What my sports dietitian actually changed

Started 1 May 2025 · 24 replies · 247 hearts · read 2.2k times

TabbyMargate, UK · 1 May 2025

about a year ago

What my sports dietitian actually changed — putting it in its own thread so it does not get lost in the check-in.

Practical question, and possibly a silly one.

I nearly did not ask because it sounds trivial written down, and it has been the most persistent difficulty of the last six months.

I would like practical detail rather than encouragement. What people actually do, in what order, and what goes wrong when they get it wrong.

Sorry for the length. The logistics take longer to describe than they do to do.

MaryamBirmingham, UK

Something I got wrong was trying to train through a difficult fortnight. It achieved nothing and set me back further.

HarriSwansea, UK

Tabby, I have been where you are and I would rather say so than stay quiet.

The recovery side was where I noticed it most. Same session, slower recovery, for about two months.

14me too 8

TacitaRome, IT

What I would say is get the protein sorted before anything else. Everything I read agreed and I ignored it for a season.

RenFacilitatorBristol, UK

Facilitator note: nothing in this circle is medical advice and the practical arrangements still need agreeing with whoever prescribes for you.

PolaGdańsk, PL

Tacita said something I want to sit with for a second.

The endurance side was different again. Long sessions needed planning that short sessions did not, and I got that wrong twice.

9me too 5

RohanPune, IN

What helped was working with a coach who took the appetite change seriously rather than treating it as a discipline problem.

BronLincoln, UK

My honest report is that my strength has been maintained across two years, and it was not automatic, and lifting was the reason.

EdwynNewcastle, UK

Building on what Rohan wrote rather than answering the original question.

I found the early weeks difficult for training because of the tiredness, and going lighter for a month was the sensible call.

ClémenceNantes, FR

My training did not change. My fuelling around it changed enormously and that took about four months to get right.

OndineLausanne, CH

#10

What I found is that eating enough before a session was the hard part, and everything else followed from solving it.

NolanHalifax, CA

#11

That is a very clear way of putting something I have never been able to put clearly.

BoWhitby, UK

#12

My experience is that this is entirely compatible with serious training and requires deliberate attention to fuelling.

RunaAarhus, DK

#13

The thing I underestimated was hydration. My requirements changed and I noticed it in the gym before anywhere else.

7me too 7

BaySt Ives, UK

#14

Somebody in this circle said that grip strength is the most honest measure and I have tracked mine ever since.

MaritGroningen, NL

#15

My sessions are shorter and heavier now and that has worked better than the volume I used to do.

TressaSt Austell, UK

#16

What I found is that the first six weeks were the worst for performance and that everything after that has been ordinary.

RonanBelfast, NI

#17

I had a period where I was clearly underfuelling without meaning to, and my coach spotted it before I did.

11me too 3

NadineLyon, FR

#18

Picking up Tressa’s point rather than starting a new one.

Something that helped was eating on a schedule rather than on appetite, because appetite stopped being a reliable signal.

BodilÅlesund, NO

#19

The competition side needed a proper conversation with somebody who understood both, and finding that person took a while.

11me too 1

BertrandToulouse, FR

#20

Holding this with you rather than answering it.

RinManchester, UK

#21

You have said something a lot of us have not managed to. Thank you.

13me too 4

RufusGuildford, UK

#22

What surprised me was how much better my joints felt, which had nothing to do with anything I was aiming at.

RenFacilitatorBristol, UK

#23

I am going to redirect us back to the original poster, who has not had a chance to answer any of the questions put to them.

ClemmieNorwich, UK

#24

I would gently say that if training has become the thing you use to justify eating, that is worth saying out loud somewhere.