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Under-fueling and It's Effects on the Healing Process

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December 08, 2025•3 min read

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Under-fueling and It's Effects on the Healing Process

Most PT places don't even ask about nutrition, much less how you fuel around your training. Nobody is asking if you're gettingenoughfood,enoughelectrolytes, orenoughsleep. The recovery process has a limiting governor. The governor is inflammation and it is directly affected by these factors.

Under-fuelingis something that a lot of people do and most are actually not even doing it on purpose. They train and work out and eat normal meals but somehow they keep getting injured or always have fatigue and nagging issues. My bet is that 90% of those issues are coming from under-fueling. Under-fueling is overtraining.

Our bodies need a certain number of calories per day based on our resting metabolic rate. (You can test this atSwift Recoveryto have an exact number).

This is the baseline for maintaining the same physical size in general. If you are working out, running, or have an active job or profession, the extra calories will be in addition to your resting metabolic rate.

Resting metabolic rate

+ Active metabolic expenditure

= Total daily energy expenditure

Here's my personal race day example from Dizzy Fifties 20 Miler:

Resting metabolic rate: 2239 kcal/day

Active calories: 307 kcal

Running calories: 2550 kcal

Total: 5096 kcal/day

Yes this is a long run day with a lot of active calories but my average is still around 3500 kcal per day.

To maintain the same weight, optimal performance, and adequate recovery there needs to be a good focus on fueling to support this amount of expenditure!

What you eat and drink before you run, during your run, and after your run impacts how well you perform and recover. If I was just eating like a normal personal with a 2000 calorie diet I would be injuredall of the time.

Because I understand the stresses that this amount of training puts on the body, I can plan accordingly and optimize for it.

My fueling routine:

Breakfast: 30g protein drink, 40-60g carb of light breakfast, 10g F

Run: If easy or less than an hour, no fuel during; if harder effort or longer run, 80-120g carbs throughout run

Post-run: 30g protein drink, real food breakfast 30g P 70g C 20g F

Lunch: (medium meal) 30-40g P, 30-70g C, 10-30g F

Dinner: (largest meal) 60g P, 60-100g C, 30-60g F

Sweet treat: I still love chocolate! 10-20g C

Total: 3000+/- kcal

Key Takeaways:

High protein: 1g per pound goal at least (165 G protein)
Look at your average over time and not just on one day. It's very hard to take in the total for one very long day, instead break it down based on your average and eat more around your running to support recovery.
Plan ahead (and it's a-ok to supplement with protein drinks)
Carbs aren't the devil, they are fuel for performance and the quickest burning source that we have. If active, carbs are king.
A healthy body is a well-fueled body. You can't recover from injury or normal training without fueling properly.

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