Thread: Another newbie here!!!!!!!

Thought I would post this and see if I can get some answers.

1. I probably wouldn't have to lose weight but it's my choice to lose some weight, and will give you a lettle back ground history.
2. I pretty much have a very high metabolism and burn calories away way too fast. This is a blessing and a curse as I have never had to count calories or worry about dieting but when I do my ultra bicycling I have no clue on how to count calories or get 300-500 calories in an hour while on the bike.
3. I guess I would have to admit that God has given me something in the gene pool and am somewhat of a natural athlete and have just finished RAAM(Race Across America) as a 4 man team doing 3,043 miles on a bicycle with this team in 8 days 10 hours and 43 minutes.
4. I'm 6 ft. weigh 190 lbs. and would luv to get down to 175 lbs. 165-170 would be amazing but more than the weight loss want to lose some off my 35" waist.


Why do I want to go on a low carb diet?

1. Have decided to start solo ultra distance racing on the bike and know if I lose a few pounds that I will be that much faster and stronger on the bike, especially with hill or mountain. climbing which I luv to do.
2. My next race will be the Alaskan Fireweed 400(400 miler) in July of 2007 or the Adirondack 540(540 miler) in Sept. of 2007. I want to lose some weight before either one of these races.
3. I could lose 15-20 lbs(especially a few lbs. around the waist) and still not looked like death warmed over as a very skinny athletic cyclist.


Some questions I have!!!!!!!
1. Looking at the recipes today on the site all I saw was chicken recipes or meat recipes which could be used for lunch or supper but didn't see any breakfast recipes or few breakfast ideas.
2. When will I know when I can add some past or higher carbs back into my menu and with the cycling training I have or will be doing how do I know if I'm not getting enough carbs in?
3. Yes I know I have to go out and buy Atkins New Revolution book and will be doing that ASAP.


Thanks for any and all help.

Zurichman

Welcome, Zurichman.

I think you'll find quite a number of breakfast ideas here.
Our recipe section has a fairly large number of offerings.

Smart move to get the book! Also, as an athlete, you may be interested in some research on low carb eating and endurance, which are on the Atkins web site.

Hope you'll make yourself at home here.

Hi and welcome. There are the greatest people on this site! I see nothing wrong with you wanting to lose a bit in your waist. So, Atkins really is a great way to lose real inches. I'm a believer now. But really listen to the veterans on here and follow induction EXACTLY. A clean induction is imperative. The only way to do that is to get the book. There is a lot of info that you'll need. Maggie is a great one to take advice from. Good luck and welcome!

Welcome to a good forum for support and info. You're certainly not the typical beginning low-carber, and I hope you'll find your way to additional information about how low-carbing combines with the athletic life.

I'm a dedicated exerciser, and one-time marathoner. My weekly routine now includes indoor cycling (spinning-style workouts), step class, running, weight training, and yoga--and ice skating in the winter. No problem sustaining energy and muscle mass on a low-carb program.

Atkins induction converts the body to a fat-burning state, but this isn't the end of the experiment. You'll learn as you go how your body gets the most efficiency from all the nutrients you consume. I highly recommend keeping a diary. I use Fitday.com, which is free, and simple once you get the hang of it.

Best wishes.

Zurichman -
I've done a bit of research in this - and there are a few things that work absolutely WONDERFUL with Atkins - but one thing - considering you are an endurance athlete - that you will have to be aware of.

See Post#23 - along with the links.

Now - your far enough out - that if you do induction/owl with your cycling program, you should be fine. I don't know the amount of distance your doing - but tracking and following how you feel, what you are eating, etc is the best way to get a feel for eating this way.

I would suggest - based on the info that I've got - that you start a modified transition about 2 to 3 weeks from your ride. A 400 mile bike ride, at 15 mph (I sure hope you are going faster) averages out to about 26 hours... sheesh that's a long bike ride! ;-) That is IF you are going for speed. If your not, then I wouldn't modify the way you eat at all. IF you are going for speed - I would transition about 2 to 3 weeks from your ride back to HIGHER carb foods to restore your glycogen base. As great as Atkins is for helping you lose weight - for endurance athletes - your body simply isn't capable of burning fat stores (ketosis) as quickly as it can burn carbs. The reason for the transition is to allow your stomach to get readjusted to the higher carbs, etc.

If it's more of a leisure ride, you should be fine packing Atkins friendly snacks, and eating those during the ride (jerky, almonds, nuts, etc.).

It'll depend on what the goal of the ride is.

