Road Bike, Cycling Forums banner

Hunger problem

1.8K views 21 replies 16 participants last post by  kmunny19  
#1 ·
Just wondering if anyone has experienced or has any advice on hunger problems.
Basically i am pretty well always hungry. I am an 18 year old female road cyclist who competes regularly. I am 166cm tall and weigh 55kg's and am very lean. I ride 6 days a weeks. here a typical week:
mon- 2-3 hour recovery ride
tues- 45km and between 1- 1.5 hours of ergo ( i ride into where i do ergo and ride home)
wed- 130-160km in the hills sometimes with a bunch
thurs- same as tues
friday- 70-100km
sat- off
sun- 130-160km hard ride in the hills with a bunch
I ride in the mornings before my long rides i usually eat 3 cups of nutrigrain or toast with either jam or vegemite with a couple of cups of coffee. On other days usually toast and vegemite but on sat i might have yohurt and/or cereal and milk because im not riding. I take bananas, fruit bars and lollies on my long rides and have a banana before i ride home from my ergo's.
On rides over 80km i have a can of coke when i get home then lunch.
My lunch on most days is a large salad sandwhich with two slice of homemade bread or 3 slices of sliced bread. Followed by either a couple of cups of coffee or a milo made with water and a cup of milk.
Between lunch and tea i eat fruit, frozen yohurt or corn cakes.
Dinner is usually what ever mum cook but i dont eat unhealthy.
After dinner i have a bit of fruit to keep me going until the morning.

To the point i am allways hungry (But not when im riding) even after lunch. I can pretty much eat something every hour. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to help with my hunger problem i am sick of it.
 
#2 · (Edited)
bugger! I just talked myself out of some vegemite toast but now I'll have to make it!

I know how you feel. Constant hunger pain.
Sounds like you're eating more than me and I'm 80kg.
But then you're doing a few more k's than me too.
There's plenty of gurus for this kind of stuff around here so no doubt you'll here from them.
But I tend to think if you're doing the work you need to eat enough to have the energy so why hold back unless you start porking up?
 
#3 ·
parfike said:
ITo the point i am allways hungry (But not when im riding) even after lunch. I can pretty much eat something every hour. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to help with my hunger problem i am sick of it.

Eat more :) ... Seriously though, thats a lot of time on the bike so you're going to need lots of food but maybe adding a little bit more fat to your diet? I'm not an expert but i find adding things like nuts/nut butters etc. tend to help. Nuts do tend to be high in calories, but for me anyway, are much more satisfying than constantly snacking on fruit.

wayne
 
#4 ·
I'm not sure what the nutritional content of vegemite is, but it sounds like you are coming up short in the protein and fat departments. Both play an important role in making you feel full (especially fat). Add some peanut butter (and whole nuts of all sorts), olive oil, avocado, eggs, meat (if you aren't vegetarian), fish, etc. If you don't want to cook, you can go for a protein supplement like whey. Mix some up & drink it with your other meals.
 
#6 ·
With the kind of mileage you're doing and your age you can pretty much eat whatever you want and get away with it :) I'm 21 and on my collegiate racing team, so I'm in pretty much the same boat. When I was a couple of year younger and just getting into riding seriously, I was hungry all the time, too. It gets old fast.

My first advice is to ditch the salads at lunch. For me, lunch is always a high energy meal.

Eat when you're hungry. Listen to your body: if you're lacking in a certain part of your diet, you will most likely get cravings for a food with high content of what you're lacking.

As swuzzlebubble said, eat until you are not hungry and monitor your weight - if you start to gain (over a couple of weeks - daily variation doesn't count), then cut back a bit.

Most recreational cyclists who do the kind of mileage you're doing eat so much normal people think something is wrong with them!
 
#9 ·
Eat more. I was having the same kind of problem the past few weeks moving from base into build training. Doing a lot shorter rides, but the effort is ridiculous. Upped my calories by like 600/day and I've been pretty good.

You will feel like you are eating non stop, but it's probably what your body needs. I'm a few years older, but I think a little more lean than you... FWIW, here's a typical day for me:

Breakfast - Cereal mix (Kashi/Cheerios) with milk and blueberries, coffee, glass of OJ or stout oatmeal (oats, milk, blueberries, walnuts, almond slices, ground flax seed, honey, and cinnamon)
a.m. snack - yogurt and granola, banana
Ride - sometimes a drink mix, otherwise just water (I only do about an hour on weekdays). Post ride berry protein shake (milk, vanilla yogurt, vanilla protein powder, frozen mixed berries blended the night before).
Lunch - peanut butter & jelly, lots of baby carrots (or edamame)
p.m. snack - Kashi cereal dry, trail mix, apple
Dinner - chicken or salmon or pasta with ground turkey, salad with or without lentils or mixed baked veggies, yellow sweet potatoes or brown ride medley
Dessert - not every night, but cup of grapes or cup of blackberries or dark chocolate (only on occasion) and sometimes a taste of peanut butter as I make lunch :)

Sounds like a lot, huh? My weight has been pretty steady the past 2 weeks.

I also ride 6 days a week and it works out to something like 10-12 hours? I'm not doing any weights or cross training, but do core exercises and sometimes yoga in the evenings.
 
