The Easy Way to Estimate the Calories in Beer

Is your favorite post-ride pint wrecking your diet? Use this smart, quick approach to find out.

BY JOE LINDSEY APRIL 12, 2016 

 

The next time you go drinking, take a second to figure out exactly what you're gulping down.PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ALAN LEVINE/FLICKR

Few things taste quite as good after a long ride as beer. But whether your tastes trend toward light-bodied pilsners or hop-bomb Imperial IPAs has a lot to do with what you’re ordering, and we aren’t just talking about flavor.

All alcoholic drinks have calories in them, byproducts of the sugars used in fermentation (and, to a degree, the sugars left over from the fermentation process). But all beers are not created equal calorically. Beers range from well under 100 calories per 12-ounce serving, for light beers, to 500-plus-calorie bombs for something like Dogfish Head’s highly regarded 120-Minute IPA.

So those two session IPAs you just knocked back at happy hour? That could mean 300 to 350 extra calories—calories you have to account for in your daily intake if you’re trying to lose or maintain weight.

The exact number of calories comes down to two factors: how much sugar was in the wort (the liquid from the mash of sprouted grains and water used in the first step of the brewing process); and how many unfermented sugars are left after brewing. The scientific names for those values are, respectively, the original gravity (starting sugar) and final gravity (unfermented residual sugars at the end of the brewing process).

The amount of calories from residual sugars varies by individual brew just as alcohol content does, but generally it’s 30 to 40 percent of a beer's total calories. To get the exact calorie count of a beer, you’ll need to know both the original gravity and final gravity. (Hint for the soused: FG is always the lower of the two numbers.)

Here's how to calculate the exact number of calories in your beer:

1. Calories from alcohol: 1881.22 x Final Gravity x (Original Gravity — FC) / (1.775 — OG)
2. Calories from leftover sugars: 3550 x FG x (.1808 x OG) + (.8192 x FG — 1.0004)
3. Add both figures for total calories

For most of us, beer + complicated equations = faulty math. There are a few sites and apps that will do the calculations based only off of OG and FG, but unless you’re at a taphouse or brewpub that publishes those numbers on the tap board, you’re outta luck.

Fortunately, there’s an easier way: estimate based on alcohol content. Pretty much every bottle, can and beer list out there has ABV listed for each brew these days. And, when you calculate a number of beers, across various styles, through the above OG-FG equation, you’ll find that, per ounce, there’s about 2.5-3 calories for every percent of ABV. For most beers, it’s 2.5, but for full-bodied beers like most stouts, it’s closer to 3, hence the range.

Estimating calories in beer requires a much simpler formula: ABV x 2.5 x ounces per serving

So: A four-percent pilsner has 12 calories per ounce; a 12-ounce serving will have 120 to 144 calories. That nine-percent Imperial IPA? A wee bit heartier, as it clocks between 270 and 320 calories.     

To be sure, this is just an estimate, and you probably noticed how the caloric margin of error increases with higher-alcohol beers (use the 3x multiplier with full-bodied beers, or to ensure you’re not underestimating). But it’s accurate enough for the goal at hand: to be honest with yourself about how many calories you’re really drinking, and whether that—and not your Strava activity—is the real reason you’re having trouble losing those last few pounds and keeping them gone.

If you’re still fuzzy on math, here’s your drinking game plan: That myth about Guinness draught being the lowest-calorie beer that’s not a “light” beer is absolutely true. Although its dark color might fool you into thinking it’s a full-bodied beverage, it’s just 125 calories per 12-ounce bottle.

11 Ways to Sleep Smarter to Improve Your Ride

Want to fall asleep faster, sleep easier, and get the most health benefits from your slumber? Here's how.

BYSHAWN STEVENSON

 

This information is excerpted from the new book Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success. In it, you'll find a fun and entertaining look at how sleep impacts your body, brain, and performance, plus the real world tools to help you recharge your life by revolutionizing your sleep.

