How Much Do Athletes Need to Eat?

Hint: maybe more than you think

The internet is swarming with opinions about what and how much to eat, and in some communities the dietary pendulum has swung to a high-fat, low-carb approach. While higher fat intake and lower carbs may work well for the sedentary population and people with metabolic problems, it generally does NOT work well for athletes who are engaging in high-intensity interval training or lifting heavy weights.

In a previous post I discussed how having a grocery list and planning out the week’s meals saved me time and money. I deliberately avoided the topic of how much to eat and any discussion of macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and fat) ratios.

I’ve neglected this factor in my eating because it’s tedious. But we also know that what gets measured gets managed, and as a competitor in Olympic weightlifting I needed a way to know exactly how much I need to eat to perform at my best level.

I sought advice from a former coach of mine, Kristin Newman, a high-level competitor in powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and strongman, who recently changed her dietary regimen with the help of a nutritionist. One of her recommendations was that I use the Eat to Perform calculator. After inputting my numbers and setting to “moderate activity”, it yielded surprising results: much more carbs than I’m used to eating, the amount of protein I know I should be eating, and less fats than is trendy at the moment. Looks like my butter coffee habit is going down the tubes!

Note that these numbers are for training days. On rest days I can back down my carbs to about one gram per pound of bodyweight. Edit: Although Eat to Perform defaults to recommending 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, one study suggests that that much protein is not necessary, although it can lead to increased performance, instead recommending total during the day to be 1.2–1.7g/kg or around .7g/lb. The problem it simply may not be practical to insist that athletes eat 1:1 of protein, and in my experience it is difficult.

The idea isn’t to count calories for the rest of your life, it’s to cultivate some awareness of your habits to be able to fuel your active lifestyle while building an athletic body.

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