# Right nutrition for a beginner



## Gromov (Sep 11, 2013)

Hey Gang. 

I'm trying to get back in shape. About 3 weeks ago I have bought myself a Cube LTD 26 hard tail.

Love riding and at some point I have noticed that I really enjoyed tackling steep hills. Last night sucked though. It was so bad that thoughts of going back hit me few times. And it took me longer than it normally would.

Is there a website or topic or anything that could help me understand what I need to eat in general and before/after rides.

My sleep last week wasnt really good either, not more than 5-6 hours and I felt pretty lazy before going for a ride last night.

btw I'm 28, 6'1", and around 202 lbsnow, ideally want to be around 190 lbs


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Maybe just too much too soon? How long are your rides?

I try to drink about a bottle of water an hour. I don't eat until I'm anticipating a ride of over two hours. Last time I did an endurance race, I tried to eat about 300 cal/hour. But there's a couple hour's carbs stored and ready in one's body before getting into fat reserves.


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## Gromov (Sep 11, 2013)

Well my bike stamina is pretty good because I was riding non stop back in teenage years. I haven't done more than 25 kms, not because I couldn't go any further, just never had a chance or time because I mostly ride at night after the kid is sleeping. 

Most of the hills are in the beginning of my route, probably around 5-6 km in total and I just hated it last night. 


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## Taranis (Dec 30, 2009)

Some days your just not feeling it, and some days your could ride forever.

Dont worry too much, just ride, but maybe w/ less climbing if your really not feeling it after about 20 mins of effort. Yeah you may need to fuel better (check out the XC racing forum for how to fuel) but remember even if your sucking wind, and going slow, your still beating everyone who's sitting on the couch.:thumbsup:


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## Gromov (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks for the motivation  

So had a quick ride last night. Not that bad at all! Only did 10.6 kms with some steep hills in 36 minutes. I also went the other way around so that had some time to warm up and hills started appearing in a few kms. 

Guess it was lack of sleep. 

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## dave54 (Jul 1, 2003)

Ignore any website with a .com suffix. There are usually full of inaccurate, misleading, and potentially harmful advice.

Check out your local community college, and take a basic course in nutrition. Follow up with additional college level courses on the internet from websites like Coursera or Khan Academy. After getting a good foundation of how nutrients really work in the body, then you will understand why I state .com websites touting their magic potion are full of crap.


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## Fullcoilmojo (Aug 5, 2013)

Just keep it simple. So many people over think nutrition. I find my best results come from eating natural foods (nothing processed or man made) and balancing those meals with protein, carbs and fats. The only thing left is figuring out how many calories you need daily. I believe you'll get the results your looking for eating this way but if you want to get technical you can start playing with your macro ratios I.e. protein, carbs, fats to see what makes you feel best. I used to be into bodybuilding and a 40/40/20 seems to work well for me no matter what sport I'm doing. Good luck


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## dave54 (Jul 1, 2003)

As I mentioned earlier, take a real course in nutrition.

Here are some free MOOCs. They are not easy, they are college level courses and require work, study, and followup if you want to learn.

https://www.coursera.org/course/lifenutr
https://www.coursera.org/course/nutrition
https://www.coursera.org/course/nutritionforhealth
https://www.coursera.org/course/humannutrition
https://www.coursera.org/course/humanphysio
https://www.edx.org/course/mcgillx/mcgillx-chem181x-food-thought-1213
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/anatomy


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## jennyv (Nov 13, 2012)

Another great resource is Joe Friel. He is great for taking a lot of the science and breaking it down so that everyone can understand it: Joe Friel

He also changes his opinion based on the most current science. He had a great quote, "The problem with writing a book is people will never allow you to change your mind again. Time marches on." In other words, the science is getting better in terms of understanding how our body processes fuel and previous assumptions that were made are now being questioned based on new research.


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## wingerak92 (Apr 15, 2014)

I like this post.... Will Gadd ? Eat this
I try to stick to whole foods and as raw as possible...


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## climbingrules (Feb 3, 2010)

Your problem is obvious; it's the 26" bike ;-)

Seriously though, this article seems timely to your question. There's a follow up on recovery that I really liked because they said peanut butter sandwiches are great!


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