I’m a week into the diet and went for a 66 mile cycle ride today. After about 35 miles, I had to take on extra food in order to continue. Apps suggest that I used 1800 kcal over the 66 miles. Is there any advice anywhere on adjusting calorie intake for high energy expenditure?

Hi Reydoncyclist,
I’m interested to know this too. I cycled 54 miles last weekend. I had a variation of the no-carb Bircher for breakfast, and a black pudding and poached egg salad for lunch in a café. I took 2 of the beetroot falafels to eat as snacks along the way, and some nuts. Before the last 5 miles (uphill) I stopped and bought a banana and had a few raisins, along with a latte. I just felt like I needed them, and decided the calorie count cycling, like you, would be fairly high. Had a low carb dinner. Felt fine that evening and since. I’m not diabetic though – just overweight – so I suspect it’s less critical for me.

Thanks FatCat, that’s interesting and useful. Like you, I’m not diabetic, but distinctly overweight. I can stick to 800 kcal with low carb under normal circumstances and don’t want to give up long distance cycling in order to stick to it rigidly. Weight is coming off fast, and I don’t want to jeopardise that. Actual weight loss is mainly water I guess, but I’ve calculated that I’m currently losing 1lb fat per day. If I find any reliable advice, I’ll post it.

I’ve been thinking about this a bit:

a) is there a facility through this site to ask Michael what he thinks?
b) I’m booked to ride a hilly 75 miles in early May, so I need to get some serious training in. Despite what I ate that day (and I’m not counting calories strictly), and 2 lattes that weekend, I am down 8 lb in 10 days since I started. My feeling is that, if I eat ‘correctly’ for the diet on non-cycling days and listen to my body on cycling days, I should be able to fuel my body with carbs during the rides without taking in excess for storage.

It would be good to know if there’s any research out there.

Hi FatCat. If you scroll to the bottom of the Home Page, in the bottom right hand corner you can click on ‘contact us’. Someone from the team will email an answer to your query. When I did this the answer came the following day.

Many thanks captainlynne!

My thanks also captainlynne.

Hi guys,

I asked the same question in my post “Endurance Exercise – Munro Bagging”. To save you going to this … on mountain walks with my walking club I’m typically burning over 4000 calories in a day (last walk was 800m climb over 6 hours and my fitbit said that I used 4500 calories for that whole day). Just started the BSD. Next big walk is 28th Feb so I’ll let you know how I get on. Planning to take some emergency back up gels etc just in case.

Cheers

Thanks for that mountainman. I think energy gels are a very good idea, they saved me yesterday when I could feel weakening beginning. I’d like to find a solution that doesn’t involve taking on carbs so much. I’m reading up on making adaptations to using fat stores to a greater extent, but I think that this requires time and careful planning. Good luck with the walk on the 28th.

Hi guys, Interesting.
I live in the Peak District so hills out and back when you are cycling are obligatory. I also run over the fells. Since i have been on the low blood sugar diet i have defiantly hit the wall when out. I too am interested on whether taking on board extra added carbs will cock up the diet. I was climbing at an indoor wall on Thursday and after about one and a half hours i was totally pumped. Losing the weight though at about 1lb a day so don`t want to blow it. Keep the discussion and experiences going. Mark

Thanks liveinhope, that’s exactly my worry. Is your username a nice pun?

Well yes and no as i live in the village of that name.

I got a very helpful reply after following the guidance offered by captainlynne. Here it is:

Hi Reydoncyclist,

Your body is accustomed to using carbs as an energy source. Actually it is able to use fat as an energy source but it will need time to adjust.

If you can reduce the intensity initially while you adjust then after a few weeks you should be able to increase it again.

In the meantime, for safety’s sake, do continue with dates and fluids, you just don’t want too higher carb intake as you won’t ever adjust.

It’s a bit of a catch 22 as you want to exercise at the same level but, as your body is expecting carbs, it’ll suffer without them at the minute.

Kind regards

I meant to post my reply too – along similar lines:

I would recommend taking it easy initially while your body adapts to the lower carb intake.

Your body can use fat as an energy source during exercise, instead of carbs, but it takes time for your body to adjust. Indeed, if you are type 2 diabetic, it can take even longer for your body to adjust to the different energy source.

The catch 22 is that you need to do exercise with low carb intake to help your body adjust to a different energy source.

You will know your body better than anyone and you should listen to it and how you feel. If you feel able to undertake the exercise then you should be fine but don’t overdo it if you’re not sure you’re ready.

I’m finding The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by S Phinney and J Volek very clear and helpful. It is very much in line with the advice being given from this site but as in book form, it has much further depth and detail. It’s available in hard copy but I’m finding it easy to use in the Kindle format.

Thanks for this – I’ll take a look.