Carbohydrates for athletes: when, how much and which

Of all the myths that reach my consultation, the one that costs athletes most is this: that carbohydrates make you fat and should be cut.

If you train seriously, carbohydrates are your fuel. Cutting them without judgment doesn't make you leaner: it makes you slower.

Why they matter so much if you train

Your body stores carbohydrate as glycogen in muscle and liver. It's the reserve it draws on when intensity climbs.

Fat is fuel too, and you have far more of it. The problem is that it burns slowly. When the pace picks up — a hard set, a climb, a final sprint — your body needs energy fast, and only glycogen delivers that.

With low reserves, something predictable happens: training feels heavier than it is, power drops in the back half of the session, and recovery between sessions stretches out.

How much

The ranges I use in consultation, per kilo of body weight per day:

| Your load | Grams per kilo | |---|---| | Light training, 3-4 times a week | 3 to 5 g/kg | | Moderate to intense, 1 h daily | 5 to 7 g/kg | | High volume, 1-3 h daily | 6 to 10 g/kg |

For a 70 kg person training an hour a day, that's 350 to 490 grams daily. Written like that it sounds alarming, but spread across the day it's ordinary food: rice, beans, bread, fruit, root vegetables.

One detail worth noting: these numbers are for training days. A full rest day doesn't need the same, and there it makes sense to come down.

When

This is the part almost nobody adjusts, and the one that pays most.

Before training (1 to 3 hours): easy-to-digest carbohydrate, low fat and low fibre. Oats, banana, white bread, rice. Fibre and fat are excellent in general, but before training they leave you heavy.

During: only if the session runs past 60 to 90 minutes. Then something simple helps — sports drink, gel, dried fruit. For a 50-minute lifting session you need nothing.

After: what we covered in the post-training recovery article — the amount depends on whether you emptied the tank.

The rest of the day: here's the bulk of it. Normal food, with the fibre and vegetables that weren't convenient before training.

Which

The useful distinction isn't "simple versus complex". It's when you eat it.

• Close to training → simple and easy to digest: banana, white rice, bread, honey, sports drink.
• Far from training → wholegrain and fibre-rich: oats, brown rice, beans, sweet potato, corn tortilla, whole fruit.

Both groups work. At different moments.

The most expensive mistake

Cutting carbohydrates and keeping training volume. It's the combination I see most, and the one that ends worst: performance falls, sleep worsens, and you lose muscle alongside the fat.

If your goal is losing fat, the adjustment goes in total calories and protein — not in draining the fuel you need to train.

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Want to know how many carbohydrates you need for your sport and training load? Book a consultation and we'll work it out with your numbers.