Nutritioninterview

OMERTA BUSTED: HOW PRO CYCLISTS LOSE WEIGHT FAST | HANNAH GRANT

with Hannah Grant

42:04·18 May 2023

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HANNAH GRANT

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Hannah Grant, chef and nutritionist to World Tour cycling teams, busts the myths around weight loss and performance fueling that have plagued pro cycling for decades. From exposing the dangers of under-eating during races to revealing how teams like Jumbo Visma are using AI to personalise nutrition, this conversation covers the real science behind what elite riders eat—and why amateur cyclists are often making costly mistakes by obsessing over marginal gains while ignoring the basics.

Key Takeaways

Alcohol is the first thing to cut if you want to fine-tune performance—before obsessing over ketones or other trendy supplements that deliver minimal gains
Club riders carrying 5-10kg of extra weight should focus on protein intake (25-30g per meal) and stable blood sugar through whole foods, not calorie restriction
Pro cyclists historically starved themselves on long rides; modern teams now fuel with 60-120g carbs per hour because proper fueling during rides improves recovery and performance far more than trying to lose weight on the bike
Meal prep and planning beat willpower—pre-cooked quinoa, sliced vegetables, and balanced macros prevent the 'snacking spiral' that sabotages amateur riders' diets
The social and emotional aspects of shared meals—sitting together as a team, the morale boost of good food after a bad day—are as important to performance as the macronutrients themselves

Expert Quotes

"When they see these guys being so strict that it almost ruins marriages in terms of diet plan... retired pros all give the same advice to amateurs: chill out."

"You don't try to lose weight when you're on the bike—that's outrageous. That is where you have to eat and get the fuel."

"Most people tend to major in the minors—they spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the one percent benefits that maybe being in ketosis could bring them, but they have much easier gains to make in other areas of their life."

KEY QUOTES

“When I talk to retired riders I always ask them what would your advice be to amateur riders and I get the same answer from all the pros and that is chill out. They say when they see these guys being so strict that it almost like you know ruins marriages in terms of diet plan like the strict exercise regimes.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

“The first thing I ask them about is what is your alcohol intake like because honestly if you want to fine-tune everything alcohol is the first thing that needs to go before you start thinking about ketones and everything.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

“Depending on the rider depending on their stomach depending on their race like physiology how big they are and you know muscle mass and so on I mean they take in between 60 to 120 grams of carbs you know per hour. It's so much food on the bike.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT2 SECTIONS

