Episode 166 - How many calories should you be eating as a triathlete?

 

How many calories should you be eating as a triathlete?

 

I’m asked this question constantly, but it’s not as simple as just giving you a number. There are so many factors to consider and a lot of misinformation that can confuse things. Don’t worry though! This week, I’m breaking down the topic of calories and giving you simple straightforward advice that can enhance your training and performance.   

As a triathlete, your caloric needs are unique and far greater than the general population. You’re not just training for one sport, but three, which means your body requires more energy to sustain those training hours. Unfortunately, many triathletes underestimate how much they need to fuel their bodies properly, which can hinder performance.

Links:

Check how well you’re doing when it comes to your nutrition with our 50 Step Checklist to Triathlon Nutrition Mastery

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It’s for you if you’re a triathlete and you feel like you’ve got your training under control and you’re ready to layer in your nutrition. It's your warmup on the path to becoming a SUPERCHARGED triathlete – woohoo!

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Episode Transcription

Episode 166: How many calories should you be eating as a triathlete?

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

[00:00:00] Taryn: Welcome back to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I'm your host Taryn. I'm a sports dietitian based in Brisbane, Australia. And if this is your very first episode, Welcome, you are in for a treat because I'm going to answer or discuss a really common question I get that is quite difficult to answer.

[00:00:40] Taryn: But how many calories should I be eating as a triathlete? It is the million dollar question, right? Hot tip, the answer is not 1200 calories a day. And hot tip, the answer is also not 1500 calories a day. Thank you Both of those numbers are basically what a four year old would eat. And it does not provide enough energy for us to survive life as an adult, but also the number of hours of training that we do in our week.

[00:01:10] Taryn: Your nutrition as a triathlete It is a pivotal part of your training and performance. There is a reason why I affectionately call it the fourth leg, because once you can swim, bike, and run, nutrition is the fourth discipline that you need to understand to really level up your performance. Whether you are a seasoned competitor and have done, you know, 10, 15, or like Leanne, 18 Ironman distance events in a career, or you are just starting out and you haven't even raced yet, understanding your caloric needs is going to help you in lots of ways, like reaching your ideal body composition.

[00:01:53] Taryn: It's going to enhance your training, getting this more dialed in, and ultimately it will affect your race day performance and the outcome on that day, which is why we do the things that we do, right? But before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to give a shout out and a massive thank you to those who have become a supporting legend of the TNA podcast.

[00:02:15] Taryn: So massive shout out to Anne, Mark, Jared, and Gerard. Thank you so much, Legends, for supporting our show and helping me on the quest to keep it ad free.

[00:02:26] Taryn: And I just wanted to read a beautiful message that I got from Jared, who is actually one of our Triathlon Nutrition Academy members. He wrote,

[00:02:43] Taryn: I'm looking forward to another year as part of the alumni this time. Thank you for all that you do for us. And that just makes my heart so warm and fuzzy. So thank you so much, Jared. Thank you one for supporting the show and also being so easy to work with as part of our Triathlon Nutrition Academy program.

[00:02:59] Taryn: If you too want to become a supporting legend of the podcast, head to dietitianapproved.com/legend. We can choose to make a one off donation or a small monthly subscription to help keep the podcast going in the highest quality that I aspire to with each and every episode, and to try and keep those pesky advertisers out of our show.

[00:03:21] Taryn: Because I don't know about you, but I love listening to podcasts that Don't get interrupted by rubbish. And it's so hard to skip when you're maybe out on the bike or going for a run and you have to listen to something that you don't want to listen to. So I would love the TNA podcast to stay ad free forever.

[00:03:38] Taryn: So help me on the quest to do that.

[00:03:41] Taryn: Okay, so let's dive into understanding how many calories you need to eat on a daily basis as a triathlete. I personally love the saying, you can't out train a bad diet. So hands up if you train for 10, 15, 20 hours a week and are not the ideal body composition that you aspire to.

[00:04:02] Taryn: Probably the majority of people listening right now, I'm sure there are people out there, And I know this because maybe one in every 100 struggle to maintain body composition, like we're trying to eat as much as we can and still dropping weight. , not ideal.

[00:04:19] Taryn: It's the other end of the spectrum that is a real challenge. But the majority of triathletes I've worked with over my almost two decades now want to drive some body fat shifts and don't know how to do that or haven't been successful in doing that. And that's because you can't out train a bad diet. We do so many hours of training as a triathlete because we train for three disciplines, not just one.

