Eat like a pro cyclist

Since the beginning of 2024 I have been diving more into nutrition I am getting as a cyclist. One tool that helped me a lot is the Foodcoach app made by Visma-Lease a Bike. In this guide I am showing you some of the recipes I am using and the things I have learned while using this app.

Why this app works for me

I have used apps like MyFitnessPal and that was just pure hell for me. Keeping track of anything and having recipes that are just not easy enough for me to do on a daily base.

Next to that I had to figure out myself how I use nutrition as a cyclist. So I quit after a few weeks.

To be honest, I have used the app on the start of 2024 and it did not work for me. There was no option to sync my trainingpeaks and I am lazy so I do not want to add them myself.

Until I went on my cycling trip to North Italy with my friend Janno. He takes nutrition really seriously and weighed everything. Where I was just eating what I thought was good. Like 7 slices of bread with Nutella.

I laughed a bit at him for being this scrict, because I did not want to do that myself.

But after our trip I actually tried the app again, and it blew my mind how easy it was to use it. My Trainingpeaks is already synced and the recipes are easy to understand and make.

And now, almost 2 months later I can’t live without the app. It makes my food more structured and I know that I am doing the best I can. Ofcourse I cheat, but every pro cyclist also is not strict at all times.

What I learned from the app

Keep eating

For me, seeing that you just have to keep eating during the day was a revelation. Not much, but enough so you don’t get a dip and your body maintains energy.

Eat pure foods

In the recipes they use loads of unprocessed foods such as greens, rice and eggs. It showed me that eating pure is the key to feeling better overall and becoming a better cyclist. Processed foods are not good to digest and are not beneficial for performance.

Find your plan

There are multiple plans to use on the app. You can gain weight, maintain weight and lose weight. There are options on how fast you want to achieve your goals. I am currently losing a bit of weight every week but maintaining muscle mass. This makes it responsible and fun to lose weight without it being dangerous or losing muscle mass.

So what do I eat?

Breakfast

I love their oatmeal recipes with banana and apple. Especially the one with banana is so good, adding raisins, cinnamon and honey.

Lunch

I work in a coworking where we normally have bread. So I often get some sandwiches with jam, eggs and chicken filet or spread. I also like the honey mustard chicken fillet sandwiches,

Dinner

I love pasta, so for me the pasta tuna and pasta red pesto recipes are ideal. They are easy to make and really nutritious

Evening

After training I always get some rice with eggs. That’s easy and actually really tasty. My roommate thinks I am a neanderthaler for eating it, but I actually love it with a bit of soy sauce.

Final thoughts

The app is really good and helps me a lot. Ofcourse I don’t always do everything the app asks and have cheatdays. If you want to use the app, you can download it from the App Store or Google Play.

Let’s get better together!