Ratio of Fats/Carbs/Proteins

William’s Question:
For a healthy adult male masters racer, spending 8-15 hours per week on the bike. When looking at daily nutrition and training nutrition combined, what would be your recommended ratio of fats/carbs/proteins, to a person who is not trying to lose weight, but just get the most from his training, and perform his best in races?
Would your answer depend on the age of the person?

Kelli’s Response:

Thanks for your question!  I actually don’t really work with ratios or percentages for nutrients for 3 reasons (although I realize that many other nutritionists do use this method).  First, they depend on the total calories being correct and adequate.  For example, if I told you to aim for 50% of your calories from carbs, and 30% from protein, but you only eat 1500 calories per day and not the 2500 you need (hypothetically), your intake of these important nutrients would be deficient.  This can negatively affect your training. However, if I told you to eat 200 grams of carbs and 100 grams of protein, because your body needs these based on my calculations, you could hit your mark regardless of your total intake.  Secondly, your intake should vary on days you train vs. days you don’t.  When you train, you need a lot more carbs due to need before, during, and after training (these should all be carb-based, with added protein for recovery).  So, the ratio would be a lot higher on a training day than a non-training day.  And, since your training fuel largely depends on the duration and intensity of training, there are differences within training days, with a much higher percentage of carbs for long training as I recommend training fuel per hour.  Third, most clients find it too inflexible to stick to ratio in the long-term…sounds good on paper, but is difficult with real life.

My philosophy, then, is to first separate Daily and Training Nutrition.  Then, I help clients consume goal amounts of protein and carbs each day from whole foods for Daily nutrition, and add the Training Fuel needed on days they train.   In addition to daily carb and protein goals, endurance athletes need healthy fats, so the remainder of calories comes from healthy fats.  My recommendations for daily amounts of carbs vary from client to client as some people gain weight easily from too many carbs, some want a vegetarian diet (which usually ends up being higher in carbs), and some have found they have great energy with a higher protein and fat, and lower carb diet (such as Paleo).  Daily nutrition is all about promoting steady energy and health, so there is room for flexibility as long as it’s based on healthy, whole foods.  For most clients who are not trying to lose weight, it works well to have 1-2 whole food carb sources (such as a whole fruits, intact or whole grains, milk/yogurt, or starchy vegetables such as yams) at meals and 1 source at snacks (usually comes out to ~200-250 grams of carbs for most).  Then, make sure to add a protein source either vegetarian or animal source at every meal and snack.  I recommend that endurance athletes shoot for 75+ grams (women) and 100+ grams (men) of protein each day (this is increased with recovery fuel).  Then, lastly, each meal is rounded out with a healthy fat (very important for lasting energy and hormone balance) such as avocados, organic coconut oil, olive oil, nuts, nut butters, etc.  Very loosely, this might come out to 40% carb, 20% protein, 40% fat diet for Daily Nutrition when no weight loss is needed, and closer to 30%, 30%, 40% for fat loss, excluding any needed Training Nutrition…but again, this is variable and if I do provide percentages is individual-based and formulated after working with a client for a while.

I can more easily give specific recommendations for training nutrition.  Most athletes need carbs before any long training (120+ minutes).  Depending on the amount of time you have, try an easy to digest meal with carbs (45-60 grams) and protein (10-15 grams) 3 hours out, a smoothie 1-2 hours out, or a fast-digesting fuel (such as an energy bar or organic honey) 15 minutes out.   Then during intense training >90 minutes, it’s 200-300 calories per hour, 60+ grams carbs per hour, 16-24 oz. fluid per hour, and adequate lytes per hour.  After intense training, 40+ grams of carbs and ~20 grams of protein will make for a good recovery.  Then, as needed for intense training, add extra protein to your dinner meal and a muscle sparing protein shake before bed (your body continues to burn calories and muscles for many hours after intense training).

