Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

Rest Day nutrition vs Training Day nutrition

11 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief coaching monologue, the speaker argues that athletes should eat the same amount of calories on rest days as on training days. The rationale is that a uniform daily intake simplifies the nutrition plan, making it easier to follow and reducing the risk of non‑adherence. The speaker explains their practical method: calculate the athlete’s total weekly caloric requirement based on individual goals (speed, strength, weight gain), then divide that total by seven to set a constant daily calorie target. This approach treats rest days as recovery days, emphasizing that consistent food intake supports recovery and prepares the body for the next training or competition session.

Chapters

Should there be a difference between rest day nutrition and training day nutrition? My opinion is no. Your training day nutrition should be the same as your rest day nutrition because it's going to keep things simple. The more complexity that you add into your schedule— so this day you're eating this much, and this day you have to eat this, and that day you have to eat that— it's just going to end up resulting in you not following the plan because it's so freaking hard to follow. So my personal belief is let's make the plan as effective and as simple as possible that will still get you the results. So in my coaching groups, what we do is we take an average of the total calories an athlete would need for the entire week based on their goals, whether whether they're trying to get faster or stronger or gain weight. We take the total, we divide it by 7, and those are the calories they're eating every single day. So a training day is the same as a rest day because that rest day is really a recovery day, and food is a major part of recovery that's going to set them up for the following training or game day after that.