In addition to regular training, consuming the proper caloric intake every day helps to boost your athletic performance. Often this caloric intake depends upon a number of factors, including gender, body type and size, activities performed and performance goals. At the most basic level, athletes need to eat at least 1,800 calories per day, according to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Additional calories increase based on the activity performed.
Endurance
耐力运动员，尤其是跑步要消耗根据自己的体重，性别和每天跑步英里平均量更多的热量。男士要消耗6％〜10％以上的女性每天所需热量，因为他们需要的肌肉更多的热量才能正常工作，而且往往烧伤比女性平均的卡路里数量更多。考虑这种比较：谁运行30英里一周需要每磅18至20卡路里的热量（约每天2400个卡路里的热量），而谁运行相同量160磅的人应该每天消耗20至22卡路里的热量（约130磅的女人每天3200个卡路里）。耐力运动员应该消耗的营养声音的食物，如低脂肪的蛋白质，蔬菜，水果，低脂乳制品和大豆食品基地。这些类型的运动员也应该消耗碳水化合物和蛋白质一顿饭高之后的长远之计。
Resistance Training
Compared to endurance athletes, resistance exercisers require significantly less calories because they often perform less aerobic activity; aerobic activities burn more calories than resistance training. Weightlifters and bodybuilders focus not only on the amount of calories on the whole, but also the composition of carbohydrates, fats and protein contained within those calories. If you wish to increase muscle mass with resistance training, you should consume higher levels of protein. When working to build muscle mass, consume an average of 1.5 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Athletes should consider their daily caloric requirements based on their basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories needed to sustain your body weight. Consume more calories than your caloric expenditure in order to see muscle gain. For example, if you're a 150-pound man whose body fat is between 18 and 22 percent, you have a BMR of 1,620 calories. As a weightlifting athlete at the same weight, you should consume at least 2,120 calories per day to gain muscle.
Competitive Athletes
Competitive athletes who practice and train daily for the equivalent hours of a full-time job have very high caloric needs in order to support their activity. Competitive athletes may require up to 6,000 calories a day for men and as many as 4,000 calories for women. These types of athletes should consume five or six small meals per day in order to consume the needed calories to sustain athletic performance. These types of requirements are associated with professional football players, swimmers and tennis players.