TX_Cycle_Chic

Hi all,
I am curious about people's recommendations for daily caloric intake are for the following:

I am a 26 year old female, 5'10'' and about 130 pounds. I ride 5 days a week, for a total of about 230-250 miles per week or 13-14 hours per week and then also lift/core 2 days/week. I had an injury last spring and was off the bike for 2 months, on vacation for a month, and then started riding again in July. At that point I was about 124 pounds. I have never ridden this much before, and my performance has surpassed what I could do last spring by quite a bit, although I am wondering about the weight gain, because I have been riding so much...just muscle? normal?

I was wondering how many calories I should be consuming (on average) each day for mileage as I have described. I eat extremely nutritiously, but ALOT lately. I am not sure how many calories I eat per day, guessing around 2500-2800, depending on the training that day. Also, how many calories should I consume on a 4-4.5 hour ride, 80 miles, average ~ 19-19.5 for total 80 miles, but with group. I have been eating about 450-500 for this ride, seems to be fine, but is that too much? I always eat a good breakfast before (oatmeal with fruit, brown sugar, scrambled egg whites, coffee).

Just wondering if anyone else had some info about what they thought. I feel like I am burning alot, and my hunger matches it, but don't want to gain more weight than what I am at now.

Thanks for the info!

hambertloot

I am male, 5'7" 126-128lbs and am like you, been eating a lot lately and riding about 240mpw as well. I typically eat 3200-3500 per day but this week i am riding 700 miles so going euro/TdF style with 6000 a day

you're doing fine as long as you feel fine while riding. Typically i shoot for 1g carb/kg of bodyweight/hr while out training. works excellent for me and its what the pros do

the added weight is most likely muscle with the increased training. also keep in mind, you dont stay race weight all year around. during winter you naturally store more body fat because of temperature changes. expect a natural 5-10% bodyweight fluctuation yearly

Carbonfiberboy 

You're asking, "What is my optimum racing weight?" Well, that's going to vary depending on your personal physiology, your events, terrain, talents, etc. Here's a short discussion of the BMIs of top racers:
https://www.hammernutrition.com/knowl...mance.773.html

As for how much to eat on the bike, I go by my performance. If my power or HR is dropping toward the end of a ride, I need (needed) to eat more. If not, not. I use the 250 cal./hr. rule for my maximum. The longer the ride, the more I adhere to that rate. It has been said that RAAM is not so much a bicycle race as an eating contest. This past Sunday, I only ate 350 cal. for a 3.5 hr ride. I was slowing toward the end of the ride, though, so I know I was a little below the minimum. However, I'd had dinner parties 2 nights in a row previously, so I knew my glycogen store was full and I was inclined to run light.

So if you short yourself on a ride, your performance will suffer. That's contraindicated. You can't eat enough on a ride to gain weight unless you ride extremely slowly, which you don't. So weight balance is really about what you eat off the bike.

TX_Cycle_Chic

Thanks for the reply guys,

Carbonfiber - I know I am eating more than before, but I am riding way more than before, so do you think that the weight gain was needed to increase performance, perhaps 124 for 5'10'' was too low? I am pretty confident that the weight gain has to be muscle..and quads/upper thigh have definitley gotten larger, but its just weird to be at this weight now, and as I'm okay with it, I don't want to gain more, so was wondering if I should try to eat a bit less or maybe my body will stabilize around this weight now ? I know 6-8 lbs isn't huge, but its alot for me!

Carbonfiberboy 

If your performance went up, then to what was it due? Just more mileage is a great performance enhancer. If muscle came along with that, what role did it play? I don't know the answer. I just went to a BMI calculator and see that your previous BMI was 17.8 and that now you are up to 18.7. So you are now almost up to Pantani's BMI at his racing weight, the lowest one on the chart. Just going by that, I'd think you might get even faster at a slightly higher weight, ~140, but faster would mean that being muscle, keeping your current low fat percentage. For now, I'd let your weight and appetite do what it wants to do and see what happens. Just keep your macros in a good range.

I just saw Gravity, and I thought Bullock looked pretty good. Obviously a dedicated workout person. Serious legs.

Carbonfiberboy 

Here ya go:
https://www.wenzelcoaching.com/blog/c...-weight-chart/

Re Ms. Bullock: looked it up - 6 days/week in the gym, running, cycling, Pilates, yoga, kick-boxing. "People ask, 'How do actresses do it [stay in shape]?' " she said. "Um, they pay us to do this in order to look good on film." She's 49.

lsberrios1 

I appologize for being out of topic but this is very impressive to me. How can anyone have the time to ride 250mi a week!? I figure you can always ride at night but when would one sleep? I ride 150 to 200 a week and it is VERY HARD to find time. Lately i've not been able to sleep more than 6 to 7 hours a day. I know that doesnt seem like too little but I think it is when you are working out every day and those 6 - 7hrs are your only downtime. I just wish there were 35hrs in a day instead of 24... well whatever.

I'd say at 5'10" and 130 you should be in top shape. If you are gaining muscle and dont want to increase weight you might want to ride less. I figure that by now trying to lose weight for you would probably be muscle weight since it seems like there is no more fat to get rid off. Startving would be a very bad idea, at this point it'd be about the same as you chopping off your right arm to weigh less.