For cyclists, a well-structured diet plan is as crucial as the bike itself. It's not merely about shedding pounds; it's about optimizing performance, enhancing recovery, and sustaining energy levels for those long rides. In this article, we will explore the intricacies of a bicycle diet plan, covering everything from macronutrient ratios to nutrient timing, ensuring that you're equipped to nail your cycling nutrition.
The Cyclist's Nutritional Needs
A cyclist's diet differs significantly from that of a "normal person" due to the high energy demands of the sport. Here are some of the key differences:
- Increased Calorie Intake: Cyclists require a substantial calorie intake to fuel their training. This can range from 3,000 to 6,000 calories daily, depending on training intensity, fitness level, gender, and body size. If you want to put a lot of watts out in training, you’re going to have to put a lot of the right food in. You can’t expect to drive a car across the country with an empty tank.
- Nutrient Timing: When you eat is as important as what you eat. Stacking carbohydrates before, during, and after training sessions is essential for optimizing performance. It’s not just about what you eat, but when you eat it. This is hugely important. You might consume the right amount of Calories, but if you don’t eat at the right times, you will struggle to perform. We’ll dig into this later, but you need to stack carbohydrates before, during and after you training to optimize your performance.
- High Carbohydrate Consumption: Carbohydrates are the primary fuel source for cyclists. A cyclist nutrition plan should prioritize carbohydrates to support training demands. Many riders tend to overconsume proteins and fats and should switch to a high-carb diet plan. This is your rocket fuel.
- Simple Sugars During Rides: Simple sugars are beneficial during training for quick digestion and rapid absorption into the muscles. Avoid foods that are high in fiber, protein and fat while riding as this will slow digestion and potentially cause GI issues. When you are riding, you need something that will digest quickly and absorb into your muscles rapidly. Some good options are drink mixes, pure granulated sugar, maltodextrin, energy gels, and even sugar water.
- Meal Planning: Forethought is essential for a cyclist's nutrition plan. Having a post-ride meal planned or knowing where to get your pre-race breakfast while traveling ensures you're always prepared. If you want to perform at your peak, you must put some forethought into your cyclist nutrition plan. Got a big ride planned? Make sure you have a post-ride meal planned out. Traveling to a race? Ensure you know where you’re getting your pre-race breakfast.
- Clean Eating: While cyclists burn a lot of calories, it's crucial to prioritize healthy, nutrient-dense foods to support recovery, prevent sickness, and promote overall well-being. Just because you burn a lot of Calories doesn’t give you free reign to eat junk food all the time. To perform at your peak, you must put healthy, nutrient dense food into your body. This will help provide you with the nutrients you need to recover, prevent sickness, promote gut health and even improve your mental wellbeing.
Macronutrient Breakdown for Cyclists
Understanding the role of each macronutrient is vital for creating an effective cycling diet plan. Macronutrients categorize nutrition into three groups-carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. It’s helpful to think about macronutrients as a lever for optimizing your diet for cycling performance. On one end, you have fats, and on the other, you have carbs. The fulcrum rests on protein, so the first step is determining how much protein you need.
- Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are the mainstay of your cycling meal plan. That said, you really want to focus on extra carbs before high intensity interval sessions (Zone 4 or higher) or long duration sessions (3+ hours). Carbohydrates should be the primary fuel source, especially before intense workouts or long rides. Focus on incorporating fruits, grains, legumes, vegetables, and cycling-specific sport foods into your diet. Glycogen concentration in the muscle is dependent on diet. The more carbohydrate in the diet the higher the glycogen stores. Glycogen concentration declines during exercise, especially higher intensity exercise. Higher glycogen concentrations in the muscle resulted in less fatigue and better performance.
- Proteins: Protein is essential for muscle repair and recovery after hard sessions. Focus on incorporating protein immediately after a mega hard session of lifting, intense intervals, or a 4+ hour ride. While we shift our cyclist diet plan towards carbs, remember that you need protein to repair your body after hard sessions and you need fats for healthy body function. NOT EATING FATS is a recipe for sickness and poor performance. But again, you most likely don’t need to seek fat out; Just don’t avoid it.
- Fats: Fats are necessary for healthy body function, but should not be the primary focus. Consume healthy fats like nuts, seeds, fish, and oils. For most of us; never. It will naturally get into your cycling diet. Ideally, you’ll be consuming healthy fats like nuts, seeds, fish, and oils, but a nice steak or pork chop a few times a week is a great way to change things up. But, the carbs and protein proportion can be way off.
The recommended macronutrient breakdown for cyclists is as follows:
- Protein: 1.2-1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight daily
- Carbohydrates: 6-10 grams per kilogram of body weight daily
- Fats: Adjust based on the other two macronutrients
Cycling Diet Plan: Grocery List Essentials
When creating a cycling diet plan, start with a trip to the grocery store and stock up on the following essentials: Watts are made in the kitchen.
