar would put your stomach in a twist if you tried to do that hour after hour in a 24 hr,36 hr or multi-day race.

Well if I ever find myself signed up for one of those, I've got bigger problems than the sugar and I could probably find time somewhere in there for a real meal or three.

My point is if you ARE in that type of race you don't want to have a meal or three. You are significantly faster on liquid fuel.

Edit: Additionally, I would rather supplement with electrolyte capsules if I need more electrolytes than to have to drink all that Gatorade and all that sugar to go with it.

I just read the bottle of Muscle Milk and it has 150 calories per serving (1 scoop) along with a bunch of other good stuff. In your opinion, does that make it more on par with the other energy drinks? 2 scoops of Gatorade with 1 scoop of Muscle Milk makes 300 calories and comes to 50-70 cents per bottle while Sustained Energy is still $1.50-2.00.

calories 150
fat 6g
carbs 8g
sugar 2g
protein 16g
sodium 120mg
potassium 305mg
(and a bunch of vitamins)


That's my next move. I'm hoping the vanilla cream Muscle Milk will make it taste like a Creamsicle

Are you using Muscle Mulk for on the ride calories or recovery calories?

If you're on-the-ride, there's no need for so much protein. You'd do better with pure carbs, which are directly metabolized. Maltodextrin is probably under 25 cents per bottle, at 300-400 calories; I don't think that can be beat. No fat, no electrolytes (bring your own).

The protein is good for the postride recovery drink, but honestly, regular protein (food) is equally good, if not better.

The good part about post-ride protein supplements is that they typically also have a lot of sugar in them. 3 or 4:1 CHO: protein is good. And keep the fat low. You're trying to hit a glycogen repletion window, during which you will refuel the carbs and the protein can be ferried in along with them, and too much fat slows absorption. I seem to remember Muscle Milk being in the low carb/high fat camp. This whole no carb thing has got to end. It got so bad that a small gym I went to only had drinks with high protein and low carb content. Totally stupid.

Edit: I was thinking of one of the pre-made cartons of Muscle Milk. Seriously like 20g fat, 4 g CHO. Who are these meat heads?

I originally bought it for recovery: drink, popsicles, etc. but since I had it and it adds carbs as well, I figured I'd try it. I know it has more protein than needed, but getting a little more than I can use isn't going to hurt, right? Still, I'll see if I can pick up some maltodextrin on my next grocery trip. I just had the Muscle Milk hanging around.

So my question could be changed to ask if addint maltodextrin to Gatorade powder would make it competitive with the more pricey drinks. It still comes to 50-75 cents per bottle.

Getting "more than you can use" certainly can hurt. Your stomach says WHOA! I can't deal with this right now... move it along, move it along.

Care to guess where it moves to?

Chicken breast has 3 times as much protein per serving as Muscle Milk. When I eat chicken for dinner, I usually eat 2 servings. What are you saying?

True. The difference is that you're not exercising while you are trying to digest that dinner.

https://www.bikeforums.net/training-nutrition/217105-caloric-carbohydrate-digestion-absorption.html

^ Point taken. Thanks.