[00:04:47] Taryn: But if you haven't got your nutrition sorted, it can be really hard to reach your goals. And That's where I come in. That's where getting a triathlon dietitian is somebody that understands the intricacies of the sport. to help with what on earth to eat because it is so different to eating for just running or eating for just cycling or eating for just going to the gym or wherever you came from prior to the sport.

[00:05:13] Taryn: We need to really understand how to eat like a triathlete because it is very different to so many other sports. My job as a triathlon dietitian is getting athletes to understand how many calories they need, but also the factors that can influence those requirements.

[00:05:30] Taryn: I like to, as a practitioner though, first and foremost teach somebody how to eat without having to count calories, because the practicalities of having to do that day in, day out for the whole rest of your career, you know? is so time consuming and I know that it's a point of stress for people and it can be overwhelming and we've got about three days of doing that generally speaking before we're like stuff it too hard can't be bothered or you know you go out for dinner or you have a bit of a loose week or you've got Christmas parties coming up and you're like oh stuff it I just won't track.

[00:06:05] Taryn: The value in tracking your calories is doing it day in day out consistently over the long term. I know that There are people that do love doing it though and can be super consistent with it. So I get both ends of the spectrum in the Academy program, people that don't want to do it and want to know how to eat without it.

[00:06:23] Taryn: And then the people that do love to do it. And so we really need to dial in their calorie needs based on them specifically so that they're following advice and following guidelines that are designed for them. Because so often we're following targets that have been set by somebody that's doesn't really understand the sport of triathlon.

[00:06:42] Taryn: first and foremost though, it's understanding how to eat without counting calories. Now I'm not going to dive too much into that today, but if you do want to dive into why I don't think it's very valuable to count calories as a triathlete, then go back and listen to episode 59 back in September 2022 where I gave you all of my reasons as somebody that's worked in this sport for a long time, why I don't find that a particularly useful strategy.

[00:07:10] Taryn: Because I believe that when you know how to eat like a triathlete, and you know how to eat for three sports and all the different types of training days that you have, maybe a light day or a recovery day or an active recovery day, more moderate training day versus our really hard, intense sessions versus long endurance that's still hard because it goes for so long.

[00:07:30] Taryn: When you know how to eat to support those days, then getting your calorie load is easier because you are getting it right most of the time.

[00:07:40] Taryn: So let's take a step back into understanding your calorie needs as a human. Inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, I help my athletes understand that on an individual level and help them calculate it. We've got sexy spreadsheets for those things because it does vary and there's lots of individual factors that go into play when it comes to what your unique calorie needs are.

[00:08:02] Taryn: So things like your age, your gender, your body composition, your training, the intensity, the duration, all of those things go into Understanding your individual needs, unlike recreational athletes, so people that just, you know, go for the odd, maybe park run, do a couple of coffee rides, you know, more recreational training for fun, Requirements for a triathlete are so much higher than the general population, which is why if you are following a 1200 or 1500 calorie plan or diet from somebody, that is nowhere near enough for you. it is doing you more harm than good eating calories down that low. The other important factor in understanding your needs as a triathlete is that your calorie.

[00:08:52] Taryn: requirements will change on a daily basis. You cannot set one load, Monday to Friday, Saturday, Sunday, whatever, for the whole week forevermore. You can't follow that day in, day out and think you are doing the right thing. Please do not do this. I have seen so many athletes follow a set target every day It is their undoing

[00:09:16] Taryn: and again, I think that's why it's really valuable to get a triathlon dietician in your corner rather than just a regular dietician or a sports dietician that doesn't work with triathlon day in, day out, because you can't set your calories and forget them and hope for the best. So what is it that goes into understanding your individual calorie needs?

[00:09:36] Taryn: The majority of it is made up by your basal metabolic rate or your resting metabolic rate, your RMR or your BMR, you might have seen that.

[00:09:44] Taryn: And that number represents your total number of calories that you need to just function, to lie down still and be able to breathe by contracting your diaphragm, for your heart to pump, to flow blood around your body, for your brain to think. For your food to digest in your gastrointestinal tract, your basal metabolic rate or your resting metabolic rate drives all of those things without you actually standing up yet or doing anything yet.

[00:10:13] Taryn: And that accounts for around 60 to 75 percent of your total daily energy expenditure.

[00:10:20] Taryn: There are so many different online calculators. If you've ever done a BIA scan or a DEXA scan or any form of scan, often that number is on there because they will just plug your data into a calculator, an equation, and spit out a number. There are lots of different equations.

