Are You Eating Enough to Support Your Training?

You can follow a great training program, show up consistently, and push yourself through every workout. But if you're not fueling your body properly, you may not be getting the full benefit of all that hard work.

According to Elizabeth McNear, Registered Dietitian at SOVRN Performance Lab, one of the biggest challenges she sees among athletes isn't necessarily eating the wrong foods. It's not eating enough to support the demands of their training.

Here's why adequate fueling matters and how eating more, not less, may help you reach your performance goals.

Eating for Performance vs. Eating for Appearance

When people think about sports nutrition, they often associate it with restrictive diets, counting calories, or achieving a certain body composition.

But eating for performance is about giving your body the energy and nutrients it needs to do what you're asking of it.

That looks different depending on your goals:

• Building muscle: Your body needs enough energy and protein to support muscle growth and recovery.
• Training for a race: Adequate fueling helps you sustain intensity and maintain energy throughout your training.
• Improving overall fitness: Consistent nutrition supports recovery and helps your body adapt to increasing demands.

In her work with athletes, Elizabeth often finds that they underestimate how much food they need to support their training. In many cases, eating more could actually help them reach their goals.

Rather than focusing exclusively on how your body looks, consider what you're asking it to accomplish. Your nutrition should support those goals.

What Happens When You Don't Eat Enough?

Your body needs energy for more than just getting through a workout. It also needs energy to repair muscle tissue, replenish fuel stores, and adapt to the demands of training.

When you're consistently eating less than your body needs, it can become harder to make progress, even if you're following a well-designed training program.

Some potential signs of inadequate fueling include:

• Low energy: Feeling fatigued during workouts or struggling to maintain your usual intensity.
• Poor recovery: Experiencing prolonged soreness or difficulty recovering between sessions.
• Stalled progress: Struggling to build strength, muscle, or endurance despite consistent training.
• Frequent illness or injury: Inadequate energy availability over time can affect immune function and bone health.

These symptoms can have several causes, but inadequate nutrition is one factor worth considering.

How Much Fuel Do You Really Need?

There's no single amount of food that's right for every athlete. Your nutritional needs depend on several factors, including:

• Training intensity: More demanding workouts generally require more energy.
• Training frequency: Athletes training multiple times per week or day need to account for their total workload.
• Performance goals: Building muscle, improving endurance, and maintaining general fitness can involve different nutritional needs.
• Individual factors: Body size, age, activity outside the gym, and other personal factors also influence energy requirements.

This is why following someone else's diet or a generic calorie target may not be the best approach.

An athlete training for a HYROX competition, for example, may have very different fueling needs than someone strength training three times a week.

Working with a Registered Dietitian can help you understand how much energy your body needs and how to adjust your nutrition as your training changes.

Why Nutrition and Training Go Hand in Hand

At SOVRN, we look at athletic performance through multiple lenses, including strength and conditioning, physical therapy, performance testing, and nutrition.

Each provides different information about an athlete and what they need to improve.

For example, consider an athlete who's training consistently but struggling to make progress. Performance testing may help identify where improvements have stalled, while a closer look at their nutrition could reveal that they aren't eating enough to support their workload.

In that case, adding more training volume or intensity may not be the answer. By bringing nutrition guidance together with training and performance testing, we can develop a more complete understanding of an athlete's needs and make more informed adjustments along the way.

Get More Out of Your Training

Whether you're training for a competition, working to build strength, or simply trying to feel better during workouts, nutrition deserves the same attention as your training program.

That starts with making sure you're eating enough to support what you're asking your body to do.

At SOVRN Performance Lab, our interdisciplinary approach helps athletes understand the different factors that contribute to performance and make meaningful progress toward their goals.

Interested in learning whether your nutrition is supporting your training? Connect with our Registered Dietitian, Elizabeth McNear, to develop an approach that aligns with your goals, training demands, and lifestyle.