Nutrition is complicated, even for athletic women over 40. You need to find the sweet spot for your body and the amount of training when it comes to fueling yourself properly. Despite what you may have been told in the past, going for long stretches of time living in a within-day energy deficit can have a massive impact on your training. The good news is that by reframing how you fuel throughout the day, you can avoid these mistakes and take your training and nutrition to the next level. If You Want to Avoid Within-Day Energy Deficits, You Should: Remember that how you spread out the energy you consume throughout the day does matter Be diligent about the ‘last meal effect’ and eating low-energy foods Go into your workouts with some fuel on board and refuel within a timely manner afterward Understanding Within-Day Energy Deficiency Avoiding long stretches of time where your body goes without food, especially when it is in a prime state to recover, is a mistake that could be impacting your progress, metabolism, training, energy, and so much more. Adequate energy intake is necessary, especially as a female athlete over 40 who is training hard. While the last thing you need to do is obsess over being perfect, understanding why, how, and when you fuel is a key ingredient in building strength and longevity. Finding The Sweet Spot For You Even if you feel like you ‘eat a lot’, it is a complex nuance of timing, types of calories, training, and more that can impact your likelihood of existing in a within-day energy deficit. Experimenting by listening to your body, going into your training with fuel, and refueling in a timely manner afterward will help you avoid a state of low energy availability. Eating regularly throughout the day to support your training and recovery is a necessary key to your training and recovery. Implementing the principles I discuss on today's show will help you move forward with the confidence to do so. Are you ready to fuel, train and recover smarter so that you can use your strength as a catalyst for more? Share your thoughts and experiences with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode An unofficial welcome to a new season of the Fuel Your Strength Podcast (1:35) Why you should know about within-day energy deficits if you are an athletic woman (3:15)  Exploring the difference between the different types and quantities of calories (9:27) The problem with fasting and staying in a breakdown state when doing hard shit with your body (18:44) What the research says about the effects of within-day energy deficits (20:32) Things you should remember even if you feel like you are ‘eating a lot’ (29:26) Quotes “When it comes to the nuance and the context, those things need to be teased apart. And that's really what we do here on the podcast, to give you the rationale to go into depth, to explain why this stuff matters for us.” (4:24) “Many athletic women just don't have a good enough concept of what ‘enough’ energy is.” (9:44) “If you are doing intense training and not refueling until hours afterward, you are continuing to stay in a breakdown state, I don't know how else to tell you that!” (18:38) “I used to do this. I get it. I get the whole situation. This is why I am kind of nudging you to reconsider. Because I know what it is like, and I know how much better things are on the other side.” (26:38) “You are going to train so much better when you are properly fueled and doing it in a timely fashion.” (32:23) Featured on the Show Join Strength Nutrition Unlocked Here Read The Blog Here Within-Day Energy Balance in Mexican Female Soccer (Football) Players Research Article Within-Day Energy Deficiency and Reproductive Function in Female Endurance Athletes Research Article NEDA Website Find the full show notes here Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Podcast production & marketing suppo