[00:10:38] Taryn: We have a particular equation that we use in the TNA program because it is the most valuable to us as a triathlete. So if you want that, you need to come and join us. I'm not going to give it to you here on the podcast. Sorry, that number alone is still not particularly valuable because we haven't stood up and we haven't exercised yet.

[00:10:58] Taryn: But I think if you know what your BMR is, or you plug your number into an online calculator, get a rough sense of what it is, make sure that you are not eating the calorie load or calorie deficit down there. Okay. And so many people are, which is why I want you to just double check that you are not eating at your BMR or below.

[00:11:19] Taryn: You might be surprised at how high your basal metabolic rate actually is, which is why 1200 calorie diets make no sense at all, because they are often below people's BMR. The other components that make up your total daily energy expenditure. So if you've got your BMR, the majority of it, then you've got your non exercise associated thermogenesis or NEAT.

[00:11:40] Taryn: And that is the energy that comes from how active you are outside of training. So are you a labor intensive construction worker? Are you a tradie that is spending a lot of time doing physical labor? Or a gardener? Or are you somebody that drives a desk and sit on your butt all day?

[00:11:59] Taryn: Your need is probably much lower compared to somebody that is, you know, climbing trees or shoveling dirt or building things. Thanks.

[00:12:08] Taryn: So generally that can be about 15 percent of our total daily energy expenditure. Some people definitely less than that and some people higher than that. So again, it depends on what sort of thing you do outside of training. The other component that we need to think about is called the thermic effective food.

[00:12:24] Taryn: And that can account for about 10 percent of your total daily energy expenditure. It's how our body heats up when you eat and the thermogenesis of digestion. So have you ever noticed that particularly if you live in a really cold place in the winter, you eat and you are suddenly warm and you're like, Oh yes, which is why we tend to overeat in winter side note, because we're freezing all the time.

[00:12:48] Taryn: But our body does get hotter to help that whole digestive process. And that produces. higher calorie need, which is pretty cool.

[00:12:57] Taryn: And the final component is our exercise associated thermogenesis. So whether we're swimming, we're biking, we're running, we're going to the gym, whatever it is we're doing for exercise, that accounts depending on who you are, maybe 10 percent up to 30 percent of your total daily energy expenditure.

[00:13:15] Taryn: So all of these things go into how many calories you need on a daily basis. It's not just pulling the data from your Garmin to be like, Oh man, I burnt this many calories in that session. I need, I get to eat that now. There are so many different components that break up our total daily energy expenditure and give us the story around the calories that you need on a daily basis.

[00:13:35] Taryn: There are lots of online calculators that you can have a crack at seeing what the number is. It'll give you a number for what your total daily calorie needs are. they are all generally based on your basal metabolic rate times by a physical activity level or a PAL factor, but there's more components that we need to draw in to understand what you actually need.

[00:13:59] Taryn: And for a triathlete, there's different levers and more things that we need to understand than just using an equation based off or for the general population. We're doing ourself a bit of a disservice by doing that.

[00:14:13] Taryn: Because you think about your training and your training load and the volume and things as you go through peak training build for a key event, something like a full distance race, How much you are burning in your training sessions is going to be so much higher than somebody that is potentially training for a sprint distance race, or you're in your off season, you know, that thing where you don't do any races for a while, and you know, you help your body adapt and recover.

[00:14:40] Taryn: Yep, there is benefit to having an off season. But your calorie needs, again, like when we talk about the equations that we use and how to figure it out for somebody. then that is still not a set and forget number because of our training load changes. So it's constantly changing and constantly evolving over time, depending on your training build and also your goals, right?

[00:15:02] Taryn: There might be times where you want to drive a calorie deficit to drive some body fat loss, not too aggressive though, because we will lose muscle if we go too hard and too fast. Whereas there's other times where we don't want to be in a calorie deficit at all and we're trying to be in maintenance or even a little bit of surplus.

[00:15:22] Taryn: So thinking about that strategy over the year, there's more than just getting an equation off the internet, figuring out what that is and going, Oh yeah, I'm going to follow this forevermore. That is definitely doing you a disservice. We need to periodise that across our training day, our training week, our training months, our blocks, our years.

[00:15:43] Taryn: it is rare for any nutrition principle to be set and forget. It's something that we need to always be learning and educating ourselves on and evolving so that we don't stagnate, man. We ain't vanilla. We want to be the best versions of our triathlon self as we can and understanding your daily calorie needs and how that changes is one piece of the puzzle.