I look forward to hearing about your program, how much you are riding, etc. I have a tri scheduled for 8/27 - and am currently training for it. Not anything near as tough as a 400 mile bike ride, but it's fun.

BTW - what are you riding? I've got a Fuji Team 05 with Ultegra components.

;-)

Hey bkloots I came to cycling from the marathon running background and had qualified for the Boston Marathon had trained for it for over 6 months and was in the best shape of my life. Two weeks before the race I went to a fun volleyball match went up for a slam and had my legs taken out from under me. My right ankle had all the ligaments torn on it and after a botched orthoscopic surgery my competitive racing days were over. Can't complain as cycling isn't as hard on my joints so I should be able to cycle for the rest of my life.

Hey Rhalvahn

After doing lots of research here yesterday I received an email from one my cycling friend and he has done low carbing for over 10 years and tells me from his experience that Atkins doesn't work real well for endurance athletes as you will really bonk on and during the induction phase. He recommended a diet called The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance.

I started long distance riding in the spring of 2004 and had to do a qualify series of rides to do a 1200km(744 mile ride) in under 90 hours of riding and the cycling sport is called randonneuring. You don't have to be fast but you do have to be study and have to learn to stay on the bike. I rode 275 miles the 1st 24 hrs. went down for a few hrs. of sleep got up rode 235 miles the 2nd day went down for a few hrs. of sleep got up the 3rd day and rode 175 miles went down for sleep again and the last day only had to ride 75 miles. Qualifying for this I had to ride 200km(124 miles) 300km(186 miles) 400km(248 miles) and a 600km(372 miles) in certain qualify times but you pretty much have to average a running time of 10 mph.


I still have lots to learn about calorie intake and ultra distance riding and some go on a liquid diet where all they have to do is use the liquid diet to get X amount of calories in an hour(usually 300-500 calories and hr.) and then supplement that with water for fluid.

I have tried the water and then a bottle of Gatorade but after awhile you body or actually your stomach can't digest all that sugar. Top that off with lots of riders myself included start to get stomach problems with rides over 150 miles in length and get excess gas built up and or nausea in your stomach from leaning over on the bike for long periods of time and or your sugar intake and other variables, and have to carry Tums with me.

Having been there I can tell you that you body gets cravings for certain things while doing these ultra rides or races. I never or seldom do fast food and then if I do try Wendy's and substitute the fries for chile but on this long rides more than once a big fatty juicy hamburger or greasy fries has been my craving or sometimes a whole can of Pringles or anything with salt in it. I also use V8 and Ice tea when I have bonked.


Hope this isn't too much info but am looking forward to what a new lifestyle in food eating can do for me but pretty much already know that I will need all the carbs I can get in me while doing ultra or endurance cycling and no don't drink sodas either but boy does a straight up Coke or Pepsi ever taste good on these rides sometimes.

You asked what kind of bike I ride. Before I did RAAM(Race Across America) I had a 2000 Lemond Zurich which was a steel is real bike(Reynolds 853 lightweight steel) and that bike had around 15,000 miles on it so bought a new bike for the race it was a Lemond Victoire which is what they call a spline design bike and the cockpit(top tube and 2 down tubes) are carbon and the rest of the bike is Titatium.

Here's a link to my bike
http://2006.lemondbikes.com/2006_bikes/victoire.shtml

Here's alink to an upcoming ride I'm doing in the Finger Lakes region of New York in Sept and it has 20 some climbs and @ 23% slope on a few of the climbs. Look @ the profile of the Highlander(100 mile century ride)

http://www.highlandercycletour.com

profile

http://www.highlandercycletour.com/highlander.htm then click on the profile link that is the top link that is either purple or blue. Can you see the riders riding the hill sideways because the slope is so steep.



Oh yeah if I do the Fireweed 400 it will be a race as it's a qualifer for RAAM and sure hope to average 15 mph or do the race in 24-28 hrs of straight thru riding except for a few breaks and stretches.

Here's a link to the Fireweed 400 race.

http://www.fireweed400.com


They also do a 50 miler 100 miler and a 200 miler while the 400 miler race is going on. Looking at the website and seeing a pic of Thompson Pass and the snow Glacier sold me on this ride plus the pre ride lodging is in cabins and you can see Dall sheep from the Lodge and fittingly is called Sheep Mountain Lodge.

