EffSizzle

I'm seeking feedback.

Here's my deal. I'm male, 34yo, 5'10" 185 lbs. I want to get down to 160. I bought a bike in May and have lost 20 lbs since. It's just until now that I'm starting to take my diet a bit more seriously.

My daily schedule only allows me to ride about 20 miles 3x during the work week and about 40 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. I take Tuesdays and Fridays off.

My daily 7:30am breakfast consists of a bowl of Trader Joe's fruity grainy cereal w/ organic 2% milk, a tall glass of orange juice and a prenatal vitamin (recommended by my Dr.).

I bring a CLIFF bar, an apple and a bottle of Powerade in my bag to work. I drink a grande drip coffee at 10:30. I eat the apple around noon and then the CLIFF bar at 2pm, minutes before my 20 mile ride home (I bus to work w/ my bike, ride bike home). I drink Powerade on the way home. When I get home I eat a nonfat yogurt mixed with granola. I usually eat either chicken w/ rice or some sort of salad or pasta for dinner.

Am I following a healthy diet? I feel ok, I just want to be certain that I'm not missing out on anything. I've thought about having a few scrambled eggs in the morning w/ breakfast. Do I need more protein after I get home? Am I thinking about this waaaaaay too much considering I only ride 20 miles, 40 max?

Any advice would be appreciated. THANKS!!!

UmneyDurak

Well unless you are really hammering home I don't think you need a gatorade. Maybe instead of having such a big breakfast try splitting it. Instead of orange juice try just water. Then around 10:30 have an orange instead. Overall I found eating small portions through out a day to work best for me. I am less hungry and I think I loose more weight that way.

Enthalpic

His breakfast is not very big at all and because he doesn’t really eat lunch the poweraid is not such a bad thing either.

If you have lost 20lb since May you are on the right weight loss track, just stay the course.

However, you are right to be concerned about protein consumption as you really aren’t getting very much (10g clif, 5g yogurt, maybe 40g for the chicken and tad more from the carb sources… not a heck of a lot). For an active person of your weight less than 80g/day is definitely sub optimal. If you weren’t consuming carbs with exercise even 100g/day or more would be required (carbohydrates taken with exercise improves nitrogen retention).

Try logging all of your food consumption for a week and enter it into a program such as fitday.com. You can generate reports on where your diet is lacking vitamin and mineral wise and get average calories and protein consumption data.

Nickel

100g/ day for someone not weightlifting? That seems really high?

Someone mentioned fitday.com. It's the best way to see your macronutrient breakdown and to ensure you're getting all your vits and minerals. Do you ever eat any fish? I see no omega 3 sources?

EffSizzle

OK, for instance, tonight I had 2 beef fajitas w/ all the good stuff...red peppers, onions, green peppers, cilantro. I also had a nice serving of refried beans. Washed it down with 32 oz of water.

I eat fish, just not everyday.

I think I'm going to mix in a 3 egg white omelette into the breakfast equation and either a protein shake or 1/2 a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after my rides.

I know that by what I described as my diet in my OP it doesn't appear that I eat much at all, and that's probably true. But again...I feel good, I sleep great, sex life is absolutely amazing, and I'm losing weight. I'm getting stronger so that next year when I buy my first road bike I'll be in decent shape. I just hope I'm going about in a healthy manner.

Thanks!!!

Enthalpic

Not at all. 1g/kg (84g/day for him) is a pretty standard recommendation outside of athletic circles. Bodybuilders tend shoot for 1g/lb or 2.2g/kg (185g/day for him).

Endurance athletes consuming a high carb diet and 1.0-1.2g/kg probably wont suffer. However, those consuming high fat diets or frequently undertaking glycogen-depleting exercise will have higher demands and 1.2 – 1.6g/kg is preferred.

UmneyDurak

I guess what I was trying to say is instead of eating it all in the morning, to spread it through out the morning. As for Gatorade I think it would have been better if he had something substantial instead. Maybe more for lunch or something between the post ride and dinner. Just my .0002 cents.

spencejm

I'm not a nutritionist but I've lost 80 lbs over the last 18 months. To be honest I don't think I could live on what you're eating. I eat 3 meals a day and make CERTAIN they are under 500 calories each. I also eat 3 small snacks a day of around 100 - 150 calories. The snacks are items like Kashi bar, NON FAT yogurt with berries, small snack size Lite popcorn etc.