Pro Team Kitchens and Amateur Weight

We've seen this movement towards World Tour teams having their own dedicated kitchen and even not everybody has a dining area everybody has to ship for sure when I started back in 2011 and people were like are you crazy Two Chefs it's insane fast forward to today where young movies has eight shifts eight team ships I mean they have armies the reality is most Club Riders are carry at 5 and 10 kilograms of extra weight sounds like water the club guys doing wrong are they for many years it's been for pro athletes a lot about also starting yourself I mean there's been a lot of issues with because you get such a crazy relationship but there's a fine line between being mean versus having enough energy to ride they're like how can I find two of my performance the first thing I asked them about is what does your alcohol intake like you want to fine-tune everything alcohol is the first thing that needs to go when I talk to retired Riders I always ask them what would your advice be to amateur Riders and like get the same answer from all the pros and Anna welcome to the romance cycling podcast thank you thank you for having me thank you for joining me Hannah there's so much conflicting and confusing information in the realm of Sports Science and food in general like how do you stay up to date on the latest research I know what to pay attention to and kind of filter out their pseudoscience the Bro Science the misinformation oh my god well where do I start so first of all I have my very good friend and uh and business partners well Dr Stacy Sims she's sort of like my my go-to if I'm in a really in a doubt if if I can't you know decipher the the sources where they're from she's my go-to source you know it's Stacy is this you know what do you think about this so then we have a chat about she's so Stacy is a um human sports physiologist that specializes in gender differences and anything endurance performance um so it's she's she's a really good backup in terms of you know if I'm in a doubt but mostly obviously I mean I tend to I'm really I'm really really focused on the sources of the material you know um there's lots of fads and crazy diets going around and and I think it's pretty easy to see whether something is just a quick fix um or it's not it's it's sort of like that way um I think I mean honestly when you look at what's around it's pretty it's if it's if it becomes a fad and people sort of like think it's a quick fix typically it's something you need to look into it's just something that is you know sustainable over long term so that's sort of like you know the go-to thing the line between sports science and nutrition it's an increasingly blurred line like if we look at something that's quite topical at the moment like ketones you know they can get into ketosis true yeah exogenous ketones or we can get into ketosis with dietary restrictions so when you look at something like that where does the guidance come from if you're walking isn't leaning on someone like Stacy or is it led from teams if you're working in team or is this you leading the charge and saying hey this is the direction we need to go okay so I mean it's sort of like split in different I mean in compartments I would say so first of all obviously um I was very curious about the whole Ketone uh um movement I would say so I've had the privilege of having uh done a lot of interviews and chats with different Pro writers and different nutritionists from the the major teams like it's my and team UAE and the interesting thing is I would say almost as many different people as you have on this team there's different opinions even different expert opinions on whether this is something that actually helps you or not so for me I think it's it's a balance of you know um having the conversation about heat zones whether does this actually work is there evidence for this boosting performance and and helping you um and you know I think with with in my opinion the the ancest I got was um not really but people tend to think that it's better to you know try it but because what if that's sort of like the the feedback that I get so I mean just to take it sort of like down a notch how I see nutrition and how I see food and fuel for for athletes is more you know I take it down to the basics there's a big difference being in endurance athletes a pro elite endurance athlete and then being you know um Leisure Time heart loving amateur series about cycling but this is not you know this is not your bread and butter and what I think is that most people tend to take it a little bit a notch too high if they're not top pro athletes so fueling with real food you know um is sufficient in in I mean and is is more than enough if you're not uh riding the Tour de France and just to be honest you know very few of us get to actually do ride the Tour de France um so I think it's sort of like a fine balance um a lot of the pro riders that I've been talking to also about the ketones I like to ask you this question because it's sort of like a thing where some are religious tow wants it and some are you know yeah I don't feel anything but that because there's a lot of like you know also the believe obviously the placebo effect because if you don't have any sort of um proven data on it even on your own you know data tracks then but what if it works right you don't know that way so so it's sort of like for me I I hate the word preach but I'd like to tell people you know start with the basics start with proper good nutrition real food and you know see how far you can take it with that before you go into like it's a sort of something nice because people people are kind of major in the minors like by that yeah and they spend it this ordinate amount of time focusing on you know the one percent benefits that maybe that being in ketosis could bring them but this is not somebody who if you look at their entire life merits that one percent like deep dive right if you're drinking a few beers on the weekend which there's no problem with drinking a few beers on the weekend which is right we're no no world's World guys are doing that like they're they're digging for that one percent you normally have much easier gains to make in other areas of your life it's interesting you say that because one of the things I always say to people when they're like how can I fine-tune my performance the first thing I ask them about is what is your alcohol intake like because honestly if you I mean it should be I mean you can drink beers on the weekend of course and celebrate have a glass of wine and so on but if you really want to make it you know if you want to fine-tune everything alcohol is the first thing that needs to go before you start thinking about ketones and everything right and another interesting thing was I had a talk with um actually my old my older boss vanities who used to own the cycling team that I work with and when I talk to retired writers I always ask them you know what would your advice be to you know amateur writers and Leisure you know serious serious non-pro writers and I get the same answer from all the pros and that is chill out they say when they see these guys being so strict that it almost like you know ruins marriages in terms of diet plan like the strict exercise regimes and so on for I mean when you are um not a pro is is it's crazy you know you end up it ended up becoming you know an obsession um that just ruins the whole fun part of of cycling um so I think you know that advice is you know it has to be fun of course it has to be serious but you know you don't want to let it ruin your social life and your family life because you have to become number eight in uh the lemon race you know what I mean or number 25.

