Food/Diet Balancing dieting with training

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
Hi guys and gals
I am a 35yo weekend hack Enduro racer. Over summer I have been doing a moderate amount of riding trying to build some fitness for the year ahead. I have also started watching what I eat and counting calories for the first time in my life. I have lost about 5kg in the last month which hasn't been too difficult.
But I am concerned with the weight loss will come a loss if performance or endurance.
So what I would like to know is what should I aim for with my calorie intake on days where I ride a lot?
If I have a daily target of 1500 calories but burn 2600 on a ride, how much of that should consume to refill the legs? Should I consume an additional 2600 calories? Should I consume no extra calories at all? Should it be somewhere in between?
I am racing a 12 hour race in just under 2 weeks and I don't want to arrive empty and drained.
Please help.
 

driftking

Wheel size expert
This is the difficult question.
Personally if you are trying to drop weight i would already taper your calories so say you need 1700 on off days and you are eating 1500 You already have 200 less that is your deflect. On riding days I would aim to consume all calories burnt that way you are still in deflect at the base level. You need to just monitor your results with calories and find out if you should eat more or less.

If you are riding more for weight lose then you can probable eat a little less to increase your calorie deflect for that day.

As for losing power that will happen if you don't train with weights, make sure you are training with resistance and weights to maintain the muscle performance. Also higher protien diets are shown to help maintain lean muscle while dropping weight.

Because you are racing in a short time I'd be looking at a more tapered training schedule like that of a racer periodisation, with little time I wouldn't be worried about dropping weight rather than maximizing my performance.
 
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pharmaboy

Eats Squid
Hi guys and gals
I am a 35yo weekend hack Enduro racer. Over summer I have been doing a moderate amount of riding trying to build some fitness for the year ahead. I have also started watching what I eat and counting calories for the first time in my life. I have lost about 5kg in the last month which hasn't been too difficult.
But I am concerned with the weight loss will come a loss if performance or endurance.
So what I would like to know is what should I aim for with my calorie intake on days where I ride a lot?
If I have a daily target of 1500 calories but burn 2600 on a ride, how much of that should consume to refill the legs? Should I consume an additional 2600 calories? Should I consume no extra calories at all? Should it be somewhere in between?
I am racing a 12 hour race in just under 2 weeks and I don't want to arrive empty and drained.
Please help.
2 weeks?

get into balance - presumeably you are going to hard long ride this weekend, you want to be in race condition which means fully replete glycogen stores - go directly to the fridge...... ;)
 

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
Some great stuff on that AIS site. I found this in the mountain bike section;
The sheer volume of training undertaken by elite cross country mountain bikers means most will naturally “arrive” at a level of body fat that promotes high level performance. However, there are situations where additional effort is needed to help lower skinfolds e.g. after coming back from a break or in the lead up to an important competition. Where this is the case, riders should aim to limit or reduce intake of energy-dense foods and fluid, especially fat and alcohol. In addition, riders may wish to re-schedule training sessions so they finish around their normal meal and snack times, ameliorating the need for additional recovery snacks. They may also wish to undertake morning training sessions in a fasted state to promote greater mobilisation and utilisation of fat stores. Importantly, these riders should still ensure that they support quality sessions (interval or threshold sessions) by maximising carbohydrate availability before and/or during the ride. Further, to help minimise the extent of lean body mass loss associated with periods of energy deficit, riders should ensure adequate intake of protein at most meals and snacks.
While it is true that reducing body fat levels can help to improve mountain bike performance, it’s important that reaching a certain skinfold target does not become the primary focus of the riders’ preparation. To that end, close monitoring of training quality is paramount when the rider is undertaking a period of deliberate energy restriction. It is important to note that striving to maintain an unrealistic body fat level can have adverse implications on long-term health and psychological well-being.
 

Mywifesirrational

I however am very normal. Trust me.
Yeah the AIS site is really good, written for the average to elite athlete to understand and most importantly it is exactly what Australia's elite athletes do.
 
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