Read also: Is Cycling Better Than Running to Lose Weight?
- Fruits and Vegetables:
- Bananas
- Avocados
- Grapes
- Spinach
- Kale
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- White Onion
- Apples
- Peppers: red, yellow, and orange
- Potatoes: white, red, or sweet
- Tomatoes
- Frozen Fruit: blueberries, cherries, pineapple, and strawberries
- Protein Sources:
- Boneless Chicken Tenderloins
- White Eggs
- Pork Chops / Pork Tenderloin
- Filet Mignon (small portions)
- Carbohydrate Sources:
- Rice
- Jam
- Other:
- Hummus
- Spicy Guacamole
- Baba Gannouj
- Lunch meat (nitrate-free)
Nutrient Timing: Before, During, and After Cycling
What you eat and when you eat it can greatly impact your performance. Fueling before, during, and after will not only increase performance but will improve the consistency of your training.
- Before Cycling: Fuel up before getting on your bike to ensure sufficient glycogen stores are in the liver and muscles for the work you will do. Aim to finish eating solid foods 3 hours before a high intensity session, or 90 minutes before an endurance session. You can use drink mix or any liquid carbs in the time leading up to the event or ride, to keep your carb stores topped off.
- During Cycling: During the ride you do not want to consume much protein, fat or fiber: these all slow the delivery of carbs and even fluids. Carbs are able to sustain high intensity outputs, whereas fats cannot. You can find a wide variety of bars, gels, and chews, along with hydration products, to get you through your event without any GI Distress. A practical starting point is 60-90g of carbs per hour for rides lasting longer than an hour.
- After Cycling: You want to refeed with normal whole foods and utilize carbs and protein. Post-ride nutrition is vital for replenishing your glycogen stores and kickstarting the recovery process.
Cycling Meal Plan: Sample Day
Here's a sample cycling meal plan for a day with a high-intensity workout:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries and a scoop of protein powder
- Mid-Morning Snack: Banana with almond butter
- Lunch: Whole-wheat wrap with chicken, vegetables, and hummus
- Pre-Workout Snack (30-60 minutes before): Energy gel or a small serving of simple sugars
- During Workout: Consume 60-90g of carbohydrates per hour through sports drinks, gels, or chews
- Post-Workout Meal (within 60 minutes): Recovery shake with carbohydrates and protein
- Dinner: Grilled salmon with quinoa and roasted vegetables
- Evening Snack (optional): Greek yogurt with berries
Carb Cycling for Cyclists
Carb cycling involves alternating between eating high and low amounts of carbohydrates. Some serious athletes use it to keep their energy up during workouts without gaining weight. There isn't much research on carb cycling. Although generally safe for short periods, carb cycling isn't for everyone. Before trying this extreme diet plan, check to see if it's right for your health. Carb cycling is a personalized diet strategy. You'll likely change up the meal plan to fit your overall health and exercise goals.
- How to Carb Cycle: Rotate between high- and low-carb days. Do intense workouts on heavier-carb days, but rest or keep it lighter on low-carb ones. Everyone's body is different, and you may need to adjust the meal plan along the way.
- Carb Cycling Durations: Experts aren't sure about its long-term benefits, but short-term carb cycling seems generally safe. Eating extremely low levels of carbs may lead to nutritional problems or muscle loss. And higher carbs and fiber can irritate your stomach. Make sure to balance your overall diet to keep your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol in a healthy range.
- 5:2 rule of carb cycling: The 5:2 rule for carb cycling means eating low-carbs for five days followed by two days of high-carbs.
Sample Carb Cycling Meal Plan
Here's a sample carb cycling plan for a week:
- Monday (High-Intensity): 175-350 grams of carbs
- Tuesday (Low-Intensity): 100-125 grams of carbs
- Wednesday (Low-Intensity): 100-125 grams of carbs
- Thursday (High-Intensity): 175-350 grams of carbs
- Friday (Low-Intensity): 100-125 grams of carbs
- Saturday (Rest): Less than 100 grams of carbs
- Sunday (High-Intensity): 175-350 grams of carbs
Macro Cycling: An Alternative Approach
Macro cycling is a dieting strategy people use to lose weight. Followers eat varying amounts of carbohydrates and fats over 2-week periods, based on specific ratios. Macro cycling is a way of dieting where you alternate how much protein, carbs, and fats you consume over 2-week periods. In macro cycling, you cycle your consumption of both carbs and fats.
Read also: Bicycle Benefits for Weight Loss
Here are some of the most popular ratios for macro cycling:
- Starting ratio: 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat
- Lower carb, higher fat ratio: 40% protein, 20% carbs, 40% fat
- Lower fat, higher carb ratio: 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat
Hydration
Maintaining adequate hydration is crucial for cycling performance. Dehydration slows gastric emptying and slows gut motility. At first, the detriment is small, but it gets worse the more dehydrated you become.
- Aim for a bottle an hour, and adjust for your physiology and the weather.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet