Optimal Nutrition for Maintenance of Body Composition and for Fueling Training during the Season

The optimal in-season diet for maintaining body composition attained during the pre-season and for fueling and recovering from training sessions would appear to have 8–10 g/kg bodyweight of carbohydrate, 1.5 g/kg bodyweight of protein, and 0.7 g/kg of bodyweight of fat. Pre-practice nutrition should consist of 70–250 g of carbohydrate, while during practices fluid should be ingested at the rate of ~1 L/h, and contain ~50 g of carbohydrate and contain electrolytes. Post-practice nutrition should contain 1.5 g/kg bodyweight of high-glycemic index carbohydrate (first hour; 1.2g/kg/h thereafter) and at least 20–40 g of high-quality protein. Low-fat chocolate milk is an excellent choice.