Racing for Fun Over Marginal Gains

I think it says find balance but it really Rings true yeah like I mean I raced and I tried to do the pop the levels for quite a few years and you know raced full-time in France moved out to the states chasing contracts then I hit a point where I was at a sea level I was like okay this isn't for me and I took some years out of cyclone and I'm back this year for the first time and I'm still a cup one I still have ambition to win races but with a totally different attitude like if it's rain and like I'm not registering for races to run on Saturday until Friday till I see the weather forecast Jason rain this is meant to be four like yeah Cinema if it's raining like yeah you know I'm having beers on the weekends like I'm not taking it too serious if I wake up and I feel like I'm riding my mountain bike instead of going racing on the road you know that's what I'm gonna go ride my bike my girlfriend and have a laugh and people are always like what's your calendar for this year I'm like I have a calendar for this year like all right tomorrow like it's totally different attitude but it could bring great performance gains I mean I think I think also there's I mean there is actually studies that support you know um the truth of if you're stressed out if you are very focused on calorie intake and like minimal you know marginal gains like being so focused on a strict exercise regime and diet plans next to your full-time job the stress that you you know um that you get from having a crazy full-time job and being a quote unquote a full-time almost Pro Rider you know um actually is not beneficial to your performance so having a life where you know you race for fun you're not a pro Rider you're not in the tour but as I typically say when you look at your age and you're like can I still be a pro Rider you know if you're plus 30 chances are if you haven't been a pro Rider you probably won't be um so it's it's the fine you know it's the fine balance and I'm not saying don't take it seriously but I'm just saying you know there's a fine line between being so serious that you break up your relationship to your friends and your family and then being serious where it's also fun and you integrate it in your life that the food you eat your family can eat too you know it's cycling is also supposed to be a thing that can be a mental break for a lot of people good exercise and then also fun I mean that's I think that is the thing it's really a you you get the furthest that way it'll be long lasting for sure do you think the cultural attitudes and perceptions around food and nutrition have changed during your time in the sport yes absolutely I mean it's been interesting to follow the I mean looking back from like what are we 2023 now I'm like wow already the past 10 15 years has been it's been a huge change um we've gone through I think the in the early 10th 10th it was the it was very much the low carb focus and um trying to push performance that way but I think what we look at now is um there's a lot more data uh coming into the whole nutrition part and when you base actual nutrition guidelines on real data um like a lot of the major it seems like team yombo visma they are I mean Superior in terms of tracking what works and what gets in you know it's for many years it's been for pro athletes a lot about also starving yourself I mean there's been a lot of issues with um I mean even even a like a Eating Disorders because you get such a crazy relationship the food um and your body weight being lean being able to perform but there's a fine line between being lean and cutting food versus having enough energy to ride so when you base your nutrition guidelines on what you actually need it turns out as you eat you have to eat a lot more than you actually think you have to eat and what I see now and what I hear from all the pro writers is they eat so much more on the bike now than they did five years ten years ago because they realize well when you're on the bike that is when you need all that energy you know they're they're depending on the rider depending on their stomach depending on their face like physiology how big they are and you know muscle mass and so on I mean they take in between 60 to 120 grams of carbs you know per hour it's great it's it is so much food on the bike so things has changed a lot because you if you keep on fueling if you keep on I mean I think everybody who's been on a bike who's tried bonking hitting the wall you know no more running on a flat basically they know that if you forget to eat I mean you're done right you're just done so keeping it up all the time is is you know so important and I think um the teams have have they have seen that this is the way to go it's it's not you know you don't try to lose weight when you're on the bike that's outrageous right it's that is where you can you have to eat and you have to get the fuel so it seems like eating so much so things have changed also in terms of yes it I mean it has I mean that's been a big shift because I I spoke to Christian Vanderbilt a couple of weeks ago and he was talking about uh Armstrong days U.S postal he said they would routinely go out for a five six seven hour rides basically with the goal of yeah basically with the goal of being packaged and depleted coming home he said he'd stumble home and hardly be able to walk up the stairs in his house difficult to get out for training the next day because he was so circuit the police says well they just thought that was normal that you have to heal that and and they also I know from a lot of the all the writers I've talked to is they thought that they could train it they thought they could push the limits of running on basically pure body fat for longer by testing it and it's just it's when you look at it with our eyes and the knowledge we have today it is absolutely outrageous to think about I mean riding five hours with barely any food I mean you are gonna be you're ruining your