I'd like to know what kind of carbs are people here ingesting when exercising?
More specifically, what foods with carbs do not set off uncontrollable cravings?
I lost a lot of fat while strictly low carbing and zero exercise. Now, at 37, I'm returning to a fairly active sports life. I'm doing a lot of mountain biking and soon tennis. I'm a 6'2 male and weigh 194 pounds. I've gotten as low as 181, but at that point I was thin but very unathletic. Now, my weight is fluctuating a lot as I'm trying to enjoy sports again.
I find that I just don't get enough energy without eating carbs. The problem is that once I'm done exercising, I have uncontrollable cravings and eat lots and lots of bad stuff like cookies and ice cream. I'm doing the exercise more for intrinsic enjoyment than just focusing strictly on fitness and appearance. When I go biking, I want to be able to cycle for a long time and not get tired quickly. I understand that a lot of people are able to do endurance sports while strictly low-carbing, but despite a lot of effort, this just doesn't work for me.
I had tried a lot of different, supposedly healthy foods, like bananas, orange juice, blueberries. But, inexorably, hours later, I'm at the 7-eleven eating crap.
The trick has been to look for foods with carbs that are easily digestible while exercising but for whatever mysterious reason do not set off the cascade of cravings. What seems to work ok for me is uncooked plain instant oatmeal. It's easy to carry while biking and it tastes ok when I wash it down with unflavored whey drink. Adding potassium salt substitute helps with the taste and replaces electrolytes.
However, this doesn't really get me a big boost of energy. What I've tried lately is adding in table sugar to my plain whey drink. Now, I'm a committed low carber, and adding plain white sugar to my protein drink with potassium salt seemed like a sacrilege
But, for whatever reason, this nasty concoction gives me energy without the crazy cravings. This is really important for mountain biking where you need big bursts of energy that the oatmeal just does not give me.
Any ideas? This seems highly personal, since my wife is set off by plain oatmeal and what works for her are grapes. For me, anything fruity and acidic sets me off. Somehow, adding the salt to the whey and sugar mix makes it taste better without "tasting too good." BUT, if fat is added to the mix, like in a cracker, then all bets are off...
In general, I feel that a lot of the low-carb philosophy focuses too much on the scientific study of how food is digested rather than on appetite and cravings. I've dutifuly plowed through 'good calories, bad calories' and read a ton on ketosis, intermittent fasting etc. But, in the end, the effect that seems to matter to me personally is whether whatever I'm eating now will trigger an uncontrollable appetite burst... What do you guys think?
Sorry if this is totally rambling!