[00:16:05] Taryn: Now, because I'm a dietitian. And food and eating well is really important to me. And it's why I have this podcast to educate you on proper nutrition. Those calorie targets are only as useful as your knowledge is to apply that to what you then put in your mouth and what you feel your body with.

[00:16:23] Taryn: Because having a calorie target still does not teach you how to eat, right? If it fits your macros is a whole heap of bullshit. Just because it fits your macros does not mean it is the right thing to put in your high performance engine. Right? Are you driving a Ferrari? Or are you driving some beat up Honda and going, Yep, I can fit this big Mac meal in because it fits my macros and I'm going to make this weird protein pancake with oats and protein powder and then put a whole heap of diet maple syrup and shit on it.

[00:16:58] Taryn: Heh. There are things that are better to put in your body than that, and so understanding how to meet your calorie needs and fit your macronutrients into those is also just as valuable as having a number to stick to on a daily basis. Because you can't out train a bad diet, right?

[00:17:18] Taryn: So we have this total number of calories and then we break it down into our macronutrient distribution. So macronutrients are carbohydrate, protein and fat. Alcohol is also a macronutrient, but we're not going to talk about that today because it should not make up your calorie needs as a triathlete on a regular basis.

[00:17:38] Taryn: Yep, fun police, I know. Sorry. But, for the ride. It's gotta be said.

[00:17:44] Taryn: So, carbohydrate is our predominant fuel source as a triathlete. We can utilize fat as a fuel source, but we're not going down that road today. If you want to understand a little bit more deeply about carbohydrate and fat oxidation, go back two episodes and listen to Sam Shepard talk about carbohydrate oxidation and fat oxidation in our two part series there.

[00:18:07] Taryn: Some really good nerdy science and a great discussion around that if you want to dive into those two things. But if you're not fat adapted, then carbohydrate is going to make up the majority of your calorie needs or calorie requirements on a daily basis. Then we've got our protein, which is another macronutrient.

[00:18:26] Taryn: and we really need that for muscle recovery, repair, hormones. There are so many things that we need protein for other than just in our recovery window after exercise. for joining us.

[00:18:39] Taryn: And this number can be much more stable, but again, there are different levers that we can pull that might increase it or decrease it too. So again, it's not a set and forget number. I get a little bit frustrated when people do have a set and forget number with anything, really. And fat is the other macronutrient that is going to make up a whole heap of calories.

[00:18:59] Taryn: It is the most calorie dense out of those three, but we still need to include fat in our diet. Don't be afraid of fat. I just love to teach my athletes the right types of fats and how to harness the power of those because they do have lots of antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties that we can use as triathletes.

[00:19:19] Taryn: And then we also have our micronutrients. So they don't provide a lot of calories, but they are just as valuable and important to us when we train a lot as our macronutrients. They are providing all of the vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and polyphenols and all those beautiful food chemicals that we need in our life.

[00:19:40] Taryn: As well as keeping our gut microbes happy, because we know how important that is. And, like I said, you can't out train a bad diet. If you want to eat as well as you can, and be the best triathlete that you can be, then we need to focus on our micronutrients as well.

[00:19:58] Taryn: So they are some big rocks for me when it comes to understanding your calorie needs as a triathlete. So your total daily energy expenditure and what that is made up of. Plus also I guess, understanding and knowing the right equation to use there because some are better than others, and the factors that can affect your daily calorie needs.

[00:20:19] Taryn: So if you are following a set number every day, please stop. Please stop. Stop it. So silly. But you know, you don't know what you don't know. if you are somebody that has a calorie target, likes to have a calorie target, then please get some education around how to manipulate that for you and this sport.

[00:20:39] Taryn: Don't just stick to one number every day and hope that it is right. Because it's not. There are going to be days that, that will serve you well, and there will be days that that does not serve you well. And if we aren't eating properly, then we really run the risk of getting sick and injured. And, you know, that is a continuum.

[00:21:01] Taryn: But both of those things pull us out of training. And we know that the more training time and consistency you can have with your training, the better you will perform on race day. It's called training availability. So you need to be available to train. if You were constantly taking a step forwards, two steps backwards, because you're getting sick and you're having to take time off and you're missing your long runs, and so you're then trying to cram them in at the back end of a build.