recovery you're ruining days of performance I mean it's I think also I mean yeah it's it's that is crazy and I think the worst thing you can do in cycling is to get a relationship with food and nutrition where it becomes you know either a punishment where you have to like you punish yourself oh and I wasn't very good today I needed like I need to cut something I need to lose weight and I mean this is the it's the really really bad spiral so having a good healthy relationship with food being allowed to eat being you know um it's a fine balance of course because some writers are gifted with the metabolism that everybody would die for right they can eat whatever they want whenever they want and just be lean and and you know that never have a problem and then you look at their colleague next to them and they are struggling right they're they have to weigh everything and measure everything and that is a tough tough life but you really I think as a writer you have to constantly think about you know you can't live it's unsustainable living the life where you punish yourself and you stop yourself I mean every single day for your entire career it has to be a fine balance um and you are you know you are the sum of what you do the most so we should have a good and healthy relationship with food and you eat you know varied throughout your season and once in a while you also give yourself that's not going to break the bank right and this goes for you know amateurs as well but it's like cycling occupies these two different worlds though because you say on the one hand that World Tour cyclists they're not eating enough this has been a historic problem for not just the last decade but longer with cycling and its relationship with eating disorders I've had Danny Brockovich now on the podcast breaking down and heartbreakingly talking about making himself sick at the top of up the Wares after winter stage the Criterium the dolphin a beats comes that are two up gone up to Criterium dolphin a queen stage and afterwards and then makes himself sick in the hotel because he has bulimia obviously we don't want that but also I look as just you know a cursory observation of most clubs that you see on a Saturday Sunday and the reality is most Club Riders are carrying between 5 and 10 kilograms of extra weight so it's like what are the club guys doing wrong are they fueling too much is it a wrong types of fuel we're gonna I suppose what I'm trying to get out here is what would your advice be for that clubwriter who is going to shed maybe five kilograms of weight I mean back back to what I said before the alcohol is the first place you look definitely um the second thing is um it's really important to you know understand what what what's your training plan look like how many hours are you writing um because you should be able to from when you get up and you've had a small breakfast you should be able to ride easily an hour and a half two hours without having to pump gels and bars and everything from the very first second you know and there's also a difference between whether it's an easy ride where you're testing intervals and so on and I think a lot of Club Riders tend to um think that from the second they start get on the bike they pump a jail because they see that's what the pros do and so because you as a club Rider you probably don't ride you know six days a week five hours a day you know the energy consumption the energy that you take in around your writing um has to be balanced um and I think that that's that's sort of like you got to look at the overall picture and then definitely the next thing is also looking at your overall General diet what do you eat on a daily basis you know if your lunch pack is a pack of crisps and a you know a sandwich with white toast bread and a tiny slice of ham the chances are when once you've eaten it you've had a pretty big caloric intake but you're not full for very long because you don't have enough protein it's a tiny tiny bit of protein and I think that is also what I see even in the pro riders a lot of the pro riders they don't take in enough protein and what happens then is obviously all the amazing training and writing you do you break down your muscle tissues you have to rebuild it again in order to rebuild it you need to eat protein if you don't get enough protein in your muscles are never gonna you know prepare themselves and grow and then again the bigger your muscles grow the higher your metabolism is so that's sort of like that goes along the same way so if you don't need enough protein um you're constantly fighting your own system because the body is going to need the protein and where does it take it from it takes it from its own resources the muscles which is counter to what you want to do so and then protein has the ability of keeping you full so when you eat protein it takes longer to break down so you're full for longer so if you look at what you eat on your plate and you have barely any protein you have a ton of like super duper fast absorbable cops if everything's white on the blade right um You might want to look into a sort of like swapping things so that the fuel you eat on a daily basis is going to last you longer so you don't especially with your blood sugar so you keep it stable during the day because again back to the lunch lunge with a pack of crisps and a little sandwich you eat it maybe an hour and a half later you like right you're hungry and then you go you know rummaging and then oh there's a bar or there's a snack and then even though you think you're eating healthy snacks almonds whatever they're high caloric as well but you don't see it as a meal and then you tend to fall into the snack sort of like hole and that then you start eating that you get way too many calories again instead of having a proper meal with you know a good balanced macros good amount of protein um so that you're full and you don't feel like you know snacking random things or even if you I mean if