As a Sports Dietitian who has worked with endurance athletes and other active people for the last ten years, I've heard many of the same questions over and over again. Here are two of them: "How much do I need to eat?" and "Am I eating enough?"
All athletes, and especially recreational endurance athletes, have increased nutrition needs and often struggle to fuel adequately. Many lead busy lives and don't prioritize consistent meals and snacks despite logging many hours of training. Others only eat when hungry, which isn't always reliable since exercise can mess with your appetite hormones.
These types of dietary behaviors put you at risk of not having enough energy available for your body to maintain normal health functions, and will tank your performance too.
Enter, Athlete Performance Plates. This is a visual tool that you can use to adjust your eating day to day based on your training and eat adequately without counting calories or macros. Because who has the time or energy for that?!
In today's post, you'll learn:
The main components of a performance plate, including:
Carbs (grains and starches)
Fruits and non-starchy veggies (aka "color")
The three types of Performance Plates and when to use them
Questions to ask yourself periodically to make sure that things are on the right track
How to Tell if You're Eating Enough
Everyone has different energy and macronutrient needs that depend on a number of factors, including body weight and daily energy expenditure. For instance, protein and carb guidelines are grams per kg of bodyweight and depend on how much training you're putting in. My job as a Sports RD is to translate these nutrition goals into actual food to make things easier for my clients.
Calorie and macro counting sometimes can be helpful to do for 1-2 days to spot check your intake, but generally speaking, I do not want you to count calories or macros. It's tedious, time consuming, and can lead to obsessive behaviors surrounding food. Even the more descriptive food journaling I have my clients do when we start working together is a very temporary tool.
Instead, you should aim to learn basic principles and visuals that will guide you in building everyday meals and snacks. This is where Performance Plates can be helpful, specifically for meals and especially for any visual learners out there.
Performance plates demonstrate that what's on your plate (or in your bowl) needs to change on different training days and during different phases of training. And it should go without saying - please, don't use a tiny plate or bowl!
Keep in mind that context is everything. Even the words "easy," "moderate," and "hard" that are used below need to be approached with caution, taking the bigger picture of your overall training and life into account.
How to Build a Performance Plate
The components of an athlete's performance plate are the same as anyone's nutritionally balanced plate. You need macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) plus fluids. The main difference is that as an athlete you need more of these nutrients, and your needs shift based on your training.
Carbohydrates
Carbs should make up the majority of an athlete's diet, specifically between 45-65% of total energy intake. Carbs are so important because they are your muscle's preferred energy source, especially during high intensity exercise. Carb-rich foods also provide a variety of other key nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fiber, and, in some cases, protein.
We can divide carbohydrates into two groups: grains/starches and fruits. Grains and starches are typically more energy dense than fruits, and they make up the "carbs" portion of your performance plate. Fruits are included in the "color" section of the plate, as discussed further below.
Examples of grains and starches to include as "carbs" on your plate:
White or brown rice
Pasta (any kind you enjoy)
Oatmeal
Cereal
Bread, bagels, english muffins, etc
Waffles, pancakes
Tortillas
Beans, chickpeas, lentils
Starchy veggies (white or sweet potatoes, corn, peas)
Crackers / popcorn / pretzels / other carb-based snack foods
Color (aka "Fruits and Non-Starchy Veggies)
You're getting some carbs and energy from this category, but the main purpose of fruits and non-starchy veggies is to provide micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), antioxidants, and fiber. Try to include a variety of colors on this section of your plate to get a range of nutrients in your body.
Examples of fruits and non-starchy veggies to include as "color" on your plate:
Berries
Citrus
Melons
Grapes
Apples
Nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots
Romaine or other lettuce
Spinach, kale, and other leafy greens
Cruciferous veg like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts
Bell peppers
Onion, garlic, shallots
Carrots
Beets
Zucchini and yellow squash
Whatever other fruits/veg you enjoy!
Lean Protein
Protein is another essential nutrient on an athlete's plate, as it is required for building and maintaining lean body mass (aka muscle). It's also crucial for immune health, exercise recovery, enzyme function, and much more. Without adequate protein, injury and illness are far more likely to occur.
Spread out protein intake across all meals and snacks. Generally speaking, aim for 20-40+g of protein per meal and at least 10+g of protein per snack. Lean proteins help reduce saturated fat intake and save your appetite for other foods on your plate.
Examples of proteins to include on your plate:
Chicken breast or thighs without skin
Lean cut of steak
Lean ground beef, turkey, or chicken
Fish like salmon, tuna, trout etc
Eggs
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir, and other dairy
Tofu, edamame, and other soy products
Fats
Fat is the most energy dense of the macronutrients, meaning that it provides more calories per gram compared to protein and carbs (9 vs 4 cal/g, respectively). As a result, fat is a great way to help meet an athlete's increased energy needs!
Fat plays key roles in nutrient absorption (e.g. fat soluble vitamins), immune health, food taste, satiety, hormone production, and fighting inflammation. Fat also serves as a fuel source for endurance athletes.
