What should my diet be like as I prepare for a tour?

Question

Hello! My husband and I are completing our first cycling tour (300 miles in four days) in two months. My question is, what should our diet be like as we prepare? I definitely need to lose weight, about 15-20 lbs. What, and how much, do I need to eat to keep up my energy, while losing the extra weight?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

For the first month(as in now), ride off the pounds, eat as little fat as possible and take in less Calories than you burn. This part is gonna suck. For the next 2 weeks after that, eat enough so you keep a steady weight, you don't want to be losing weight this close to the tour. The week before the tour ride very little or not at all, and pack away food like crazy, don't be surprised if you pack on a few pounds, this is good. Then go on your tour.

In one day on a solo double century I lost 4 pounds, so you want to eat a lot.

Answer 2

I'd concentrate more on my bike mileage than diet or losing weight.     You should be working on getting your long rides up to the 60 mile area, and your total weekly mileage should be up around 150-200 miles two weeks before the event.    The last two weeks you can back down the mileage a little to let yourself recover and rebuild.  

The beauty of exercise is that it makes dieting and losing weight so much easier.    If you're doing enough miles, the weight loss kind of takes care of itself.   If nothing else, I find that falling asleep from exhaustion before I have a chance to snack does the trick.  Just try to lose the junk, and make sure you take on a little fuel in the form of a power bar and some Cytomax (or Gatorade, or Accelerade, etc....) during your longer ride so you don't bonk (run through your glycogen stores).   If you get to the bonk point, you'll almost certainly overeat when you get home, aside from it being a really unpleasant experience.

Answer 3

a steady diet of riding with no big changes in diet will get your ready and you will lose 10 lbs--guaranteed.