Cycling and sleep go together like peanut butter and jelly. This may come as a surprise, but you actually don’t get in shape while you’re exercising. You’re literally tearing down your body while working out, creating thousands of tiny micro-tears in your muscle fibers. Then once you’re asleep, the transformation starts. Your body releases large amounts of beneficial hormones and elicits repair programs to build you up better than before. You expose yourself to a significant healthy stressor with a workout, but you only get the full reward if you properly rest and recover

That’s why it’s important that you get quality sleep so that you get the most gains from exercise. Here are 10 ways to sleep your way to a better ride:

Know the value of sleep
Many people are negligent about getting enough sleep because they don’t truly understand the benefits they’re getting from it. High quality sleep fortifies your immune system, balances your hormones, boosts your metabolism, increases physical energy, and improves the function of your brain.

Get more sunlight during the day
Light signals to your hypothalamus and corresponding organs and glands to be alert and “wake up.” That triggers your body to produce optimal levels of daytime hormones and neurotransmitters to regulate your biological clock. The body clock is most responsive to sunlight in the early morning, between 6 am and 8:30 am. 

Avoid screens before bedtime
Computers, iPads, televisions, and smartphones kick out a sleep-sucking blue spectrum of light that can give you major rest problems. The artificial blue light emitted by electronic screens triggers your body to produce more daytime hormones (like cortisol) and disorients your body’s natural preparation for sleep. Instead of using your devices before bedtime, try reading a book or writing in a journal.

Have a caffeine curfew
Caffeine is a powerful nervous system stimulant. If your nervous system is lit up like a Christmas tree, you can forget about getting high-quality sleep. Try setting an unbreakable caffeine curfew to make sure your body has time to remove the majority of it from your system. For most people, it’s generally going to be before 2 pm—but you can make it earlier, if you’re sensitive.

Be cool
Something called “thermoregulation” heavily influences your body’s sleep cycles. Studies have found that the optimal room temperature for sleep is really quite cool, around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything too far above or below this range will likely cause some difficulty sleeping. If you have trouble falling asleep, try taking a warm bath an hour and a half to two hours before hitting the sack. This may seem counterintuitive, but the minor increase in core temperature from the bath will fall accordingly and level out a little cooler around the time you turn in for the night.

Get to bed at the right time
You can get amplified benefits of shut-eye by sleeping at the right hours.  It’s been shown that human beings get the most beneficial hormonal secretions and recovery by sleeping during the hours of 10 pm and 2 am. If you’re not feeling well rested when you wake up despite eight hours of sleep, try sleeping during those critical hours.

Consume more good sleep nutrients
The foods that you eat can dramatically impact the quality of rest that you get; so if you want to change your sleep, mix up your diet. Some of the things clinically proven to damage or disorient your gut microbiome include: agricultural chemicals, processed foods, too many antibiotics, chemical food additives, and chlorinated water. Some of the nutrients that can improve your sleep include:  selenium, vitamin C, tryptophan, potassium, calcium, vitamin D, omega 3s, melatonin, vitamin B6, probiotics, and prebiotics.

Create a sleep sanctuary

If getting rejuvenating sleep is a high priority for you, then you need to take some essential actions to treat it as such. The bedroom should be for two things, primarily. (One of them is sleep.) Humans are creatures of habit and habitat. Our brains are always looking for patterns so that they can automate behavior based on our environment. If you sleep in your bedroom—and don’t work or watch television there—your brain will be expecting sleep when you enter.

Have a big “o”
This is the other primary thing that the bedroom should be used for (as if you didn’t know). Having an orgasm can be like a full-on sedative for most people because your body releases a cocktail of chemicals, including oxytocin, serotonin, norepinephrine, vasopressin, and the pituitary hormone prolactin. It can also boost your immune system, fight depression, and help you live longer. So be responsible, have fun, and enjoy the benefits that the big “o” can have in your life.

Get it blacked out
It’s a well-established fact that we sleep better in a dark environment, yet so many people aren’t taking full advantage of this. Having light sources of any type in your bedroom can disrupt your sleep pattern. In fact, your skin actually has receptors that can pick up light. Block light from the outside and blue light from electronics inside your bedroom as well. Use blackout curtains if necessary—this way you can prevent triggering a suppression of melatonin from indoor or outdoor light.

