Why I won't recommend 1200kcal diets for female athletes as a sports dietitian
1200kcal diets are very popular, but you won't find me recommend female athletes follow 1200-1600kcal diets any time soon.
Why?
Because I know just how negative an impact these low energy availability inducing diets have on a woman’s health, body composition and performance.
What is low energy availability and why does it matter for female endurance athletes?
In this study 30 normally menstruating, healthy females who usually resistance and endurance trained 4-10x a week were randomised to follow diets that were either
optimal energy availability (>50kcal/kg/fat free mass)
Low energy availability (<30kcal/kg/fat free mass)
All food was provided for compliance and the diets were followed for 10 days while doing a combination of resistance or endurance training.
Impact of 10 days low energy availability in trained females
What happened after following the low energy availability (average about 1300kcal)
The primary negative impacts from training while following this low energy diet included:
❌Losing 400g of muscle mass within 10 days.
❌Slower muscle repair and rebuilding
❌Decreased metabolic rate
❌Reduced thyroid hormones
Whether it is intentional or not, low energy availability is no joke when it comes to your health, performance and body composition.
Weight loss or body composition changes?
Is losing weight really successful if meant you'd lost 400g of muscle and dropped 100 watts in the process?
Note that the women in the study had stable weight, but gained 400g of muscle in the same trial period - which would make them stronger, more powerful and healthier.
Fuelling strategies matter.
There’s a better way.
When you learn how to adapt what you eat and fuel proactively for your training - you are able to see changes in body composition without it compromising health or performance.
It’s easier than you think and my cycling nutrition framework will guide you how.
Gemma
Oxfeldt (2023) Low energy availability reduces myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic muscle protein synthesis in trained females. J Physio. 601 (16) 3481-3497 DOI: 10.1113/JP284967
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