💡 Fuel For Thought

Here's why you're hungrier on rest days

I see this pattern constantly in practice: an athlete trains hard all week, hits a rest day, and suddenly finds themselves hungrier than usual. Their normal meals don't seem to cut it. They eat, and an hour later, they're back in the kitchen. And more often than not, they can't figure out why. Does this sound familiar to you, too?

Here's what's actually going on.

1. Physical activity has a suppressing effect on appetite. It's almost like your body puts hunger on mute while you're in training mode. The problem is, mute doesn't mean your body doesn’t need the energy, quite the opposite. On rest days, when that suppression lifts, the signal can feel louder than ever. There’s nothing wrong with you, your body is finally getting a chance to be heard.
2. You're probably not eating enough on your training days. When energy intake consistently falls short of what hard training demands, your body doesn't just let it go. It keeps a tab. Rest days become the moment it hands you the bill, hunger surges, cravings intensify, and no amount of willpower makes it easier, because this isn't a willpower problem. It's a biology problem.

Both patterns often show up together, which is why rest day hunger can feel so overwhelming.

Rest days still need fuel. Even though you’re moving less, you still need enough food to support the recovery that's actually happening: Muscle repair, glycogen replenishment, and hormonal balance. Your energy needs may be lower, but they're rarely as low as most athletes assume.

If rest days feel harder than your training days, that's worth paying attention to. Your body is telling you something, the real question is whether your everyday nutrition is set up to support it.

🚀 Endurance Highlights

1️⃣ Carnivore diet and athletic performance: Do the facts match the claims?

While the ketogenic diet has been around since the 1920s, the carnivore diet is best understood as its most extreme modern iteration, and one that's currently generating far more social media heat than scientific support. This narrative review critically examined the available evidence on carnivore and animal-based diets in athletic populations, drawing on research from ketogenic, low-carbohydrate, and high-protein dietary models, given the near-complete absence of direct studies in athletes.

The review found that carbohydrate restriction can meaningfully increase the capacity for fat oxidation. Still, that adaptation doesn't reliably translate into better performance, particularly in training that demands high intensity or rapid recovery. Beyond performance, the complete exclusion of plant foods raises legitimate concerns: reduced gut microbial diversity due to the absence of dietary fibre, the risk of micronutrient gaps (vitamin C, folate, magnesium), and variable and sometimes significant increases in LDL cholesterol.

Highly restrictive eating patterns pose psychological risks, especially for competitive athletes who are already dealing with pressure related to body composition. The authors draw a clear conclusion: carnivore and animal-based diets cannot currently be recommended as safe or optimal for athletes. While this narrative review relies primarily on indirect evidence and cannot address every issue, the existing gaps highlight the concerns associated with these diets.

2️⃣ Jet-lagged and underfuelled: What long travel does to your performance

It's not unusual for athletes to travel long distances for big races or competitions, but the physiological cost of that journey is often underestimated. This systematic narrative review examines how long-haul travel affects athletes across multiple performance and health domains, including sleep and hormonal balance, as well as strength, aerobic capacity, coordination, and reaction time.

A key distinction the review makes is between travel fatigue and jet lag, two conditions that often get lumped together but have different causes. Travel fatigue stems from the stressors of the journey itself: dehydration, cramped seating, disrupted sleep, and logistical stress, and can occur regardless of how many time zones you cross. Jet lag, by contrast, is a circadian mismatch between your internal clock and the local time at your destination, and typically kicks in after crossing three or more time zones.

The review also highlights practical strategies to manage these effects, which is where it becomes useful for athletes. Light exposure, sleep hygiene, and melatonin are the most studied. The authors also flagged nutrition, including meal timing, hydration, and carbohydrate intake, as a meaningful lever for supporting circadian resynchronisation and recovery. As with most things in performance, the evidence points toward individualised, multi-pronged approaches rather than any single fix.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Retail Finds*

This week's product review: Tailwind Recovery vs Rokeby Protein Smoothie

Here's another regular food vs sport-specific product comparison

Final take

Both can be convenient options to support post-training recovery. Still, neither provides enough carbohydrate to my liking, especially if you're looking to consume this after a long and/or intense session.

If you don't have issues with dairy or non-vegan products, then Rokeby may be the stronger candidate. ​​​​​​

👩🏻‍🍳 Kitchen Creations

​Download the recipe​​​

Blueberry, peanut butter & banana recovery smoothie Here's a recipe you can try if you prefer to make your own recovery drink. You can use your preferred milk instead of almond milk.

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Happy fuelling!

Gaby | Endurance Nutrition Specialist

🏃🏻‍♂️ Want to work together?

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