Why do I do this excercising or cycling.
1. Anything over a 100 mile ride is a challenge and you never know on a given day how you are going to do. I have crashed and burned a few times but oh are the victories ever so sweet.
2. I'm an outdoorsy kind of God and luv to see all of God's splendors whether that be cycling, backpacking, skiing or anything outdoors.
3. God has given me a very strong gene pool and all I have to do is train.
4. This type of lifestyle keeps me very young and anything you do exercising has to help you over the long haul just like a healthy eating lifestyle does.

Sorry this is long and hope I haven't bored you but happy dieting and exercising to all. If I can ever help anyone here on the forum with any questions about exercising would gladly do that.


Later
Zman

Well, Zman, you won't find much competition at that level here. However, I agree 100% that exercise is the key to staying youthful--and the more you can be outdoors, the better.

Best wishes for your current goals.

My guess is that if you succeed in converting your body to a fat-burning metabolism, a la Atkins induction, you'll continue to become more and more efficient at using this source of energy--even for endurance events. But I've never tried anything extreme. I know I do fine with my everyday workouts and short races (5K up to 12K) on this way of eating.

ZMan -
A couple of things that I'll argue in favor of Atkins. First off - a 'bonk' is experienced when your body's store of glycogen is exhausted. On Atkins, that happens in the first three days of doing Atkins - you have to burn off your stores of glycogen so your body will start using fat for fuel source - so if you've been on Atkins for longer than four days - there's simply no possibility of a 'bonk' occuring during a race.

There's a great study here.

Nita had given that to me a while back - and it's got great info. The VO2 Max didn't change for the bike riders - and that's a HUGE issue. You can do Atkins and still do endurance races. From this study - after the first week - the effect is minimal.

The problem, however, is one of body fat percentages and the physiological breakdown. If you are already at 10% body fat, and you are on Atkins, your body turns to your body fat for fuel - well - if you don't have it there - then the next thing on the menu is your muscles. Now, have you ever seen a long distance runner that wasn't long and lean? They don't bulk up easily...primarily because of that. There's a technical term for it - but I don't know it.

I've looked at the Paleo Diet before - and it makes sense. It goes against the usual 'carb loading' thoughts that have been so rampant (and still are) in most endurance sports.

Atkins will help you loose body fat - it's a fact. You switch to burning fat for fuel, it has no choice but to say 'bye bye' as it's burned up. But as I've found out - in the tri circles - low carb is the tantamount of raising red flag over my head with the words 'IDIOT' written on it. So I eat my almonds quietly. *grin*

Now - a couple of things - Atkins (and most low carb diets) work based on water principal... you must stay hydrated for it to work well. There will be LOTS of people that can tell you that if they drink water appropriately, the weight continues to come off. Those that struggle with water intake... seem to struggle with the weight loss. Any type of endurance event is going to dehydrate you to a degree - combined with a low carb plan - water becomes even MORE important.

So - I'll say that I'm salivating over the bike - beautiful. I have all Ultegra components on mine, and considering I was a baby when i bought it - got very VERY lucky. The rides - holy cow! I did the Cap State Tri in Austin, and the hills were at an 8% - a 23% climb.... I can see why the bike is titanium!

The scenery has to be nice up there - so I can see why doing these long rides would appeal. Down here in Houston it's just HOT! But you get used to it - and there's nothing like the wind in my hair on my bike (under my helmet of course!). ;-)

Dee (aka Rhalvahn)

WoW Larry - that's pretty awesome.

Yeah - sorry - the link is a big nauseating if your not familiar with legalease. ;-)

The thing I like most is that in rides like that - you are really only competing against yourself. A bad tri for me would be a DNF (did not finish) or DQ'd. Anything else - it's about me against me.

So far the longest bike ride I've done was 30 miles...I felt it - that was for sure. Are you riding clipless? I haven't done the switch yet - my bf has fallen over a couple times on his bike, and I'm just not ready to do that 'oh crap, i forgot I don't have 3 legs routine'. ;-)

Sorry if I overwhelmed you with info - between the excitement of another biker on here, and the races your doing, and the food stuff - it was like a chihauhau on speed! ;-)

I'm working myself up to an olympic tri - but so far, to be honest, the biking is my favorite part. ;-)

Holy cow! That sounds odd. You haven't changed what your eating though - so that shouldn't impact you much right? I'm going to do a 25 miler in the morning... it's freaking HOT here though ... so it might get pushed off to early Sunday and I'll hit the pool for some laps in the morning. Fun thing about tri's is that you can select from 3 sports! ;-)

Let me know how tomorrow goes!
Dee