Train hard (but smart)
It’s not just when you ride, but how you recover when the exercise is done. There are a few principles to optimize your sleep (and your results from exercise). First, time it right: Morning workouts are ideal if you want to get the best sleep at night. This may be counterintuitive for people who believe you can fall asleep faster after going through a tough workout, but riding in the evening significantly raises your core body temperature, and it can take four to six hours for it to come down again. This can prevent you from getting the best sleep possible. But there's no need to be worried if you choose to work out later in the day. It’s been found that when your core temperature comes down after exercise, it actually goes a little bit lower than it normally would. If you had to pick a time, morning is the best when it comes to sleep, early evening can provide some benefits, and smack-dab in the afternoon shows little to no benefit at all as far as blatant sleep benefits are concerned.

In addition, to get the best hormonal response, you need to lift heavy weights. This will trigger your body to secrete more anabolic hormones that will enable you to feel better, look better, and sleep better. Your genes expect you to life heavy things, and when you do that your body changes accordingly—including dropping body fat, improving health biomarkers, and most importantly, getting the sleep you require. Make sure you’re lifting weights at least two days per week.

5 Ways to Be a Better Fat Burner

These strategies can help you burn more fat on and off your bike

By selene yeager January 29, 2016

 

Watch these numbers go down while your on-bike power booms. Photograph by Mitch Mandel

There are a few obvious benefits of being a better fat burner: You shed unwanted padding and reap the related health benefits, including a lower risk for metabolic and chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. But even if you’re lean, improving your fat burning capacity will help you ride better because tapping into your nearly limitless fat stores increases your endurance and reduces the likelihood of bonking on long rides.

 “You’ll also feel better,” says two-time Olympic coach Gale Bernhardt, co-author of Become a Fat-Burning Machine. “When cyclists train themselves to burn more fat, they enjoy more-even energy levels on their bike and they don’t need to eat so much to fuel their rides.” Here’s what she and others recommend:

Add a few very hard intervals: To maximize your fat burning capacity, Bernhardt recommends doing what she deems “miracle intervals” once or twice a week (but no more). These are very short 10- to 30-second max effort intervals with complete recovery between them. Combined with regular endurance training, research shows this type of very high intensity interval training (HIIT) increases your maximum oxygen consumption, raises your lactate threshold, and improves your cycling economy, all of which allow you to stay “aerobic” longer, so you can burn more fat at higher intensities. You need a fitness base to do these, so if you’re a true beginner, have a few months of cycling under your belt before working these interval workouts into your routine. 

Here’s a sample “miracle interval” workout:
•    Warm up for 20 minutes at an aerobic effort
•    3 x 30 seconds all-out power production, 4:30 easy Zone 1 spinning
•    3 x 20 seconds all-out power production, 4:40 easy Zone 1 spinning
•    3 x 10 seconds all-out power production, 4:50 easy Zone 1 spinning
•    Cool down with easy spinning

Respect your recovery. Remember hard training only works if you allow your body to recover. You need easy rides and days off, too, says Bernhardt. “The biggest mistake I see riders making is they’re going hard too often—sometimes every day,” she says. In that situation, fatigue blunts all those adaptations that make you a better fat burner. In any given week, Bernhardt recommends doing no more than three rides that are very stressful, whether that’s intervals, a hammerfest group ride, a hard hilly ride, or a very long ride.

Remember, too, to get adequate sleep. Sleep is when your body repairs and fully recovers. Plus, research shows that skimping on sleep slows your metabolism, which is obviously not beneficial for fat burning, and leads to weight gain.

     RELATED: 5 Ways to Ride Hard and Recover Harder

Do a couple coffee rides every week. When glycogen stores are low, your body is forced to pull from your fat stores, which is why pro cyclists have sworn by fasted rides for ages. It’s easiest to do in the morning. Once or twice a week, have some black coffee (like our signature blend, Puncheur), which encourages the release of fatty acids into your bloodstream and go for your ride, saving breakfast for when you get back. “If you’re going to ride more than an hour and a half, take food with you and start eating after about an hour and fifteen minutes,” says Bernhardt. 

