Working out your carbohydrate needs, without the food noise
If you have ever finished a run with heavy legs, or found yourself foggy and ravenous later on (or even the day following!) you may be low on carbohydrates!
Low availability of carbohydrate fuel is one of the most limiting performance factors in endurance sports. Meeting your carbohydrate needs not only optimizes performance and speeds recovery, but can also be protective of long term health including hormone balance, bone density, and improved mood and wellbeing.
The guidelines below come from sports nutrition research and give us a starting place for planning your fuelling throughout the day. Work through the steps to find your starting range, then build a typical day and see where your fuel lands.
Your weight and your usual training week
All of the maths happens in kilograms. Pounds are converted for you.
Drag a food into a meal, or tap it to drop it into the highlighted one
Every layout also has an activity snacks box for the fuel you take right before a run. It counts towards your day.
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Your target range will show here once you have set your weight and training.
Start adding foods to see how your day builds.
One carbohydrate serving is about 15 grams. Here is what that looks like.
These amounts are approximations and precision is not the point. Carbohydrate is only one part of the plate, so your meals still include protein, a fruit or vegetable, and fat, exactly as we set out in your Building My Meal Plan guide.