Let’s Talk Carbs

If you are an athlete finding yourself tired during workouts, lacking energy, injury-prone, or unmotivated for training the majority of the time, chances are you are missing overall calories, and especially carbohydrates. 

Did you know that carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram consumed? For athletes, carbohydrate intake recommendations vary from 3-5 g/kg/d to up to 12 g/kg/d depending on the intensity of the exercise undertaken. 

We store most carbohydrates in the liver and muscle in a form called glycogen- when we exercise, we deplete muscle glycogen stores first. Glycogen provides a readily available source of energy and is typically what our body will burn first, especially in higher intensity exercise modalities. This is why it is important to replenish stores with carbohydrate intake after workouts/training sessions along with protein. Glycogen repletion becomes even more important if you trained for longer than an hour and/or you have additional training sessions planned later in the day. 

Bonus: carbohydrates are also your brain’s preferred fuel source. 

If you are an athlete finding yourself tired during workouts, lacking energy, injury-prone, or unmotivated for training the majority of the time, chances are you are missing overall calories, and especially carbohydrates. 

Sarah Szejn, RD