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Mastering Food and Fitness

Mastering Food and Fitness

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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15 Comments

  1. Roz@weightingfor50

    Thanks so much for all the tips Lisa!!!! You are a fitness role model and we can ALL learn from your experience. Have a great Tuesday.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That is sweet of you to say, Roz. Thank you for being a loyal reader. 🙂

  2. Lori

    I have found that a great post lifting workout drink for me is 30 grams of whey protein, 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, cinnamon, 8 oz of almond milk (maybe a bit of water) all blended up. It has made a big difference in my recovery.

    For long rides, I do 15 grams of protein, 8 oz of almond milk and 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup. Then I eat dinner an hour or so later.

    It’s taken me a long time to get the food down for long rides with how much to eat, when and what to give me the most comfortable ride and recovery.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Figuring out that “sweet spot” for recovery was the hardest part for me too. After long training days or rides, I would often struggle to eat enough calories. Sometimes I was still in “restrict my calories” mode and forgot that I had to EAT to FUEL those things!

      I have not tried almond milk. It sounds interesting. I will look for it. I used to drink rice milk and liked it quite a bit (not as much as real milk, of course).

  3. Graham

    I eat when I’m hungry, and I eat a lot. As long as you’re not eating grains, dairy, sugar, or processed carbs, you can eat as much as you want, and the more you eat, the more energy you will have available to burn, which encourages spontaneous activity! It’s freakin’ great.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It’s all about eating SMARTER! 🙂

  4. Jill

    I struggle with refueling for cycling as well. One time I was out on a long ride and lost ALL my energy. I really thought I was not going to make it home. Bars work well or dried fruit. I have to nibble throughout the ride to make sure that my energy stays up. I also have to make sure I drink. I rarely get thirsty when I ride- so it is easy to forget to drink.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’ve done that MANY TIMES. It sucks. It’s like you’ve lost the will to go on. For me it helps to have some dried apricots or energy water.

  5. Sara

    I learned a new tip for long runs/bikes/etc for fuel! If you aren’t a huge fan of GU to try using honey packets. It won’t weigh you down, it’s sweet and sugary, and can be free if you just take a few from fast food places 😛

    1. Sara

      not to mention it’s also natural and not full of random chemicals

      1. Lisa Eirene

        I wanted something without chemicals and switched from GUs to dried apricots. Works wonders.

    2. Lisa Eirene

      That is a fantastic idea. I have no idea why that didn’t occur to me. I will try that next time.

  6. Alison

    I’m still working through this. Right now my fitness level is pretty low and I’m only doing hard cardio for ~20 minutes, so I haven’t been fueling before or during. I find if I eat even an hour beforehand, I feel like it may come up during the exercise. But for longer walks, etc, I do need to find something. Was thinking of looking into the honey stinger packets and trying those out.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Proper fueling is always important but you probably won’t notice a difference for short workouts. When I bike to work in the morning, I have to eat a light breakfast for I feel sick–which is the opposite of long bike rides.

    2. Graham

      Alison, research shows that for weight loss and favorable physical adaptation (getting fit), short, high intensity workout are the way to go. If you’re going to push really hard, which you should, a small snack full of good fat is the best fuel. Too much sugar or carbs before and you simply burn that during the workout and miss out on a lot of the benefit of the exercise.

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