How much fat you should include will depend on your meal timing (i.e. right before a workout or not), energy needs, and other goals. Generally speaking, try to add 1-3 servings of fat to each performance plate. Fat is important to include, but it's also more filling and you don't want to crowd out other the other macronutrients.
Examples of fats to include on your plate:
Nuts, seeds, nut butters
Olives, olive oil
Avocado, avocado oil
Fatty fish like salmon or tuna
Whole eggs
Hydration
Hydration needs vary dramatically from one person to the next, and I have an entire blog post dedicated to this topic. Fluids include more than just plain water - they also may contribute macro and micronutrients depending on which ones you choose.
To calculate your baseline hydration needs, divide your weight in pounds by 2 to get a rough goal of how many ounces to drink per day. Then, perform a sweat test to determine how much additional fluid you need to replace fluid losses during and after exercise.
Examples of fluids to include with your performance plate:
Water
Milk, chocolate milk, soy milk (almond/oat milks are low in protein)
Juice
Seltzer
Tea, coffee (moderate intake)
Sports drink (electrolytes + carbs), electrolyte drinks (no carbs)
Smoothies
Performance Plates: Easy, Moderate, and Hard Days
Now that you're familiar with what makes up a performance plate, you are ready to learn how things shift day to day depending on your training. Try not to stress too much about the actual percentages, but instead focus on what your plate might look like and the changes that happen from one day to the next.
The "Easy Day" Performance Plate
The “easy day” plate is for a rest day or a short easy training session (e.g. 30 min or less), but in the context of a fairly low weekly training (e.g. up to 20 miles or 4 hours a week). This could also work well when you're taking a break from exercise or during the offseason, as long as you aren't doing tons of other physical activity.
As you can see above, 25% of the plate is carbs, half the plate is fruits/veg ("color"), and the remaining 25% is lean protein. Additionally, you need fats and hydration, which isn't shown in the pie chart.
The "Moderate Day" Performance Plate
A “moderate day” plate is good for longer training session days (e.g. 60min cardio sessions or a 1 hr of strength) and higher levels of training (e.g. 20-40 miles or 4-8 hours a week). You can also follow this on a rest day during higher volume training weeks.
For a moderate day plate, keep protein the same and increase carbs to 37% and decrease fruits and veg to 37%. The takeaway is that you need more carbs, and thus you need to eat fewer fruits and esp the veg as they are lower calorie, lower carb and higher fiber.
The "Hard Day" Performance Plate
Finally, the "hard day" plate is for high intensity or long training days (e.g. speed session or anything >60-90min), double workout days (e.g. swim + bike), and of course, competition days.
It’s also great to follow for shorter/easier training sessions during heavy training periods. For example, if you’re doing 40+ miles or 8+ hrs a week (hello, endurance athletes).
Again, protein stays the same, but carbs increase to 50% and fruit and especially non-starchy veg dropping to 25%. The takeaway, once again, is that you need more carbs and fewer fruits/veggies as your training volume and intensity increase.
How to Handle Snacks
Keep in mind that you also need 2-4 snacks per day, with timing depending on your meal, exercise and work/life schedule. Here are some examples:
Include carbs as well as some protein to help meet your everyday needs and keep you full. If you aren't about to exercise, you may add other things like fiber from fruits/veg, fats from nuts/cheese etc.
I'm still confused - how much do I need to eat?
If you follow the guidance in this post and you're still not sure if you're eating enough to support health and performance, try asking yourself some of these questions:
Are you only eating when hungry? (e.g. not eating after a workout or for hours after getting up in the morning because not hungry)
Are you going more than 3-4 hours without a meal or snack?
Has your weight changed (up or down) over the last few months?
Have you recently gotten labwork done that showed any irregular values (e.g. low Ferritin, Vit D, B12 etc)?
How is your sleep quality and are you sleeping adequately?
Are you recovering well after hard or long sessions?
Any current or recent injuries (e.g. stress fracture)?
How are your energy levels, during exercise and throughout the day?
Do you have any GI complaints (constipation, diarrhea, etc)?
Have you recently had any significant life events occur (good or bad)?
How are your stress levels, and how do you manage stress?
How are your moods (compared to baseline)?
For women, are you getting regular cycles?
For men, how is your sex drive and are you getting morning erections?
These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself as a self-checkup. The goal is to investigate different aspects of you as a whole person - medical health, mental health, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and more.
Remember, if you're not eating enough, your body doesn't have enough energy available to do everything you're asking it to do. This has far-reaching negative effects on all different systems of your body.
If you're struggling with any of the above, you may be a great candidate for 1:1 nutrition coaching! Check out my services and book a FREE 10min call to see if we're a good fit.
My 7-part self-paced course "Peak Performance for Endurance Athletes" is another great option to help you learn how to fuel yourself better to crush your health and athletic goals. Check out the course page for a free video preview and detailed FAQs.
I also offer a library of FREE nutrition downloads as well as low-cost nutrition mini guides on a wide variety of topics.
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