I rode a century today with my husband, who also follows a ketogenic diet. We stayed at a hotel the night before so we knew breakfast would be a challenge. Since there are a lot of questions about how to fuel for a long ride on a ketogenic diet, I thought I’d share what we eat during the day in case it is helpful to others.

First of all, I need to point out that we have been following a ketogenic diet for 4 years now, so our bodies are fully adapted to burning both carbs and ketones for energy. I say this so nobody reads this and tries this before their body is fully fat-adapted.

For breakfast, Jonathan had a Stabilyze bar, and half of a peanut butter sandwich made with vegan oat bread (no grains or eggs, and low carb). I had a full peanut butter sandwich and half of an Atkins shake. We also had coffee with cream. Neither of us ate again for about 38 miles, when he had some peanut butter filled pretzels, and I had a handful of salted almonds and a bite of a Stabilyze bar. The rest of the day I tried to finish the Stabilyze bar but was unable to, but did have a handful of peanuts and almonds periodically, as did Jonathan. We each had one bottle with ZipFizz and the rest of the day we drank water.

Our total riding time was 6 hours, and neither of us was very hungry when we finished but we forced ourselves to eat a hot dog at the finish. I’m guessing our ketone levels were pretty high which was why we weren’t very hungry. We carried all of our own food as aid stations typically have snacks that are high in sugar and carbs. The only thing we ate at the aid stations was peanuts, and we shared half of a banana with peanut butter on it at one stop.

The biggest thing for us was staying hydrated, so we tried to be very diligent about drinking. I have many more sore muscles than Jonathan, but we both feel pretty good about this early season century. I hope those of you reading find this helpful, and I welcome your thoughts and questions!