Please send us your questions for our Expert Sports Nutritionist, Kelli Jennings to “Ask the Sports Nutritionist“. Kelli Jennings is a Registered Dietitian with a passion for healthy eating, wellness, & sports nutrition. For more information go towww.apexnutritionllc.com.

I am very pleased to have Kelli Jennings officially as one of our Loving the Bike Teammates.  She guest posted a great article back a few months ago (Daily Nutrition vs Training Nutrition), and now she will be a more regular contributor to this blog.  Kelli will also be the one mainly responsible for our weekly Nutrition Tip that comes out each week.  Kelli is a Registered Dietician with great knowledge in the area of sports nutrition and we are so excited to have her sharing her wisdom here on the site.

Before you dive into any big new diet or an eating plan, take a step back and figure out what nutrition baggage, if any, you have coming into it.  I’ll start by saying that most people have some nutrition baggage.  They have ideas, habits, traditions, and even emotions about food that have developed over time and have become hard-wired in them.  It’s very important that you start here, because the best sports nutrition, fat-loss, metabolism-optimizing, or wellness “program” in the world won’t help over the long-term unless you renew your thoughts about food.  Until you can see it as fuel for your body.  So, start by unpacking your bags!

Food Choices:

Here’s a simple question: In the last month, how many times did you intentionally or accidentally put dirt in your car’s gas tank?  Once?  Twice?…

Maybe you were at home and realized that you needed gas, but you didn’t have any and didn’t want to make another trip out to the station– and look, there was a bunch of dirt there in the driveway.  Or, maybe, gas has gotten too expensive, so you thought you’d just try dirt for awhile to save some money.  Maybe, you had a really stressful day, and putting dirt in your car seems to make you feel better.

RIDICULOUS, right?  Well, although it sounds ridiculous, I often hear the same excuses from clients explaining why they’ve put “dirt” in their bodies instead of healthy foods (fuel).  There are many factors that influence your and my food choices; factors such as convenience, cost, availability, and advertising are legitimate influences.  But, are they the factors you want influencing your food choices?  Influencing your family’s food choices?  Probably not.  Take some time to change your outlook on food, if needed, so that you’ll see it simply as FUEL FOR YOUR BODY.

You may be thinking, but what about my favorite dessert?  Or, what about my birthday, am I only supposed to eat “fuel” on my birthday?  Of course not, It is absolutely not to say that you will never celebrate with food or enjoy a meal that is not high fiber and super healthy – you will…and this is okay.   In fact, it’s great to have balance.  But the majority of the day in day out eating needs to be fuel for your body in an amount that will fuel your training and daily activities.

One of my primary goals for all my clients is to help them view food as fuel.  To help you think, “There are certain foods with nutrients that fuel my body, that improve my metabolism, that cause it to run well, that prevent diseases and bodily damage, and I’m going to make sure I include those foods and nutrients in my meal planning every day.  I need fuel before you hit empty.  I need more fuel when I am doing activity (during the day) and less when I am not active (during the evening after training).”  When they begin to think of food as fuel, and eat what their body needs to run properly, it becomes easy.

One of the best advantages of this philosophy is that it will help you see food from a positive standpoint instead of a chronic negative, minimizing, and dieting standpoint.  And, if you’ve got children, teaching them this philosophy with food (seeing nutritious food as fuel and something that helps you run your best) can help them avoid teenage dieting and disordered eating, and junk food addictions.  Just like you wouldn’t accidentally put dirt in your car’s gas tank, don’t “accidentally” eat junk!  Instead, be mindful of what you’re putting in your body.  You demand a lot of it, so give it the right fuel!

So, think of food as fuel for your body, just like gas is fuel for your car.  Healthy eating becomes easy.  And while you may choose to indulge in different foods here and there, the day in day out eating should fuel your training and daily activities.

Kelli is a Registered Dietitian with a passion for healthy eating, wellness, & sports nutrition. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and did her residency at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC.  For more information or to contact Kelli, please visit www.apexnutritionllc.com/sportsnutrition.html.