you get on if you have a hunger flat just you know sitting at the office or at work and you're like oh my God what's there and there's cake or whatever you're gonna eat it and I think a lot of people don't notice how much extra stuff they eat during the day that is not a part of their sort of like main diet so that's that was the longest answer ever but I did an advocate of meal prep Advanced planning yeah I love meal prep I I mean so I feel like I should probably have been 20 years older to be at the peak time of food processors I am such a huge fan of food processors because they slice and they Dice and that is heaven for meal prep basically yes I love it I think it's such a good idea to uh like Sunday in Sunday afternoon cook up chicken make some nice salads and rice and quinoa and you know and Relentless self-promotion I've made a ton of cookbooks with great salads and easy meal preps to do but the the good thing is when you do meal prep you know you can pack for like full five days in the fridge and you know you're gonna have a nutritious tasty delicious meal that's going to keep you out of that danger zone of like falling into like ooh snacks cake you know hunger Flats so yeah meal prep absolutely for the win love it and food processes because they help you when you're sitting back and you're planning your meals for the week and you look at the balance here individual goals like sticking with the athletes who is trying to lose five kilograms and maybe riding this bike 10 hours a week how do you balance those individual goals into your meal prep plan I mean I think the the this obviously it's a lot easier than if you have to meal prep for the whole family and losing weight is is just to put it out there and losing weight is not something that you should do fast losing weight is something that you should do over a longer period of time because if you do that chances are that you're going to keep the weight off for longer it they're a lot bigger so in terms of meal prep I think my general rule is back to the protein um as a general rule try to get 25 to 30 grams of protein in in each meal because if you're writing even if you're not writing the protein is just such a helping hand for keeping you full um and then of course the carbohydrates in your meal prep is the basics of how active are you you know if you train three times a week if you have and the last four days are very sedative you know you're sitting but maybe working at an office or something um you obviously have to adjust for that so I think that that's sort of like the first the first part where you have to like fine-tune what what am I doing am I writing later on have I been on the bike this morning you know what does your day look like does that make sense sort of like Tone It Up and Down but keep it the same so basically just dial the macros in on each each portion and then of course the fats that is also a place where you really want to be careful that you're not just slushing it with with dressing and so on you definitely need the fats make sure that you get them from the you know the good sauces that keeps your nerve system and your brain functions intact like good fish and stuff like that nice cold pressed oils your philosophy seems to be very much centered around Whole Foods unprocessed ingredients is this an approach that benefits athletes and non-athletes alike or is there a more you know is there a Tipping Point where you're like if somebody's trying to prioritize convenience they can move away from Whole Foods I mean nowadays can be minions luckily most supermarkets they provide sliced and diced veggies pre-cooked quinoa I mean it is very very even ready mixed stuff it is very very easy to um to pick Whole Foods that is sort of combined for you so where you got to be you know I think when I when I talk about processed foods it's more um it's sort of like the remade ready-made sausages and a hamburger patties and things that you know if you look at the ingredient list and you have no idea what else is like it looks like a burger but it has 200 ingredients chances extremely processed right so if you look at a salad and it says quinoa carrot you know whatever orange whatever you have in it you know if you understand the ingredients you know because of course there's some processing to things you know you got to process you got to bake a chicken if it's ready made but that's it's a fine line and I you know every time you're hungry and you don't have time to prep you have a choice even if you go into let's say uh like a corner store and you're like you're hungry what are the options you know do you take the uh quesadilla or do you take the nice uh sort of like salad or sandwich with protein in it you know you have the options at every meal to sort of like choose what you want um and I understand that it is difficult for some people I know when I travel a lot especially if you travel by air it can be extremely difficult to find food that is not totally over processed um in the airports on gas stations and so on so my advice is definitely there pack whatever you can pack from home with little Energy Bus like nuts and and stuff like that that you know will give you a you know more than just a cake-like bread and sugar pumped meat and dressings so I I mean I'm not obviously I'm a chef so I say yes you got to make stuff yourself but I also understand that if you can pick the easy route and buy stuff that's already shredded buy stuff that's already cooked look at the sugar content I think that's the most important thing look at how much sugar is in the stuff because a lot of people don't think about when they pick up it's even if it's like a drink Meats cold cuts anything bread dressings the amount of sugar that they put into this stuff without you knowing is crazy so I think that's where you got to look at it if you have to pick the process stuff yeah look at the sugar concept and try and find what is closest to the Whole Foods Department if that