Puck Moonen is a professional cyclist. She got to do a lot of things this year, and shared some highlights on Instagram recently. In the caption, Moonen shared where each photo was taken. “Just some of my favourite places I've been to this year🥰 1, 9, 11: Ibiza, Spain. 2, 10: Swiss Alps, Switzerland. 3: Jebel Jais, UAE. 4, 7: Monaco. 5: Siena, Italy. 6: Circuit de Reims, France. 8: Circuit Zolder, Belgium. 12: Bassano del Grappa, Italy. 13, 14: HOME❤️”
She Bikes
Biking is naturally the main way that Moonen stays in shape. According to A Healthier Michigan, biking has a lot of benefits. “All that work your body is doing by pedaling and balancing not only works muscles in your arms and core, but it counts as serious cardio exercise and burns calories with every spin of the wheels. By biking at a moderate pace, about 12 or 13 miles per hour, a person weighing 155 pounds burns nearly 300 calories in 30 minutes, according to statistics shared by Harvard University. Like to pedal faster? A person of that same weight doing a fast pace of 14 or 15 miles per hour burns more than 370 calories in 30 minutes.”
She's Comfortable With Her Body
Moonen talked about her journey to finding acceptance in her body in the caption of this Instagram post. “Am I fat? Obviously, no. And it's not a question I ask myself either. Not anymore, at least. But plenty of (young) athletes still do. And heck, it's not even just athletes. It is baffling how much bodyshaming is a thing in sports. Especially for female athletes, and for men it's a huge taboo. Cycling is a sport where everyone obsesses over W/kg and numbers on the scale often get wrongfully judged, even within professional teams (putting young athletes on a scale and telling them they need to lose 3kg is... scary!). Everybody is built differently, and what is ideal and healthy for me to perform at my best may not be ideal for someone else. Performance and health look different on different people!”
She Eats A Balanced Diet
Puck Moonen/Instagram
In the caption of the previous Instagram post, Moonen talked about her diet. She says that she believes in a balanced diet. “I've put my unhealthy relationship with food behind me only a few years ago. Restricting and then binging and feeling guilty is not the way. It's not like I am never insecure; but overall I'm doing alright compared. I enjoy food. I eat about 80-90% healthy and fresh, the rest is comfortfood and snacks (which I now enjoy a lot more than before!). It's called balance and it's a pretty damn nice thing to have!”
She Doesn't Underfuel Herself
Moonen makes sure to eat enough when she’s training. She talked about this in the caption of this Instagram post. “If I could tell my younger self one thing about nutrition... it would be to stop underfueling during my riding. A habit that was fuelled by insecurity about my weight and obsession with w/kg on one side and lack of variety in foods I could have because of boring flavours and gross structures (*autism has entered the chat*) Sometimes I still feel turned off by the idea of having to eat during riding and eating has been a struggle since I last raced for a pro team (big shock: developed some anxiety then🥲). Now, when I really don't feel like eating I'll just take a few different options with me on my ride to make sure there's always something I can eat and there's always a flavour I feel like having. Usually I end up with gummy bars because they are an all round winner🤪 But I don't miss feeling faint and I also don't miss the binge eating at night🤝🏽”
She Takes Care of Her Mental Health
Moonen talked about taking care of her mental health in the caption of this Instagram post. “Slowly settling back into more of a rhythm at home. Coffee, work, training, doing bits around the house, cuddling the cats🥰Much of how I used to behave around training flowed out of fear. Fear of doing less than others, fear of failure, fear of not burning the calories I just ate to do said training. During all the time I was racing for pro-teams, I never had a healthy relationship with food or training and only started becoming fully aware and changing my behaviour well after. Looking back it wasn't a very happy time and putting my mental health first over the last year has answered a lot of why's on why things weren't working out, or only temporarily. I've been thinking about it a lot recently and how I can use my experience to positively impact others and learn more about myself in the process to build back better☺️”
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