A typical day for me would go like this:
Breakfast:

2 OZ turkey sauage patty (Made at home with 99% fat free turkey and Penzy's sausage seasoning)
1/4 cup (1 egg) Egg Beaters scrambled with 1% shredded cheddar chesse (You can't buy 1% but can make it by mixing a bag of 2% with a bag of Fat Free)
1/2 cup of Fiber One cereal w/ SKIM milk. (2% still has a lot fat and extra calories)
1 banana

Lunch:

Large Salad with LOTS of green veggies, spinach, etc and fat free italian dressing
Sandwich with Whole Grain bread and turkey w/ fat free cheese (Sarah Lee had a REAL whole wheat that is only 45 calories per slice. It's good and not just glorifed white bread)

Dinner:

Veggie Spaghetti made with 2oz Whole grain pasta and sauce made with as many vegetables as you like. Just pile them on. Small green salad and a 35 calorie fat free fudge bar.

I have small snacks at about 10:00 AM, 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM.

Also, drink a MINIMUM of 64 oz of water every day. Many days I drink closer to a gallon. I don't drink sports drinks. Your Saturday ride might be enough to start needing it but water should really be enough for your shorter rides.

Compared to what you listed this sounds like a TON of food but I guarantee that I am in the range of 1700 - 2000 calories a day. With exercise, an average male WILL lose weight with that many calories.

Joe

ericgu

I'm 6'2" 165 pounds, riding perhaps 75-100 miles a week, and I would starve on what you eat.

My breakfast is a big bowl of granola with thawed blueberries and raspberries. Lunch is a sandwich, peach slices, snap peas, and some chips. Dinner is usually some sort of protein with whole grain something else. But I have a number of snacks (peanuts, pistachios, etc.) in between.

My advice:

1) More vegetables, more fruit, and don't be afraid of a little more food.
2) Ditch the powerade. The high fructose corn syrup is not helping. If you like that sweetness, powdered gatorade (or the premixed endurance stuff) is okay.
3) If you feel like you're really hungry an hour after your long rides, work on your recovery nutrition. I like endurox, but chocolate milk is pretty good as well.

And lastly, you've lost 20 pounds in a few months - I'm not sure that you need my advice....

DannoXYZ 

Your meals look fine and your weight-loss shows your exercise level is more than intake, so that's great, keep up the good work. Only suggestion is to plan for future increases in fitness and more strenuous workouts.

Nutrition for that will require more carbs and a little more protein. Swap the Powerade for a real energy-drink with pure glucose or maltodextrin. For the same calories, it will absorb faster and provide better energy content than HFCS. Also look into a 4:1 carb-protein recovery drink afterwards, really helps recharge for the next day's workout.

LlewelynCycles

I think you need to start exercising more and eating more. Your body's probably not getting its daily vitamin and mineral requirement with how little you're eating, and it sounds like you're still eating alot of processed food. I'd recommend cutting the powerade and clif bars especially - remember that those are meant to be used to supplement your diet, not to be your diet; I'm of the opinion that the vitamins and minerals in those bars are not nearly as well assimilated as those found in real foods, and that the electrolytes in powerade and such drinks are pretty much nullified by the huge amounts of refined sugars therein.

Grande coffee - sounds like you're buying that from Starbucks. There's a lot of nasty stuff in major coffeehouse beverages. I'm leery about that aswell, unless you're brewing your own with ingredients you can trust.

Spend more time being active - I suggest a weightlifting routine and maybe jogging in addition to your time on the bike, which you could increase if you desire. Once you're at a healthier activity level you'll see why you need to eat more.

EffSizzle

Thanks everybody! I truly appreciate the feedback. I'm going to make a few changes as suggested and we'll see where it takes me.

I know a local racer who diets on nothing but yogurt mixed with granola. After a race he'll chow down on whatever, but the next day it's back to yogurt w/ granola. Your thoughts???

WCroadie

You shouldn't eat only 1 thing, you are not getting the proper nutrition your body needs.

baskinrobbin

+1 on losing the powerade.
I didn't put the food in a program but it seems really high on sugar.

I'd add in more legumes, grains and vegetables

Ditch the cereal and granola and instead eat oatmeal or make your own museli instead (cereal is very high in sugar).

NomadVW 

I just wanted to hop on the end of this and emphasize that the best thing you can do is really start tracking what you eat for a while, whether in fitday.com or some other source. You will quickly see what you're eating a lot of and what you're missing out on. Everything else will be guesswork and you'll hope you got it right. You can look at the labels and try to remember it every day, but you'll tend to skip things or leave them out.

I personally like the program Diet and Exercise Assistant (www.keyoe.com). It has a great (and customizable) food database, doesn't require constant internet access and tracks protein, carbs, fiber, fat, sat fat. If it doesn't have foods you eat, you can add them quickly enough (I get a lot of my info from calorie-watch.com)

You're obviously on the right track with weight loss, but there's going to come a day when you'll want to maintain a weight and that will get a lot harder than losing (IMO).