Energy Availability
Do you have enough energy to support your daily activities and your workouts? Are you recovering optimally, or do you feel tired all the time? Energy Availability is the amount of energy left over for your body’s functions after energy used for training is subtracted from energy from food.
Food Energy Intake – Exercise Energy Expenditure =
Energy Availability
Ideally, we get all the energy we need from food to keep us well fueled and feeling good. However, sometimes we negatively affect our energy availability. We may do this by increasing our training and not eating enough to support it. For example, we might skip meals and snacks as we rush through our days. We may just forget to eat. Or, we might intentionally not eat enough because we’re trying to lose weight.
Are you suffering from low energy availability? Look out for these symptoms:
Anemia
Frequently get sick
Repeated stress fractures or injuries
Depression
Increased anxiety/irritable
Disordered eating thoughts
Unable to gain muscle/strength
Training harder with no improvement in performance
Females: Absent/irregular periods
Males: Low testosterone
Excessive fatigue
Gastrointestinal problems
Unintentional weight loss
Low vitamin D, B12, folate and iron
How to fuel your body well?
First, if you’re concerned you might have low energy availability, consult a registered dietician.
Athletes generally need 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day. Feel like 2-3 snacks are too much? Make them smaller. Try to eat every 4 hours. If you get hungry sooner, eat. Often, people ignore hunger because they don’t think they “deserve” to eat. For example, they didn’t reach their step or activity goal. Keep in mind smartwatches can be very inaccurate for steps, calories burned, etc. Some days you may be more hungry and some days less hungry and that is ok! It all balances out. Athletes often under eat on rest days too because they think they’re not burning calories. But remember: if you under fuel on rest days, your recovery won’t be optimal. And your metabolism doens’t change in one day!
20-30% of the energy we consume fuels our brains. If you under fuel, it will affect your mood. If you’re feeling irritable, cranky and stressed all the time, you might be suffering from low energy availability. If that’s the case, I highly recommend consulting a registered dietitian.
Thank you for reading!
🩷 Emily
