Any athlete in any sport is going to play better if meeting their energy needs. The way this is done is by simply eating. That is the very first thing that all other nutrition strategies are built off of. Macros, vitamins, minerals are all very important and are all acquired by the same manner. Eating! Unfortunately, a new study dove into things and found many professional female soccer players aren’t meeting their energy needs.
Energy needs are key for performance
For your body to do anything at all it requires energy. If asking it to do some intense things it naturally is going to have even greater energy needs. Before worrying about carbs, protein or fat, the energy piece of the puzzle comes first. Far too common though most people, not just athletes, are afraid of eating too much. Whether it be a goal of losing weight, improving body comp or to avoid gaining weight, energy restriction is the end result. There is a time and place for energy restriction but it has become far too common. Chronic restriction and not meeting energy needs can have a lot of negatives. Worse performance being a main one, muscle loss, slower metabolism and increased injury risk are all problems resulting from underfueling.
Intake vs. energy needs of professional players
Soccer players burn a lot of energy! I know, ground breaking information right there. On average the female players in this study had daily energy needs of ~2900 calories. Yes, you read that right and it isn’t 2,000 or 1,200 the two common numbers that typically many strive for. If wanting great things from your body you have to give it great fuel. Unfortunately though ~23% were underfueling on training days and ~36% on match days. When tracking food intake, underreporting is very common but the point remains.
Where is the deficit coming from?
For match day and training days protein and fat intakes didn’t change much. That is perfectly ok and not a major issue especially regarding the protein. On off days and match days you still need to fuel your muscles so protein intake is fairly steady. Fat is something that can increase on match days though purely to help with calories. Carbs though were the biggest thing as that intake remained steady throughout. For optimal fueling, those are something that should be tapered down a bit on off days and then increased on match days as intensity increases.
Encourage proper fueling
The temptations for calorie restriction are real and incredibly prevalent. It’s easier said than done but don’t fall for the trap. Ensuring that your energy needs are provided will turn you into a better athlete. Simple as that. Before concerning yourself with determining how much protein or carbs to have, just start with eating. If you’re currently on eating one meal per day you’re asking the wrong questions. So make sure you’re fueling your body to perform your best and even decrease injury risk.
Study referenced: click here