#10 ·
Andrea138 said:
I'm not sure what the nutritional content of vegemite is, but it sounds like you are coming up short in the protein and fat departments. Both play an important role in making you feel full (especially fat). Add some peanut butter (and whole nuts of all sorts), olive oil, avocado, eggs, meat (if you aren't vegetarian), fish, etc. If you don't want to cook, you can go for a protein supplement like whey. Mix some up & drink it with your other meals.
Agree, and think you need more protein. It seems like you balance fatigue with carbs and/or sugar...maybe substitute some coke and lollies for almonds, nuts, eggs, etc.

I think volatile blood sugar levels might make you hungry...just a guess.
 
#15 ·
Bring some Fig Newtons along for the ride... have you seen the nutritional content of those babies?? :)
 
#17 ·
Andrea138 said:
I can't keep Nutella in my house because I'll eat the entire jar in one sitting! Otherwise, it's OK. I'd kinda like it better during the ride in a PB sandwich, but some people don't like it at all because it's prettymuch just straight sugar.
HeHe !!! l can't keep penut butter in my house for the same reason but nutella on the other hand l don't even make it out of the car park from the supermarket without spooning out half the jar with my fingers.
By memory there is very little nutrition at all in nutella fat'n sugar and some preservatives, there is also very little protien compared to PB.
 
#18 ·
parfike, i have a very high metabolism and go thrru what you do everyday.

i can eat three times a normal person and still be hungry afterwards.

you need some tips and tricks along with nutritional advice.


drink cool(not cold) water with your meals and snacks. chew your food more. it is too easy to shovel food down your mouth load after load. eating slower satisfies the craving.
go easy on the salt. try to saty away from too much corn products. salad only in moderation unless its spinach.

snack on raw veggies, as much as you want. they are harder to eat than prepared food and are more satisfiying after they are in your tummy.
stay away from soda and processed sugar as much as possible.



this maybe the hardest part, but restructure your eating intake.
eat enough to satisfy small hunger pains anywhere 3 hour before a ride, it won't make a difference unless you eat too much.
after the ride, recovery shake and start eating carbs/protiens in a 4/1 ratio. equal to the size of your fist every every two hours. if you have to eat then wait and eat, make sure to follow those total amounts you should be fine.
this change can be challenging but works best for high revving engines like us.


after a week you will know if you need to go up or down in porportions or timing. but you won't be hungry.
 
#19 ·
Thanks

2ndPlace said:
parfike, i have a very high metabolism and go thrru what you do everyday.

i can eat three times a normal person and still be hungry afterwards.

you need some tips and tricks along with nutritional advice.


drink cool(not cold) water with your meals and snacks. chew your food more. it is too easy to shovel food down your mouth load after load. eating slower satisfies the craving.
go easy on the salt. try to saty away from too much corn products. salad only in moderation unless its spinach.

snack on raw veggies, as much as you want. they are harder to eat than prepared food and are more satisfiying after they are in your tummy.
stay away from soda and processed sugar as much as possible.



this maybe the hardest part, but restructure your eating intake.
eat enough to satisfy small hunger pains anywhere 3 hour before a ride, it won't make a difference unless you eat too much.
after the ride, recovery shake and start eating carbs/protiens in a 4/1 ratio. equal to the size of your fist every every two hours. if you have to eat then wait and eat, make sure to follow those total amounts you should be fine.
this change can be challenging but works best for high revving engines like us.


after a week you will know if you need to go up or down in porportions or timing. but you won't be hungry.

for the advice i'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes
 
#20 ·
parfike said:
Just wondering if anyone has experienced or has any advice on hunger problems.
Basically i am pretty well always hungry. I am an 18 year old female road cyclist who competes regularly. I am 166cm tall and weigh 55kg's and am very lean. I ride 6 days a weeks. here a typical week:
mon- 2-3 hour recovery ride
tues- 45km and between 1- 1.5 hours of ergo ( i ride into where i do ergo and ride home)
wed- 130-160km in the hills sometimes with a bunch
thurs- same as tues
friday- 70-100km
sat- off
sun- 130-160km hard ride in the hills with a bunch
I ride in the mornings before my long rides i usually eat 3 cups of nutrigrain or toast with either jam or vegemite with a couple of cups of coffee. On other days usually toast and vegemite but on sat i might have yohurt and/or cereal and milk because im not riding. I take bananas, fruit bars and lollies on my long rides and have a banana before i ride home from my ergo's.
On rides over 80km i have a can of coke when i get home then lunch.
My lunch on most days is a large salad sandwhich with two slice of homemade bread or 3 slices of sliced bread. Followed by either a couple of cups of coffee or a milo made with water and a cup of milk.
Between lunch and tea i eat fruit, frozen yohurt or corn cakes.
Dinner is usually what ever mum cook but i dont eat unhealthy.
After dinner i have a bit of fruit to keep me going until the morning.

To the point i am allways hungry (But not when im riding) even after lunch. I can pretty much eat something every hour. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to help with my hunger problem i am sick of it.
You need to infuse your diet with more protien and fat. What I mean by this is a Whey Protien Shake after your long rides and incorporate some good fat into your diet like avacados, Raw Almonds, pine nuts and Cashews. I would also suggest eating more fiber. Vegetables tend to fill you up too. Healthy helpings of salad can be a great recovery side dish after a long hard ride. Also eat potatoes with a bit of lean Chili on top. That one is a great post ride meal too. Basically, eat more. :thumbsup:
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Mike Directory said:
If you are that hungry, Im sure your body is burning enough calories to just eat more.
eat what you feel like, when you feel like it. you are exercising so much you will not get out of shape. hunger is your body telling you it need more fuel. if it goes on long enough, you will lose energy and start burning your own muscle for fuel. burn some other animal's muscle for fuel instead.