Diet - The Last Frontier

Nutrition
1

I have read many threads on Nutrition, Macros and those discussing Matt Fitz. book the Endurance Diet but can’t really find what i am looking for so ill throw my question out here and if someone knows of a thread that already exists please send it along:

I am a 77KG and 5’10" - Cat 2 CX racer and try to ride 6-8 hours (limited with newborn) per week during the race season and i am just looking for some guidelines on how much Protein, Carb, Calories, Fiber and Fat i should be in-taking.

My goals: i think i could lose 2kg in a healthy manner but MORE SO i rarely feel recovered and fresh and i would like to look at my diet as a possible solution (assuming i am doing my race/recovery routine right).

I did a deep dive of my daily diet as i eat pretty much the same thing everyday:

Calories: 4200 (Seems high to me - i eat a bunch of Nuts/Nut butter)
Protein: 140g
Carbs: 284g (seems low to me and maybe why i rarely feel fresh and ready to race)
Fiber: 42g (seems high)
Fat: 151g (seems super high - i eat a bunch of Nuts/Nut Butter)

If you start throwing out percentages of macros etc…you may lose me a bit as i am not that versed in that world, but certainly willing to learn.

Any advice appreciated in advance!!

1 Like
2

Your daily calorie intake seems very high, assuming your base metabolic rate is 2200 which seems reasonable, that means you are adding 2000 (14000 per week) calories on top of that.

If you ride 8 hours a week, that equals 28800 seconds; and assuming 1 kilojoule will roughly convert to 1 calorie, you will be burning 0.4861 kilojoules per second meaning your average power for those 8 hours is 486.1 watts.

Granted that is loaded with assumptions and will probably be out, but the jist is that 4200 calories is almost definitely beyond what you need if you are eating that much and there is likely decent margin for you to reduce your weight healthily.

2 Likes
3

Here is a relatively easy guide to follow. I’ve lost close to 60 pounds over the past 5 years and have kept it off.

First, figure out your daily “neutral” intake that includes daily activity. In other words, what amount of food to eat to stay the same weight. For someone your size, it’s probably 2000-2200 calories. BMR*1.2 activity factor is a good start unless you do labor for a living.

At a baseline, with no training, you want to eat below “neutral” (<2200) but above BMR (>1700). So that gives you a roughly 500 calorie window to avoid any bad effects of low energy availability.

#1. Solve for protein first. 2g/kg of bodyweight if you are going to run a calorie deficit and train. Let’s just call it 150g since thats a round number.

#2. You’ll want to eat at least the same contribution of carbohydrate, probably a little more. 150-200g.

#3. Minimize extra fats but don’t avoid them. Plant fats are good, animal fats are good in moderation, just avoid all the extra stuff from chips, crips, fries, donuts, etc.

You’ll probably end up with something that looks like 40-50% carbohydrate, 30-25% fat, 30-25% protein (this is by “calories” not “grams”)

For workouts, just fuel as needed, targeting replacing around 50% of the kj value for the total intake (pre, during, recovery food) for hard workouts up to 2 hours. Longer workouts, you’ll be limited by digestion and I would just eat what you can during the ride, but don’t try to clawback a huge deficit afterwards on those days. This will push your carbohydrate higher on workout days, closer to 55-60%.

5 Likes
4

Your numbers don’t stack up. Fat has 9 calories per gram so 151g is 1359 cals. Protein and carbs have 4 cals per gram so 424g is 1696 cals for a daily total of 3055 calories.

Which makes more sense - with the amount of training you’re doing that seems about right for maintaining weight, whereas at >4000 calories I think you’d be piling on the pounds unless you have a very manual job or do a load of walking or something.

If you eat the same thing most days, train the same amount most weeks, and are maintaining weight, then it’s pretty straightforward to move into a calorie deficit - either eat a bit less, or swap out some of what you eat for less calorie dense foods, until you start losing weight. Given your propensity for nuts I’d suggest the latter, nuts are pretty calorific. Munch on something healthy and less calorific instead, like some carrot batons or cherry tomatoes. You can even dip the carrots in nut butter if you want, just make sure it’s mostly carrot! Replacing some of those nuts with carbs might also help fuel your workouts better. Good healthy carb sources include sweet potato, brown rice, oats, and other grains like quinoa or buckwheat.

1 Like
5

Awesome, love to learn new information. So i calculated BMR and then used 1.55 (Moderate) and 1.725 (Very Active) to come up with 2679-2982 calories. So it does look like i am overfueling with calories and considering that i am just not feeling tip top i can only assume i am fueling with the wrong calories. I know that i need to incorporate more veggies etc. as i feel like i am too heavy on the grains and nuts.

6

Easy rule of thumb when you are eating out or in a location where you can’t easily control the food is to get protein the size of your fist, and try to match the same size of veggies. Think of everything else other than protein+veggies as a garnish.

1 Like
7

Thanks, my breakfast and lunch and snacks are exactly the same and so when it came to dinner calculation, as we do a meal delivery service, i had to do some averages and this is where i may have been off. I agree though, as i am learning about this i think i am nut heavy and veggie light.

8

Also, just fair warning that when you start eating a lot more veggies, your farts will be legendary for around a month. After that, it goes back to normal.

5 Likes
9

Simplest way to lose weight in my experience is just to fill up on a load of veg. Very difficult to get fat eating broccoli!

3 Likes
10

So this is how my numbers shake out:

Protein - 20%
Carb - 35%
Fat - 45%

Comparing to what you suggested, I suspect my Fat here is a bit high and probably coming from my Walnuts (40 grams of fat per day) and Pepitas (60g of fat per day) that i tend to integrate throughout the day. So is the suggestion to cut back on these a bit and move towards more veggies thus bringing my Fat % down and my Carb % up?

As a side not, i eat virtually NO ADDED sugar throughout the day.

11

yup, just cut out the nuts and replace with veggies and see how it shakes out.

1 Like