makes sense if anyone hasn't seen your Amazon Prime documentary eat race win it's absolutely brilliant it's such a brilliant piece of cyclone TV and I'm so happy that Amazon got behind but pink Looking Back Now with the benefit of hindsight on that documentary what do you hope that viewers took from that I mean my hope is obviously um hope is that they understand that food is not just fuel food has much you know bigger part of performance because you have to see you have to see the see see I mean look at it as a whole like a holistic picture food has the ability to uh you know the motivate you and boost the morale as you say in cycling right food can be comforting food food has a sort of like an ability to connect people around it so even though let's say the tour team they've had a rough day on the bike right things didn't go as planned sitting down at that meal having a nutritious delicious visibly beautiful meal you know is one thing they get what they like sort of like their physical needs but also it creates the space where the family sort of like solves their problems and I think that is something food can do that a lot of other things can't do this is like especially for pro riders the only time they also where they sit down and sort of like you know the Warriors they've put down their weapons and they can sit over a meal and regardless of I mean nationality or backgrounds or whatever they all share the same meal and they can talk about things and this is where you sort of like fix the problems you have a laugh and I think this is something that food can also do um and I think it's so important to remember that um that is a big big part of it as well especially I mean if you're a writer and you've had such a bad day on your bike and maybe you've crashed or you're almost dropped and it's it's just really bad you know you know that at the end of the day there's gonna be a great meal and it's sort of like a make or break right so I think that's that's that's what food can do too so it's it's got many uh many great aspects to it we've seen this movement towards World Tour teams having their own dedicated kitchen and even dining areas which they're bringing with them to races in the last three years is how common is that is every team doing it I know I've seen ineos I've seen the green Edge or whatever I call themselves these days yeah I've seen those themes they want to put business is it everyone not everybody has a dining area everybody has a shift for sure when I started back in 2011 not everybody had a chef and some teams only had a chef to make sure that the food was safe to eat healthy that there was enough and that it was on time I mean those were the basics right um nowadays I mean we were the first team on my team where we were two ships you know I had an apprentice and people were like are you crazy Two Chefs it's insane fast forward to today where jumbo visma has eight shifts eight team shifts I mean they have armies of shifts right so now it's it's changed a lot I know there's one thing in cycling that uh is is the unwritten rules sort of like that when you have a team it's very important to keep the team together you have to it's a I mean you have a lot of people when you're at a race you know at the Tour de France you have oh sometimes 30 people staff and Riders and everything huge groups of people so um I know a lot of the teams have the philosophy that they don't want to separate the writers from the rest of the staff because if they separate them it becomes sort of like them against us the staff against the writers or you don't have that feeling even though we never eat at the same time because the writers always eat first because the staff has to finish you know fixing the bikes and the massages and so on um sitting in the same room in the hotel bringing the food in sitting in the same sort of like dining area you still have that connection which is important and back to what I said before sitting at the dinner table having a talk where you're outside of racing this is important and this is you know this is also where the Riders they're calm they're not just off the bike either being happy or angry or tired or you know whatever everybody is sort of like you know you you connect and so I know that's why some of the teams don't want to put the riders in a separate little van somewhere because if you take them out and plop them in the little van it becomes a part that you know you you can't be a part of and that break and this is quote unquote breaks the family in that way um on the other hand of course if you have do have a dining room um it's it's a lot easier for the Riders everything is there so on it's just and you can control exactly what they eat right I mean you can't they can't sneak up to the hotel buffet and and snatch a little croissant or a dessert or some fries right it is think they get what they have in the dining room but I mean I think um there's pros and cons to it because some hotels and just to just to really say this Who as a pro writer you don't live in five-star hotels at all I mean it is some scruffy looking Hotel sometimes I promise you that so of course it's nice when I mean I've even had to sit up tables in like in the foyer of the hotel because they didn't have room for us so it's that that on days like those you definitely want to have your own space right but um there is there is a familiar connection and there's something that is extremely important for um for uh you know the teams that they connect Ryder and staff it's sort of like restaurants front of house back of house if if they function together you know you have a you have a well-oiled machine so um my opinion and also knowing from yeah where do you think it's going next I was chatting to a friend recently on a different Niche we were talking about indoor cycling and that's just being a I don't think any of us anticipated as the directions indoor cycling was going to go and the acceleration of indoor cycling