Some research suggests that doing hard efforts in a fasted state boosts your fat-burning adaptations even more. So if time is short, you can get up, bang out your miracle intervals, eat breakfast, and be on your way. 

Eat more fat. Low-fat is officially dead. And if you want to be a better fat burner, eating more fat helps, especially if you eat more über-healthy omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish, nuts, and avocadoes. Research shows that these fatty acids activate receptors in your digestive tract that improve your fat-burning metabolism. Bernhardt personally recommends getting as much as about 50 percent of your daily calories from fat. “I find when my athletes eat a high percentage of calories from fat, they only need about 70 to 100 calories an hour on their bike. It doesn’t happen overnight. You need to give your body several weeks to adapt before you feel really good during key workouts.” 

Skip the energy foods for short rides. Yes, even fat-burning machines need to fuel up during long and/or hard rides and competitions. But too many riders eat too much, taking bars and drinks before, during, and after every ride, blunting their fat burning and in some cases actually packing on pounds. For rides less than an hour, leave the sports drinks and bars at home.  

Sore Muscles After Every Ride?

Should Your Muscles Be Sore After Every Workout?

• By Tony Gentilcore

 

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We've all been there.

The day after a brutal squat session or copious amounts of dumbbell flies and bicep curls, you're finding yourself cringing as you walk down a flight of stairs or reach up to grab your toothbrush.

You're sore and maybe cursing that last set of deadlifts from last night.

DOMS

The soreness you feel can be attributed to delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMS as it's more affectionately referred to), and it's a phenomenon that's been well researched over the years. The feeling often manifests within six to eight hours post-exercise and peaks up to 48 hours afterward.

Some people seek out DOMS no matter what. They gauge the effectiveness of their training sessions on how much of it they can elicit, thinking the more sore they are, the more progress they've made.

Others avoid DOMS like a bad movie. For the non-masochistic, being sore isn't pleasurable. These people often find themselves wondering why they never make any progress.

So, which vantage point is correct?

Both.

What Causes DOMS?

First and foremost, it's important to understand what doesn't cause DOMS: lactic acid.

Everyone from our middle school gym teacher to our mailman used to attribute soreness with a build-up of lactic acid in the muscle. This myth was debunked decades ago.

Ironically, despite all the research, there's no clear-cut winner as to the exact mechanism. Our best guess, according to a 2013 study by Bret Contreras and Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, is that soreness comes from inflammation.

"DOMS appears to be a product of inflammation caused by microscopic tears in the connective tissue elements that sensitize nociceptors and thereby heighten the sensations of pain," the study states.

People Are Different

When it comes to soreness and whether or not it's mandatory to make progress in the gym, the answer is a loaded one.

In order to progress—whether your goal is to add muscle mass or lose fat—it's crucial to consistently challenge the body to adapt. This is done by making your muscles work—pushing things, pulling things, carrying things and doing anything else to add variety to your workout regimen.

When you try a new workout or unfamiliar exercises, your body is going to respond with some feedback on subsequent days. The common response? Muscle soreness.

Soreness vs. Pain

There's a difference between muscle soreness and pain.

The former is OK. The latter, however, is an indication that the workout or exercise was too advanced for one's current abilities or that something structurally wrong may have occurred and damaged the body.

However, just like some people sweat profusely during exercise and others don't, the amount or degree of soreness people experience can vary. More or consistent soreness doesn't necessarily equate to better results. Likewise, no soreness or dulled soreness doesn't necessarily equate to a waste of time.

Finding a Balance

DOMS is a normal physiological response by the body that happens when you challenge it to perform something it's not accustomed to doing.

The degree of soreness experienced from one person to another can be highly individual. Soreness (or lack thereof) should rarely be the measure used to determine the effectiveness of a workout.

Generally speaking, as one grows more proficient and comfortable with a routine or exercise, the degree of DOMS will decrease; which is why it's important to stay cognizant of progressive overload. In other words, don't do the same exercises or use the same load or set/rep scheme(s) for an extended amount of time.

If you never get sore, there's a good chance you're not challenging yourself enough. Maybe you're not using heavy enough loads to elicit an adaptive response, or maybe you're not adding enough variety to your workouts.

