![]() ![]() Traditional recommendations call for one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight daily for recreational endurance athletes, increasing to 1.5 g/kg/day for serious competitors. Protein needs also vary with training volume, although somewhat less. Studies have shown that athletes who fail to increase their carbohydrate intake sufficiently to match increases in their training volume do not perform as well. Therefore, the more active you are, the more carbohydrate you need, with the hardest-training athletes requiring twice as much carbohydrate as the lightest trainers. Unlike protein and fat, carbs are not used structurally in the body - they are used strictly for fuel. “Typically, carbohydrate needs will vary from 5 to 10 grams per kilogram of body weight per day with training ranging from one hour per day to five hours or more,” says Jeukendrup (editor’s note: 1 kg = 2.2 lbs). A Better Way to Measure Picture: Getty Images And since macronutrient needs vary depending on training volume, there is no single macronutrient ratio that could possibly meet the needs of every athlete. In other words, what matters is not the relative proportions of carbs, fat, and protein you eat, but rather the basic quantity measured as total calories or grams. ![]() “How much you need depends on your goals and the amount of training you do.” “Percentages are meaningless, because it is the absolute amount of carbohydrate and protein that matters,” says Asker Jeukendrup, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Birmingham in England and one of the world’s leading experts on the effects of different amounts of carbohydrate and protein intake on endurance performance. But while they may disagree on the specifics, there seems to be an undergirding belief among some experts that there exists some perfect balance of macronutrients that optimizes endurance training performance. And still others promote different ratios. Other experts recommend a more evenly balanced 40/30/30 diet, getting 40 percent of your daily calories from carbs. The idea here is that the heightened focus on carbohydrate, the body’s main fuel supply, is ideal for sustaining highly active individuals. Advocates say endurance athletes need to consistently maintain this ratio of the three macronutrients to perform optimally in training. Some sports nutrition experts have recommended a 50/25/25 diet in which you get 50 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrate and 20 percent each from fat and protein. ![]() But how exactly should you balance them? No Magic Ratio When nutritionists say to eat a balanced diet, they typically mean to balance the three macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. ![]()
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