[00:21:28] Taryn: All of those things are a recipe for disaster. So please do everything that you can to increase your training availability and the majority of that comes from the things that you put in your mouth. Your nutrition. It is the fourth leg. Thank you.

[00:21:44] Taryn: It's also about understanding your body and listening to your body because it will give you cues if you aren't doing the right thing by it. It's just that we tend to ignore them or we don't know what we're listening for. I don't find that appetite and hunger cues can be that valuable with triathletes, because we are always hungry all the time.

[00:22:05] Taryn: Are you hungry all the time? I know that when I did a lot of training, I was hungry all the time. But then, sometimes when your training volume gets really high, then appetite can be suppressed. And there are people on that end of the spectrum, too, where the more training they do, the less hungry they are.

[00:22:22] Taryn: And so their body is not giving them the right cues to say, hey, we need the most calories now. Go out and find them, source them, hunt and gather them. And that can be really difficult. So I don't find hunger and appetite cues particularly valuable unless it does coincide quite well with training volume for you.

[00:22:42] Taryn: You might be a lucky person that that does happen. And so you can listen to it and tune into that. But sometimes we do need to override a little bit. And sometimes we also need to be comfortable, I don't really want to say this, but sometimes we need to be comfortable being a little bit hungry or having a more empty stomach.

[00:23:00] Taryn: Because that's not bad for us either. That's actually quite good. But you need to understand your calorie needs and what you should be aiming for first before you start doing that. Please don't take that advice because I'm not trying to strive any more eating disorders in this sport. There's too many things happening without me creating more.

[00:23:18] Taryn: But listen to your body. Are you getting sick all the time? Are you getting injured or not even like big injuries, just little niggly annoying things that set you back, that stop you running for weeks at a time right before your race? Listen to your body. If those things are happening, then that tells me that there's something missing with your nutrition and you need to deal with it now.

[00:23:39] Taryn: sooner rather than later. So if you do need help dialing in your individual calorie needs, but most importantly understanding how to eat to them in the best possible way, because there are ways to fit your macros and then there are ways to fit your macros.

[00:23:55] Taryn: And you want to be able to do that without feeling starving all the time or on the flip side just not hungry at all and really struggling to meet your needs. Then come and join us in the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program. I can set you on the right path so that you're not fumbling around in the dark trying to figure it out for yourself.

[00:24:15] Taryn: That is my job. I've done all the hard work for you. Put it in a sexy spreadsheet, so all you have to put in is a few little metrics and you have a number that you can follow. And then I will show you how to eat that on a daily basis and get the right building blocks of everything that you need, your macros plus also your micros.

[00:24:34] Taryn: And then most importantly, how to troubleshoot and how to finesse it, because equations are great predictive equations. If you don't know what goes into them, then you don't know what to change if things aren't working, or even what to look for if things aren't working. I think there's a lot of value in that.

[00:24:50] Taryn: So go and jump on the waitlist for our next opening, dietitianapproved.com/academy, because you won't regret working on your nutrition. When you pay proper attention to your triathlon nutrition, and you dial in all the levers, and you educate yourself on how to do things for yourself, then that is when your performance starts to change.

[00:25:12] Taryn: You don't know what you don't know, right? People say that to me all the time, and my athletes say to me all the time, I wish I had have done this earlier, why did I not know about you, and why did I wait? Because I want to set you up for success in this sport for a long time. I want you to be doing Ironman races when you're 85, if that's what your goals are.

[00:25:32] Taryn: And to do that, you need to think about what you put in your mouth now to set you up for performance later in life and now. Plus also maintain your long term health. I'm so passionate about that. being a performance dietitian, but also the big rocks of health. Because if we don't have our health, we don't have anything.

[00:25:52] Taryn: And I'm just going to leave you with that thought because I think that's really valuable. And it's really powerful that if we're not healthy, then we can't do triathlon anymore. And we lose so many other things in our life. So often we take that for granted that we can do a lot of exercise and a lot of training and we're highly functional people.

[00:26:12] Taryn: But what if that was all taken away and you couldn't do what you love to do on a daily basis? So much comes from food, like food is medicine, and I'm really passionate about teaching athletes how to do that in a sustainable, evidence based, science backed way.

[00:26:28] Taryn: Alright legend, thank you so much for tuning in today. We are coming towards the end of our podcasting journey for 2024 and I've got a couple of good things lined up for you in the pipeline as we head towards the silly season and the new year 2025, which is just crazy. So I look forward to talking to you next week.

[00:26:49] Taryn: Bye.

 

 

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!