How to reduce your risk of Low Energy Availability without obsessively tracking calories
In my previous article, I talked about how thinking in terms of energy availability is more helpful for endurance athletes than energy balance.
Energy availability can be estimated using the following formula:
(Energy intake − exercise energy expenditure) ÷ fat-free mass
The problem with this calculation though is that all three parts of that equation are estimates. Your food intake changes from day to day; exercise calorie estimates can be pretty inaccurate; and measuring fat-free mass requires some form of body-composition assessment, which itself comes with a margin of error and can change over time.
So while the calculation is useful for understanding what energy availability is, I don’t think most athletes need to calculate their EA every day. I rarely use calorie tracking or body-composition calculations in my work unless there is a specific reason to do so. They can create a false sense of precision, and they’re often less useful than looking at what really matters: Are you eating enough to support the training you’re doing, and is your body coping well with that training?
My preferred approach is to build habits that make accidental under-fuelling much less likely.
How do you avoid LEA?
1. Eat more when you train more
This sounds pretty obvious but it's probably the easiest trap to fall into. Your food intake when you're training 30 km per week should not look the same as when you're training 70 km a week.
As your training load increases, your nutrition needs to increase with it.
When you eat is just as important as what you eat.
Fuel immediately before training.
Fuel during training.
Fuel immediately after training.
While we’re at it, carbohydrate consumed around exercise isn't some unnecessary extra that needs to be “earned” or accounted for later. It is part of the energy cost of doing the training. Basically, if you're not prepared to eat, then you shouldn't be endurance training.
3. Don't accidentally turn “healthy eating” into low-energy eating
There is nothing wrong with vegetables, salads, lean protein and high-fibre foods. But if every meal is enormous in volume and low in energy, athletes can simply become too full to eat enough.
Sometimes the fix isn't simply “more food”; it can also be more energy in the food you're already eating e.g. rice, bread, cereal, dairy, nuts, seeds, oils, avocado, dried fruit, juice or sports nutrition around training.
4. Don't treat rest days as low calorie days
Yes, energy expenditure is lower on a rest day. But recovery is still happening; your body is repairing yesterday's training, and also preparing for tomorrow's. And if your training load is really high, then rest days are a perfect opportunity to catch up a bit on energy intake while your output is lower.
“But I'm trying to lose weight”
This is where things can get complicated. Being in a calorie deficit is not automatically the same as having problematic LEA. You can potentially lose body fat while still leaving enough energy available to support your health and training.
But the harder you train, the smaller the gap between:
Enough of a deficit to lose weight
and
Not enough energy left to support everything else.
The problem comes when people try to create a bigger calorie deficit at the same time as increasing their training load. You end up pulling both levers in the same direction: less energy coming in and more energy going out.
If weight loss is a goal, the deficit should be modest and matched to your current training load, with enough food around training to protect performance, recovery and health. During periods of very high training volume, race preparation, or if you’re already showing signs of LEA, weight loss should not be the priority.
There will also be times when the better option is to reduce training volume rather than keep trying to eat less.
If fat loss is one of your goals, read The Truth About Weight Loss article next — it explains how to approach weight loss without sacrificing muscle, performance or health.
If you remember nothing else
You cannot judge whether you're fuelling adequately by how “healthy” your diet looks, and you also can't judge it from body weight alone.
Your body needs enough energy left over after training to support the things you don't consciously think about: hormones, bone, immune function, recovery, tissue repair and adaptation.
If you're training hard but becoming more tired, weaker, sick more often, more injury-prone, recovering poorly, or experiencing menstrual changes, these are all massive red flags for LEA.
Usually, the most productive thing you can do for your performance and health is simply eat more (and in particular, eat more carbohydrates). But if you can't eat more, then you need to reduce your training volume to match what you can eat. (I say this with love! Sometimes this really is the better option, particularly if you are already experiencing LEA symptoms. Be honest with yourself, and be responsible with your health).
Training creates the stimulus; food gives your body the resources to actually adapt to it.
Healthy athletes usually have the best results and the highest longevity in sport.
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