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And yet amateur endurance athletes are skinny while stuffing their face constantly with sugar and other refined carbohydrates. Correlation does not guarantee c

And yet amateur endurance athletes are skinny while stuffing their face constantly with sugar and other refined carbohydrates. Correlation does not guarantee causation, but it sure hints there may be something connecting the two variables.

canofvents 3y ago
Sports drinks and recovery snacks aren't that high in energy, and they likely forgo gallon of sugar-coke, donuts, cake, bars of chocolate, extra trips to mcD from their diet
- david-gpu 3y ago
  Typically an amateur athlete will go for something like 60g of sugar or other rapidly-absorbed carbohydrate per hour of training. In coke terms, that is a 600ml (20 fl oz) bottle per hour. They are very much outliers in terms of what their body composition compared to people of the same age who don't do endurance sports, especially when you look at their diet.
jdechko 3y ago
For the most part, I agree. We aren't all super skinny. Since Jan 1, I’m down about 20 pounds with another 10-15 to go. But endurance athletes are quite different to just “regular” athletes. Someone who does a < 60 minute workout will likely not burn off all the glycogen stored in their muscles. Around 60 minutes your body will have to switch to burning fat or you start having to add calories. And “eating healthy” during exercise takes a backseat to fast calories due to GI issues and the much slower breakdown of more complex carbohydrates. The difference is what you eat when you’re not training. I try to eat healthy during the day, but for long workouts, it’s high-carb sports drinks, gels, and peanut butter M&Ms. Gustav Iden, the current IRONMAN champion, eats around 8000 calories on intense training days. https://youtu.be/GrzDoSwg198 https://youtu.be/GrzDoSwg198 I’m not Gustav, and I don’t work out as much or as hard as he does, but sometimes I need 3000-4000 calories just so I don’t feel like * before, during or after training
phil21 3y ago
Discussing outliers on nearly every topic these days does get exhausting. Everyone knows if you are Michael Phelps you can eat 8,000 calories a day and not gain weight. It's just not interesting to discuss. What is actually useful is advice to real people. You cannot outrun the fork. If you are a hobby distance cyclist racking up 600 miles/week, these types of articles and advice is simply not for you as it obviously does not apply. And to be honest? This sort of thing is really non-obvious to many people. I've witnessed many folks in my life who spend hours in the gym who quite literally think that means they can have that donut no problem - not realizing they just wiped out that hour workout plus 50% more in that single act. The energy efficiency of human beings is not intuitive to many, including myself. It may be hyperbolic - but for 90% of the population stating something like "absolutely nothing else matters for weight loss other than diet" is a true statement.
- david-gpu 3y ago
  I am talking explicitly about amateur endurance athletes, who may be doing 5 or 6 hours of exercise per week, not Olympians. And the point I'm trying to make is that there are likely higher-order effects from exercise well beyond the number of calories burn during that exercise. Whether it is because endurance exercise improves mitochondrial efficiency, or insulin sensitivity, or basal metabolic rate, the matter of fact is that there are plenty of ordinary people who struggled with their weight and see significant long-term weight loss as long as they continue performing a few hours of endurance exercise per week. Go talk to people in your nearest amateur cycling club if you don't believe me.

canofvents 3y ago

Sports drinks and recovery snacks aren't that high in energy, and they likely forgo gallon of sugar-coke, donuts, cake, bars of chocolate, extra trips to mcD from their diet

david-gpu 3y ago
Typically an amateur athlete will go for something like 60g of sugar or other rapidly-absorbed carbohydrate per hour of training. In coke terms, that is a 600ml (20 fl oz) bottle per hour. They are very much outliers in terms of what their body composition compared to people of the same age who don't do endurance sports, especially when you look at their diet.

jdechko 3y ago

For the most part, I agree. We aren't all super skinny. Since Jan 1, I’m down about 20 pounds with another 10-15 to go. But endurance athletes are quite different to just “regular” athletes. Someone who does a < 60 minute workout will likely not burn off all the glycogen stored in their muscles. Around 60 minutes your body will have to switch to burning fat or you start having to add calories. And “eating healthy” during exercise takes a backseat to fast calories due to GI issues and the much slower breakdown of more complex carbohydrates. The difference is what you eat when you’re not training. I try to eat healthy during the day, but for long workouts, it’s high-carb sports drinks, gels, and peanut butter M&Ms. Gustav Iden, the current IRONMAN champion, eats around 8000 calories on intense training days. https://youtu.be/GrzDoSwg198 https://youtu.be/GrzDoSwg198 I’m not Gustav, and I don’t work out as much or as hard as he does, but sometimes I need 3000-4000 calories just so I don’t feel like * before, during or after training

phil21 3y ago

Discussing outliers on nearly every topic these days does get exhausting. Everyone knows if you are Michael Phelps you can eat 8,000 calories a day and not gain weight. It's just not interesting to discuss. What is actually useful is advice to real people. You cannot outrun the fork. If you are a hobby distance cyclist racking up 600 miles/week, these types of articles and advice is simply not for you as it obviously does not apply. And to be honest? This sort of thing is really non-obvious to many people. I've witnessed many folks in my life who spend hours in the gym who quite literally think that means they can have that donut no problem - not realizing they just wiped out that hour workout plus 50% more in that single act. The energy efficiency of human beings is not intuitive to many, including myself. It may be hyperbolic - but for 90% of the population stating something like "absolutely nothing else matters for weight loss other than diet" is a true statement.

david-gpu 3y ago
I am talking explicitly about amateur endurance athletes, who may be doing 5 or 6 hours of exercise per week, not Olympians. And the point I'm trying to make is that there are likely higher-order effects from exercise well beyond the number of calories burn during that exercise. Whether it is because endurance exercise improves mitochondrial efficiency, or insulin sensitivity, or basal metabolic rate, the matter of fact is that there are plenty of ordinary people who struggled with their weight and see significant long-term weight loss as long as they continue performing a few hours of endurance exercise per week. Go talk to people in your nearest amateur cycling club if you don't believe me.