Pre-season energy expenditure of professional football players ⚽️🔥
Do they meet their caloric demands?
Pre-Season Total Energy Expenditure and Dietary Intake of Professional Male Soccer Players: A Doubly Labelled Water Study
Study Details
This new study investigated energy expenditure of pro football players across a 14-day preseason period using doubly labelled water 🔍
Which encompassed a…
🥅 Training only week
🏆 Training + match week
Here is what they found ⬇️
Key Findings
Average energy expenditure values across the full 14-day period were…
🔥 Total energy expenditure = 3167 ± 313 kcal/day
🫀 Resting energy expenditure = 1902 ± 213 kcal/day
⚽️ Active energy expenditure = 1004 ± 246 kcal/day
📊 Physical activity level was therefore 1.67
For dietary intake across this period, players consumed on average…
🍽️ Total energy intake = 2617 ± 363 kcal/day
🍞 Carbohydrate = 2.8 ± 0.6 g/day
🍖 Protein = 2.2 ± 0.4 g/day
🥑 Fat = 1.5 ± 0.4 g/day
Total energy expenditure and dietary intake was not significantly different between training-only and training+match weeks ❌
Conclusion
Professional football players likely do not achieve energy balance or consume enough carbohydrates 🪫
The more data I see alongside personal experience working with pro athletes, the more I think that the vast majority are chronically underfuelling and over consuming protein 🚨
So much athletic potential and health is left out on the table due to this issue ‼️
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41760574/
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