Victoria S. DorsanoFounder, Be Victorious Coaching · Be Victorious Coaching · Systems > Willpower

Why carbs are an athlete’s best friend #cycling #carbs

8 Oct 2025 · 2 min

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1:41

In this video, Victoria S. Dorsano recounts her annual 100‑mile bike ride and explains how a deliberate carbohydrate‑focused nutrition plan transformed her performance. By consuming a source of carbs every 15–30 minutes and totaling roughly 400 g of carbohydrates for the day, she felt significantly better during and after the ride, even estimating she could have continued for another 50–80 miles. She contrasts this “eating to perform” approach with the common “eating for aesthetics” or fat‑loss mindset, highlighting that low‑carb, high‑protein, high‑fiber diets may aid weight loss but can impair athletic output. Dorsano emphasizes that nutrition strategies should align with specific goals and notes that female athletes often require slightly higher body fat for optimal performance, urging viewers to consider context‑dependent dietary plans rather than a one‑size‑fits‑all philosophy.

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Every September I ride 100 miles on my bike. Normally each year I have a little bit of time to train and get my legs ready for that long bike. This year I did not. However, this year I felt better than I ever have on that bike, and I felt like I could go another 50 to 80 miles after finishing the 100. Take a guess at what I changed. It was my nutrition. I made sure when I was on that bike that I was getting a source of carbohydrates every 15 to 30 minutes. And by the end of that ride, I had consumed close to 400 grams of carbs for the day, and I felt freaking amazing. I can't stress it enough that eating to perform and eating for aesthetics slash body recomp, totally different things. But I really wanted to share this because I wanted to showcase an example of what it looks like to eat for performance and how different that is from this conversation around nutrition for fat loss, nutrition for body recomposition. There's so much rhetoric about, you know, cutting your carbs, increasing your protein, increasing your fiber. And I think that's really great if your goal is fat loss, but that will not necessarily help you perform really well in your sport all the time. So I think it's important to have the conversation and showcase that, you know, there are different times for different strategies, and there are different strategies, period, out there. It's not just eating for fat loss. It's not just looking the leanest you possibly can look, because that might not help your body perform the best in your sport. And it's important to share that information, especially as a female athlete, because we tend to need a little bit more fat on our bodies in different sports. So I'm not gonna get too far in that rabbit hole, but I just thought this was a helpful example, and I hope you guys are able to have a different perspective on nutrition.