Daily energy and training nutrition

Match food to work

Energy availability concerns energy left for body functions after exercise. Persistent underfueling can harm health and performance in women and men; body weight alone cannot diagnose the problem.

Evidence

Plan before, during and after

Before long or hard sessions, plan familiar carbohydrate-rich food. Rehearse during-session fueling on long runs. Afterwards, restore carbohydrate, include protein and replace fluids with meals. Keep dietary fat and varied micronutrient-rich foods in the daily pattern.

Evidence

Adjust the week

Prepare extra food access for high-load blocks and consecutive stages. Lower-intensity days still need recovery nutrition. Audit missed meals, appetite and GI tolerance before adding supplements; refer race quantities to the canonical fueling protocol.

Evidence

When to seek assessment

Persistent fatigue, menstrual disturbance or repeated bone-stress problems warrant professional assessment. Do not self-diagnose REDs, prescribe weight loss or use a single energy-availability cutoff. A sports dietitian and clinician can assess intake, training and other causes together.

Evidence

Build a usable training-week food plan

Place meals and snacks beside the training calendar. First identify the sessions most likely to interfere with eating: an early start, a long commute after training, a lunchtime run or a weekend with two long days. For each, decide what you will eat beforehand, what you will carry and what will be available afterwards. This planning exercise is more useful than copying another athlete's calorie target.

A practical meal can combine a carbohydrate source, a protein source, vegetables or fruit and a source of fat. Examples include rice with tofu and vegetables, potatoes with fish and vegetables, or bread with eggs plus fruit. Adjust portions and extra snacks to the day rather than treating these examples as fixed prescriptions. Keep familiar, portable options available when work or family schedules make a full meal difficult. A convenient drink or bar may help access; it does not make a product nutritionally superior to suitable food.

For an easier day, retain regular meals and review recovery from the previous day. For a harder or longer day, make deliberate space for additional fueling. The distinction is the actual demand and practical tolerance, not a moral category of good or bad eating.

Review the pattern, not a single number

After a representative week, ask where the plan failed. Were meals missed? Did GI symptoms limit intake? Was food unavailable between stages? Choose one practical correction and revisit it after another comparable week. A food-and-training note can help the conversation with a sports dietitian; it is not a diagnostic REDs score.

Heat, cold, altitude and overnight racing can change logistics and appetite, so rehearse the actual context where possible. Avoid assuming that feeling less hungry means less fuel is needed. Persistent problems require assessment of other causes as well as nutrition. Do not start a restrictive diet, eliminate multiple food groups or compensate for missed training by cutting meals on the basis of this page.

Make the decision reviewable

Write down the reason for your decision, the uncertainty that remains and when you will revisit it. New symptoms, a different training goal or stronger relevant research can change the decision; a new advertisement alone need not.

Use this with

• Ultra fueling: a plan you can keep using
• Fuel Protocol
• Recovery Protocol
• Multi-day ultras: protect the next day

Evidence and limits

Evidence: Moderate. General athlete clinical framework; relevant but not ultra-specific. Abstract-level access; no diagnostic cutoff or treatment protocol derived.

• IOC consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (opens in a new tab) · Appraisal and population
• International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: nutritional considerations for single-stage ultra-marathon training and racing (opens in a new tab) · Appraisal and population
• International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing (opens in a new tab) · Appraisal and population

Editorial method · Report a correction