Calorie deficit and recovery foods balancing - need suggestions

Deb,

With all the questions I have right now, wordy is a good thing. Thanks so much for all the advice. I'll try to address everything you asked, and it raises another question I had coming!

I usually don't eat, or eat very light before biking. That said, I usually bike in the neighborhood of 15-25 miles, well hydrated, and then eat recovery food when I return. Yesterday I set out with a goal of riding 50+ miles, so I took in about 1000 calories before and during the ride. Morning coffee, an energy bar (Probar, fairly balanced), and a banana before leaving. A Powerbar and a Cliff bar (both leaning more towards carbs/sugars and lower in protein and fat) and watered up good at a short halfway point break, then hit the road for home. Over the course of the ride I drank the better part of a gallon of water (and some weak tea with minimal sugar).

I haven't tried protein powders, and the protein bars I've used are usually used for post exercise or if I'm "behind the curve" on protein intake during the day. Your idea sounds good, and has less sugar than a yogurt/banana/peanut butter (just a little!)/milk smoothie I've made as a recovery food.

I'm still learning the basics, but from my understanding BCAA's would be of more use as my body fat goes down leaner and I'm moving more towards muscle building/maintaining vs the current mode more focused on fat burning. (Keep in mind being new to most of this I always stand to be corrected!)

Points taken on the yogurt and cottage cheese and sugars. Sugars is the one place I've struggled more on nutrition, and one of my reasons for looking for alternate high gross protein sources.

I do fairly well on rest and sleep during recovery. I often bike a couple days in a row, but limit other physical strains and get a good nights sleep usually.


And to the last point, that you addressed and I skipped over, the calorie deficit question. This has been a source of confusion for me since there seems to be a lot of conflicting information. I've read countless articles, many that conflict. The power lifter types say lift heavy, recover well and avoid any protein shortages. The aerobic exercise types say do enough to not lose muscle, avoid protein shortages, and do all the aerobic exercise you want. The "total fit" body types echo similar with a balance of the previous two approaches.

So for now, in my state of confusion (or lack of certain knowledge really) I'm leaning towards the later, balancing the two somewhat, but with my exercise primarily towards aerobic type activities. And I'm HOPING that my current calorie deficit isn't making me lose any muscle. My thought train being that I'm still heavier than desired, and still have a body fat level of about 24%, which even at my age is considered moderate. And from my understanding, it takes a fairly large calorie deficit to start burning muscle, as long as your fat levels are up, and protein intakes are good.

My aerobic exercise (mild walking and moderate biking) shouldn't be intense enough to stop me from burning fat at these fat levels, and unless I was riding real hard for extended periods hopefully isn't triggering muscle decay. This is also part of my reasoning for my normal rides often being on no food or light food.... I want my body burning more fat for now. Yesterday being a harder ride, I felt I needed those 1000 carb biased calories to get me through the ride with some energy left.





But as I've said, I'm wide open for correction by you and those like you that are obviously more well informed on the whole picture than I am. I'd rather give myself more time to reach my goals than do something stupid that is harder to correct later if that's what it takes. I know I want to build back more muscle after my weight loss phase, but I certainly don't want to be losing any of my current muscle mass if it's easily avoided.




Mikestobbs1,

Thanks for the thoughts. I do use nuts and eggs as much as I can, but the fat levels in both limit my options for the foods that surround them, especially now with me wanting to limit excess fat intake. As for beef and lean pork, as a family we don't eat a lot of meats. Though they are protein rich, I don't expect my wife and daughter to adjust their meals based on my protein needs. So to some extent I'm looking for "stand alone" type things I can add to a meal that might be too deficient in certain areas for what I'm trying to do.