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I have recently started biking consistently: commute 2x 5km@12min from/to school + 1x 12km@22min in the evening before dinner almost everyday.

Now I started reading and viewing deeper into the "cycling diet"-thing and realized that I generally eat a lot of sugar(cookies, chocolate bars) and fat(butter) across the day and especially for dinner after a quick power-round.

My question now: Do I have to be more aware of what I am eating or is it just fine for me to eat whatever I want, like I do at the moment?

PS: I don't have any weight problems by any means (55kg@1.73m@18years)

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    Not to sound judgmental, but regardless of how much you are cycling, it sounds like you you could stand to think a bit more about nutrition. from Physical Fitness SE : "There are seven major classes of nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, water, fiber, minerals, vitamins and fat. A body needs some of each, in the right amounts to keep working. Too much, and one gets sick. Too little, and one gets sick."
    – renesis
    May 30, 2018 at 21:22
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    You're 18, so you can eat anything without gaining weight. But soon, you'll not be a teenager and it won't be so easy to eat whatever and not gain weight. Those are short rides, so I wouldn't worry much, but for longer rides, diet does have an effect on how much you can push / how long you can ride.
    – Batman
    May 30, 2018 at 23:05
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    Probably not, you are not doing a lot of exercise to warrant a strict controlled diet.
    – Max
    May 31, 2018 at 0:23
  • @Batman I could eat anything when I was a teenager, like you say, until I couldn't. Now I'm older I can again, and that's got quite a lot to do with the cycling, but I think the long rides every couple of weeks have an effect beyond the 200km/wk average to which they contribute.
    – Chris H
    May 31, 2018 at 6:37
  • Generally for (long) exercise you need lots of carbs during the exercise and afterwards to recover. For hard exercise protein afterwards is good for muscle repair and buildup.
    – Michael
    May 31, 2018 at 7:20

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Specific diets are more important if you are a competitive cyclist, but not as important if you are just commuting. That said, a good diet will inherently be more healthy, and will benefit you in your riding and day to day life.

So if you are training and wanting to be more fit, you should definitely focus on a good diet, but if you aren't concerned about your health otherwise, don't worry about it. However, it's good practice to try to eat a balanced diet in general, as it can be beneficial for the body and the mind.

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General answer to: 'Do I have to be more aware of what I am eating or is it just fine for me to eat whatever I want...?' I'm pretty sure a doctor or nutritionist would tell you that you should eat a balanced diet, not one that is high in calories sugar and fat. I'm also sure a lot of people in this community will tell you that diet gets more important an you get older and a more sedentary lifestyle is forced on you (sitting at a desk 8+ hours a day).

If you are only doing two 5km rides a day you don't need a special diet - just a reasonably healthy one will be fine.

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    Yep, assuming you're of "normal" health otherwise and are spending less than maybe 2 hours a day cycling, nothing special is needed. Your hunger should adjust itself as you consume more calories. You do need to be a bit more conscious of fluid/salt intake on hot, humid days, but nothing extraordinary.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    May 30, 2018 at 22:41
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At your current level of cycling: no you do not need to follow a athlete diet, you are simply not cycling enough to need a plan behind your food intake.

Regardless, the diet you describe isn't the healthiest and you could do with reducing the amount of sugary food and introduce more vegetables and fruit.

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