Lately, a lot of people—us included—have been tossing around the term ‘energy availability,’ but for many of us, that phrase might be completely new. You might have a vague idea of what it is: The energy (calories) that you have available in your body to keep it functioning. That’s an oversimplification, but it’s not far off. The Canadian Sports Institute defines energy availability (EA) as “the amount of dietary energy remaining for essential functions (heart, brain, bone, etc.) after accounting for the energy expended during training.”
So basically, Energy Availability is the energy left over after accounting for what you use in your workout.
If the amount of energy you have post-workout is too low, your body will slow down certain functions to compensate. That can lead to some serious negative consequences, since a lot of what slows down are things like hormone production and muscle recovery.
Doing that time and time again can lead to RED-S, which we’ve talked about a lot lately.
http://ConsummateAthlete.com/talking-red-s-and-what-everyone-needs-to-know-video/
And you don’t need to be purposefully trying to lower your caloric intake or lose weight: This low energy availability can happen to any athlete. You may think you’re refueling enough before, during, and after workouts, but sometimes, people with the best intentions still miss the mark.
Low energy availability can lead to a ton of health problems, from a reduced immune system to bad mood to gut issues to hormone imbalance. And that’s not even mentioning the huge decreases in performance that are associated with it!
The Canadian Sports Institute released a series of questions you can ask yourself to get a sense of whether or not low energy availability is an issue for you:
- Are you tired all the time, regardless of how much you sleep?
- Are you sore / struggling to recover after workouts?
- Is your performance plateaued or worsening despite your best efforts?
- Is your mood low or up-and-down?
- Are you dealing with recurring injuries or illness?
- Is your libido lower than usual?
- (For women who menstruate, is your cycle irregular? –> note that this one is a pet peeve for Molly, since many women athletes who menstruate are on some kind of hormonal birth control that will mask this symptom, yet it’s one that’s constantly at the top of RED-S symptom lists!)
If you think this is an issue you have, work with a dietitian to figure out how much you need to eat and when. In the meantime, make sure you’re fueling before, during and after every workout, and consider decreasing volume and intensity until you’re feeling more like yourself.