with the pandemic from Swift's you know your purpose built right like what boy it's just it's so different when I started in the creaky old turbo trainer and the shed looking at the wall so virtual reality augmented reality in the next 10 years they look like they're gonna play such a role in that space yeah if you look at nutrition over the next 10 years what directions do you think that's gonna move I mean I think oh it's interesting because already now the technology is there to measure live blood sugar right if you've heard of supersapiens which is sort of like a little tap like a thing you can put on and you can measure your blood sugar basically almost live and see it on your phone uh you're not allowed to do that in races on road racing but I think when you're looking at all these online sort of like Swift like universes this is a thing where you actually can you know have a a view into what does your body actually need in the moment and get a lot wiser and smarter on how things work I want to say things how your body works and what it needs and then based on that of course especially when you're indoors it's a lot easier because if you have Riders sitting on home trainers you can provide them whatever they need right it's basically so easy to provide them what they need right there um I mean honestly I had a crazy talk with the nutritionist from Tim youngbu this man we were chatting back and forth about this specific so I had a conversation with uh Carvin who is the sort of main nutritionist and performance Chef she's in charge of all the chefs of the team and they developed an app where they uh you know basically track all the meals of the Riders I mean and they they track the meals of the Riders track what they're doing like on training on their rights in races and an algorithm I mean AI fine tunes to each Rider exactly what they need at the next meal in terms of macros and so on it's it's it is crazy and once you have all the all of this info The Next Step I mean basically you can print food there is the option of printing food right so you can just it's so it becomes almost sci-fi in my eye ears um you know because if you know exactly what you need in the macros in the vitamins and the minerals and you can print food you can design the bar or sludge or drink with exactly the stuff that you need and I want to say do I think it's the future I hope not because that would some it will sort of take the you know the passion and there's there is life and happiness to food and flavor um and I think it would be sad to go so close to performance Peak training that people become robots and luckily also I know that because writers are humans it's they're not gonna it's not gonna be a long lasting thing I can't fast forward Sydney is where everybody's got different food can separate them like if you look us indoor cycling you can get all the benefits physiologically indoor cycling that you can get outdoor cycling but you can't separate us from our Primal nature we're human's we need social connection that has a role that may be difficult to measure with data points to show exactly what that role is and how powerful it is but we know the World Health Organization has anticipated in the next 10 years the leading cause of death globally is going to be loneliness yeah and stuff that flows from that suicide Etc so social connection is an antidote to loneliness when you look at food and the idea of printing off like as you say a juicer a sludge that has all the macro and micronutrients you need yeah it separates it from the idea of social connection of us as a you know a tribal sort of family used to gather around a campfire and share stories over meal time exactly it still has an importance even though it's difficult to quantify that would mean it does and I think uh you know I think in my experience um you always have the theoretical perfect scenario right in in the perfect world if everybody did like this you know ABC followed this did this ate this they would be perfect they would you know they would just ride at their best but you have the human mind you have emotions you know you have conflicts and and that just affects if you feel like it if you don't feel like it if you're frustrated I mean um and that will be impossible to take out of you know take out of people um because that is just the nature of the game so I mean we're not I don't think we're gonna not see all of this Swift indoor segment it's not gonna go away but hopefully there's going to be Community surrounded where you still compete as you do but you connected you know you gather because obviously if you have indoor cycling events we have a big dinner afterwards right you know you could have that social part of it as at the same time um and I think people are gonna naturally want to do that and go in that direction because I mean honestly as you say it's it's it's loneliness equals Death honestly and I have of all your old books on my bookshelf so I'm excited for our majorities for the new Grand Tour cookbook to be released yeah it's gonna be exciting it's um 10-year anniversary since the first one came out in Danish um so there's also a big thing can't believe it's been 10 years we have brand new riders in great interviews with the nutritionists easy to do recipes and it's just it's gonna come out English Danish German uh yeah in May um yeah we're doing like uh what you can pre-order it I'll give you guys a little code if you wanna if you want to get your order in oh it's going to be great 350 pages of absolutely amazing beautiful super Performance Food For Everyone easy yeah if you follow me across the code I will add this to our mailing list for anyone I will all costumes on our mailing list and you can get a little bit of a discount off Hannah's book and it's been amazing chatting food nutrition social connection the world tour and it's just all things deliciousness because I'm kind of salivating that's this thank you for having me it's been great

