my garmin gives me calories too even though I don't use a HR strap.

Posted By: eragotmy garmin gives me calories too even though I don't use a HR strap.

But you did reveal your height and weight to your garmin. Combine that with the watts your producing you can get a pretty good estimation of your calorie expenditure over time.

I revealed my weight and FTP

A reminder for your pre-race ritual: Drink your beet juice!

Yeah. I mean generally cut 7 pounds between December and March just from training and cutting out the excess sweet stuff. It is the last 5 pounds, and what to eat post, during, and pre-race that i have absolutely no mastery of. 

Pizza, beer and Utz party mix. 

I make a mean DIY bonk breaker if anyone wants the recipe.  Or ride with me and you might get some.

@Emily Are you willing to share that recipe on the forum?

For sure.  Need to cobble it together, stay tuned.

DIY bonk breaker for you:

(brevity is not my strong suit)

First step: go to Sahadi’s.  Their bulk food section is a magical place, and one of the reasons I may never leave Brooklyn.

Ingredients:

1 cup packed dates, pitted and no sugar added (I sub 1/2 for all natural tart dried cherries, for more of a PB&J effect)

1/4 cup honey or maple syrup or agave, or combination

1/4 cup all-natural peanut butter (add ¼ tsp salt if unsalted)

1 cup raw unsalted almonds, loosely chopped

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (I use quick-cooking)

Optional add-ins:  1 scoop protein powder of choice (I use vanilla whey protein and it’s tolerable but somewhat overpowering), other nuts, vanilla, sunflower seeds, chia seeds (I add 2-3 tbsp), raw cacao nibs (I add 2 tbsp, for crunch), flaked coconut, toasted oats, etc.  The recipe is very forgiving so you can adjust ingredients pretty freely if you stick to similar proportions of wet/dry.

These are no-bake bars, but you’ll need a food processor.*

Instructions:

1. Soak dates in warm water for 10 minutes and drain (will process a lot easier this way).

2. Meanwhile, process your oats and almonds together to grind them more finely, which should take less than a minute (this part is optional, but the finer grain helps keep the bars from being crumbly and really closely matches the softer dough-like consistency of a bonk breaker). Add to a mixing bowl.

3. Add your drained dates (and other dried fruits, if using) to the processor, and process until only small bits remain (a minute or so). Should be very sticky and doughy.  Add to the oat/almond mixture, along with the PB, honey (or other natural sweetener), and any other optional ingredients.

4. Mix either by hand (have fun with that), or with a stand mixture and paddle attachment.

5. Once thoroughly mixed, transfer to an 8×8 dish.

6. Press down very firmly until densely packed and level.  Set in ‘fridge or freezer for 15-20 minutes to firm up.

7. Cut into 6 even bars or serving size of choice**.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week (room temp is probably fine if just for a few days).

*If you don’t have a food processor and are very determined, you can try chopping the dates/fruit as finely as possible.  Your end result will be less doughy and potentially crumbly, so make sure to press into the pan firmly, or add a bit more PB/honey for hold.

**I’ve been increasing this recipe by 50% and it’s my breakfast for a week.  At that serving size, it’s a lot of calories, but it’s a whole meal, and keeps me full all morning.

Nutrition breakdown for the recipe and generous serving size given above (approximated):

325 calories
7 g fiber
13 g fat
9 g protein (even without protein powder)
48 g carbohydrate
28 g sugars

How it stacks up against a Bonk Breaker:

Very similar texture.  Main difference is the protein source.  This recipe gets most of it’s protein from nuts, which makes it higher in total fat (but still low in saturated fat).  Bonk Breakers use rice protein isolate, brown rice flour, etc, which I don't have yet. This recipe is also high in fiber, so depending on what you’re used to, you may want to limit your intake during exercise. They also have a decent amount of sugar, although as natural sweeteners they come with a few nutrients and are lower on the glycemic index, compared to table sugar.  It’s still less than what’s in a bottle of Gatorade, and not much more than a large apple.  I love these.

Very interesting article in the NYTimes about obesity and the effect of different food stuff on metabolic activity.
One of my favorite tidbits:

Rats fed a diet with rapidly digesting (called high “glycemic index”) carbohydrate gained 71 percent more fat than their counterparts, who ate more calories over all, though in the form of slowly digesting carbohydrate.

This article seems to make a good case for the paleo diet (though doesn't say so explicitly).

dstokes said:

Very interesting article in the NYTimes about obesity and the effect of different food stuff on metabolic activity.
One of my favorite tidbits:

Rats fed a diet with rapidly digesting (called high “glycemic index”) carbohydrate gained 71 percent more fat than their counterparts, who ate more calories over all, though in the form of slowly digesting carbohydrate.

This article seems to make a good case for the paleo diet (though doesn't say so explicitly).

The evidence does seem to be mounting (some would say "Mountained") against sugar/high glycemic index foods - the huge caveat is that these studies are not inclusive of sports like competitive cycling.

I just blew through a bunch of french pastries and topped it off with a happy meal... Tomorrow should be interesting . 

I just blew through a bunch of french pastries and topped it off with a happy meal... Tomorrow should be interesting . 

Topped it off like frosting on a cake or ate it after the pastries? I would be impressed with the former.

Just washed down my Osmo preload with a half dozen cookies.  Yum.

Loving the Osmo PreLoad; zero cramping this season, and a 20oz drink before bedtime makes sure I don't miss the early race, if you know what I mean...
#oldman

I'd love to be posting this on a blistering Summer day, but I can't wait that long. 

Your new favorite Spring/Summer recovery snack:

Blueberry honey & spice OSMO froyo:

Approx. 3 cups greek yogurt (I used 2% plain)
1/2 cup honey, or more to taste (I used 3/4 c. and it was a bit too sweet)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
Half-pint blueberries (or approx. 1 cup)
3 scoops honey & spice OSMO Acute Recovery (the "men's" vanilla would work great too)

Instructions:
Heat honey and blueberries with a dash of salt in a saucepan until simmering, mashing the blueberries to release juices.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Add to blender, along with all other ingredients.  Blend on high until very pretty.  Watch for remaining OSMO lumps and stir/blend again as needed.  Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to instructions (takes 20-30 minutes in my Cuisinart to get soft serve consistency).  Pour into plastic container and freeze until firm.  Final product should be scoopably soft and yummy.  *If in a rush and/or don't have an icecream maker, just blend everything together and pour it into a plastic container to freeze overnight (might be denser, but still good). 

A half cup serving size has over 13 grams of protein. 

Coconut water - not good for replacing what you're losing on the bike.

GOOD LORD EMILY I'm getting fatter just reading your recipes... I can't ride enough to eat all I want...

in lieu of a food processor....will a high quality Kitchen aid blender do the trick on dates?

vlad said:

Coconut water - not good for replacing what you're losing on the bike.

http://www.skratchlabs.com/blogs/news/14818245-coconut-water-the-bizarro-sports-drink