It's not ideal to be sore all the time, either. Are you in pain? If so, seek out a reputable health professional. Moreover, ample recovery—via calories, hydration, sleep and rest—is just as important as other factors, if not more so, to overall success in the gym.

As with most things in life, seek a balance between the two, as this is often the result of a successful workout program.

Should You Heat or Ice Your Injury?

Use the right strategies to ease your pain

By Cindy Kuzma February 1, 2016 Ice may not always be the answer.

Bottom of FormLike tea or yoga, pain relief comes in more than one temperature. You reach for a bag of frozen peas from the freezer if you twist your ankle. You might even take a clue from your chiropractor and use a heating pad to relax that knot in your right shoulder. But what about when your shins start aching from too many miles cross-training on the pavement, or when you pull a muscle while mountain biking?

No cold pack or heated blanket can repair a sprained ankle or mend a torn tendon, but both warming and chilling a painful area can help minor injuries heal faster and temper pain. “That’s important, because if you feel better, I believe you’re going to heal better,” says Sonu Ahluwalia, M.D., clinical chief of orthopedic surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. In part, the link appears psychological, but the mending comes from physiological factors too: reduce the ache and you may move more, increasing healing blood flow to the area. (Discover how counting out loud can make you feel better, plus 10 More Natural Cures For Pain.)

So when should you reach for peas versus the heating pad? Follow our guide below to choose the right degree of relief.

When To Chill Out

Ice quickly constricts the blood vessels in your skin and underlying tissues, decreasing blood flow, says Jessica Hettler, PT, a physical therapist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. All the chemical reactions in the area slow to a crawl, including those that contribute to swelling and inflammation.

To use cold therapy safely, apply a gel pack, bag of crushed ice, or even frozen vegetables for 15 to 20 minutes every hour or two, all day if possible. (Hettler recommends toting a gel pack to work.) Place a moist towel or dishcloth in between the ice and your skin to prevent frostbite. And if you go the veggie route, mark the bag so no one cooks it later—thawing and re-freezing can spoil the food.

Use ice:

• Within the first 24 to 48 hours after an injury. Whether you sprained an ankle or pulled a muscle, you’ll reap the most reward from ice’s inflammation-fighting properties at this stage, Dr. Ahluwalia says. “Allowing inflammation to run rampant can lead to increased pain, increased swelling, and the loss of strength and mobility,” Hettler says.
• Immediately after a tough workout. If you think you overdid it, icing now can prevent soreness later by slowing the immediate inflammatory response, Hettler says.
• On injuries that feel warm when you touch them. This is a sign of active infection or inflammation; heat could worsen your condition at this stage.
• While pregnant, especially near your abdominal area. Hot packs in this spot could increase your core temperature and harm your baby. In extreme cases, a high core temperature could even contribute to birth defects—so check with your doctor if you have questions

When To Heat Things Up

Heat operates in the opposite way, opening up blood vessels and increasing blood flow, delivering nutrients that allow cramping muscles to relax. Hot packs also fight pain by altering the messages your sensory nerves send back to your brain, Hettler says.

You can use a moist heat pack warmed in water, electric heating blanket, or a popcorn-type pack that goes in the microwave. Place a towel or cloth over your skin first to avoid burning. Leave it on no more than 20 minutes, and let your skin cool completely before reapplying. And never go to sleep with a heating pad (or ice pack, for that matter), Hettler warns.  

Use heat:

• A day or two after a tough workout. In this case, skip the heating pad and create warmth from within through gentle movement—say, a few minutes of walking or easy cycling. “A hot pack is not going to get down to the big meaty layer of muscle that needs it,” Hettler says.
• For chronic soreness, such as low back pain. Warm showers or baths can prove especially helpful by releasing the tension from continually contracted muscles, Dr. Ahluwalia notes.
• On an injury after the first few days. At this point, inflammation has decreased and increasing blood flow can provide healing nutrients. There’s no set time that you have to switch, Hettler says—if ice still provides relief, stick with it, but if its effectiveness fades, then heat could help

This article originally appeared on Prevention.com