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do pro cyclists lose weight so fast?+

Professional cyclists lose weight through tightly controlled food quality, periodised calorie intake, and strict alcohol elimination rather than crash dieting or exotic supplements. World Tour team chef Hannah Grant explains that the scale of professional nutrition support, now running to eight or more chefs per team, allows precise adjustments that simply are not practical to replicate at an amateur level.

Should cyclists cut alcohol to lose weight?+

Yes, and Hannah Grant argues it is the single most effective first step for amateur cyclists carrying five to ten kilograms of excess weight. Alcohol disrupts recovery, adds empty calories, and should be addressed before experimenting with ketones, fasted training, or any restrictive diet protocol.

Is fasted training good for cyclists who want to lose weight?+

Fasted training is frequently overhyped for amateur cyclists, according to Hannah Grant. Real food fuelling is sufficient for non-professionals, and restricting carbohydrate intake before rides tends to impair performance and recovery without delivering meaningful fat loss advantages over a sensible whole-food diet.

What do professional cyclists actually eat to stay lean?+

Professional cyclists eat real, minimally processed food timed around training load rather than following rigid low-carb or keto protocols. Hannah Grant, who has spent over a decade cooking for World Tour teams, notes that retired professionals consistently advise amateurs to relax overly strict regimes and focus on food quality and adequate fuelling instead.

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Key Takeaways

Alcohol is the first thing to cut if you want to fine-tune performance—before obsessing over ketones or other trendy supplements that deliver minimal gains

Club riders carrying 5-10kg of extra weight should focus on protein intake (25-30g per meal) and stable blood sugar through whole foods, not calorie restriction

Pro cyclists historically starved themselves on long rides; modern teams now fuel with 60-120g carbs per hour because proper fueling during rides improves recovery and performance far more than trying to lose weight on the bike

Meal prep and planning beat willpower—pre-cooked quinoa, sliced vegetables, and balanced macros prevent the 'snacking spiral' that sabotages amateur riders' diets

The social and emotional aspects of shared meals—sitting together as a team, the morale boost of good food after a bad day—are as important to performance as the macronutrients themselves

Expert Quotes

"When they see these guys being so strict that it almost ruins marriages in terms of diet plan... retired pros all give the same advice to amateurs: chill out."

"You don't try to lose weight when you're on the bike—that's outrageous. That is where you have to eat and get the fuel."

"Most people tend to major in the minors—they spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the one percent benefits that maybe being in ketosis could bring them, but they have much easier gains to make in other areas of their life."

KEY QUOTES

“When I talk to retired riders I always ask them what would your advice be to amateur riders and I get the same answer from all the pros and that is chill out. They say when they see these guys being so strict that it almost like you know ruins marriages in terms of diet plan like the strict exercise regimes.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

“The first thing I ask them about is what is your alcohol intake like because honestly if you want to fine-tune everything alcohol is the first thing that needs to go before you start thinking about ketones and everything.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

“Depending on the rider depending on their stomach depending on their race like physiology how big they are and you know muscle mass and so on I mean they take in between 60 to 120 grams of carbs you know per hour. It's so much food on the bike.”
Hannah Grant — Professional cycling team chef and sports nutritionist

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do pro cyclists lose weight so fast?+

Should cyclists cut alcohol to lose weight?+

Is fasted training good for cyclists who want to lose weight?+

What do professional cyclists actually eat to stay lean?+

OMERTA BUSTED: HOW PRO CYCLISTS LOSE WEIGHT FAST | HANNAH GRANT

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

Pro Team Kitchens and Amateur Weight

Racing for Fun Over Marginal Gains

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Pro Team Kitchens and Amateur Weight

Racing for Fun Over Marginal Gains

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Racing for Fun Over Marginal Gains