Daily Macro Cap

Has anyone got some simple easy idea for days when you get behind on your nutrition after a ride?

Obviously, it isn’t ideal to be slamming cake cookies etc at night way after the ride and better to try and get the nutrients from more whole nutritious souces?

Also thinking about volume don’t want to be having a huge amount sat in the stomach too close too bed. Was thinking things like olive oil over dinner is easy low volume addition.

probalbly not the answer you ware looking for - but IMO there is nothing better than a fat burrito post long ride. Carbs, protein, fats all in one!

Qdoba or Chipolte could hit me up for some sponorship!

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I’m starting to push back against this insistence on “whole nutrition” sources and it isn’t just in your comment here. It is all over the podcast over the last year with Jonathan and especially Alex weighing everything he eats. It is much more of a limiter than people realize. Get stuff in (burritos, smoothies, protein sources, etc), but then fill in the gaps with whatever is around and sounds good. Bagels with cream cheese. Big bowls of sugary cereal. Ice cream. Peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches. Anything other than deep friend foods to get the calories in. It is incredibly hard to get an extra 6000-9000 calories per week only eating “healthy” foods. In my opinion this is more of an arbitrary psychological construct that helps us feel good about ourselves, a division within the foods available we make that keeps us from feeling guilty. Is there some intrinsic difference between a tortilla or a pancake and a “cake cookie?” Maybe but maybe not.

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Sure sure im more talking about later. For example ride AM post ride meal get to dinner and still way down if busy with work etc. So not really in the window still for just munching any old energy.

Ha - I get you - if I was way down in calories in the evening and I was prepping for a big day again tomorrow…

I would either kill a box of cereal or go get another burrito - I agree with HMG in that I don’t overthink it - I see food - I eat food

right now I am prepping for another 70.3 and trying to balance energy with race weight - I can’t get too low on calories (or I will get hangry) and my next workouts will suffer.

I basically eat four meals on those days.

Yeah fair point, in the end energy is energy as long as you get a fair amount of nutrients from the rest of your diet.

How much of a deficit are you typically running into?

Hard to know. If k reckon my tdee without exercise is 1.8-2k and workouts are around 1-1.5k then maybe 500 and on big days 800 or so.

Smoothies are good- you can get a fair amount of calories in there while still keeping nutrient density high, plus it tends to be a bit easier to digest than solid food if you’re eating close to bed. A premade recovery mix directly after a workout is also a pretty easy solution.
Fats have 9 calories/gram where carbs and protein have 4, so I think they’re a good option if you’re looking to increase overall calories without adding a bunch of volume, plus a little less disruptive to sleep/energy levels in my experience. Things like nuts, avocados and dark chocolate are pretty easy to add throughout the day, or you can work things like pesto, tahini or peanut sauce into a meal. I also like dried fruit a lot.

I also think that if you’re training hard and eating well, there’s definitely some marginal gains to be had from wine and cheese. :wink:

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Cheese and wine, now we are talking :laughing:

Yeah i guess outside of training the focus on carbs isn’t as great and in the end overall energy intake is more important so like you said adding easy wins being low volume that don’t affect energy is a good option. I do find i’m very sensitive to carbs outside of training which i assume is down to being rather lean but might be wrong.

Fruit juices are good too. If you get to the end of your day and you are 500-800 calories short, you are pretty much toast. You can’t make that up before bed and not severely affect your sleep/recovery. You have to get it in earlier in the day.

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Yeah i guess better planning needed… not let i get behind!

Beans on toast.

Maybe have some frozen/tinned stuff ready that only needs warming up when you get in