It would be really cool if the nutrition calendar could be migrated into the workouts. MOTTIV had a very simple version of this where each workout would have an on-bike nutrition recommendation.
Something like: “you should try to take in approximately 120g of carbs / 650-750 calories throughout this ride”.
This may be a dumb question or apologies if i missed it earlier in the thread/doc: do the carbs include those taken in during exercise?
Thanks!
Yes
Thank you!
One other question if I may. The macro tracker I use Cronometer tracks carbs as “net carbs”, excluding stuff like fiber. Is the calculator giving just plan ol regular carbs? Should I disable the net carbs option in the tracker to be tracking apples to apples (ha) against what the calculator recommends?
Thanks!
Is this not available anymore? I just get a link to join TR.
I just tried it and it still takes me to the calculator. Are you clicking the link in the very first post? If so, do you then get taken here?
If so, you fill it all out and the final step is to send an email address.
I’ve just used it all the way through to getting a new download
Just tried on my phone and it worked. Weird. I think I was on the right link on my computer this morning. Who knows. I’m good now 
@Jonathan This is amazing. Thanks for making it this. I always thought I was erring on the side of slightly too many carbs, but it looks like I should still be aiming for a bit more to really optimize.
One thing I would love to see for the future is how these daily intakes of carbs shift based on whether you train in the morning, mid day or evening. For example someone who trains in the morning might need more carbs at dinner the night before their workout. Versus someone who may need to load breakfast and lunch for an evening workout, and might not need as much at dinner the night before.
I second the request from Dcariolo about including some help with nutrition timing would be helpful. Adjusting the timing/daily caloric needs based on early morning vs. midday vs. late day training would be very helpful. Other than that, this is a great tool to help plan nutrition!
I built a version of this out this week. It uses my past training data, WHOOP data, planned workouts, body weight, and body‑fat percentage to generate a macro plan. It’s essentially a free version of Hexis—carb periodizing to hit a rolling average energy availability (EA).
Side note: I wasn’t sure if 40+ EA was realistic, so I calculated maintenance EA from TDEE. I was previously in the upper 20s, so I’m expecting at least some improvement.
Next steps: adding a Claude-managed agent for meal planning and another agent to build a shopping list.
I’ll push it to GitHub this weekend.
I’m interested! Looks neat!
In today’s podcast, @Jonathan and Mike talk about periodizing carbs depending on hard/easy/off days, and my takeaway is that bigger days should have higher carbs the day before those workouts. The calculator currently shows higher carbs the day of those workouts. Is it reasonable to just shift the daily carbs recommendation a day earlier to reflect what I think was being described by Mike?
Thanks!
I am curious how many people are following this with the results they want? I want to lose weight. I have been tracking everything I eat in macrofactor (except carbs consumed on the bike) for the last 6 weeks. I have the goal set to 1 lbs a week. macro factor has adjusted my calories to 1950. In general I am hitting 1950, occasionally days Ill go to 2350 if I am starving or my biking was more than I had planned.
Activity - two trainerroad sessions a week (V02 and Threshold / sweet spot), 1 - 2 mtb rides a week.
My weeks are M -Trainerroad, T - really really hard martial arts, W - rest, T - trainerroad, F - weightlift or ride, S - weekend ride. S - Lift. repeat. I have been doing this since mid January.
Since I started tracking calories (6 weeks) I have lost 3 pounds. Again fueling on the bike (90 grams of carbs per hour / 350 calories). The TR calculator wants me to eat 600 more calories on average than I am to hit the target EA (rapid due only for a limited amount of time).
I feel like I have objective data that if I eat those extra 600 calories (most of it is Carbs, with about 40g protein, and 30 grams fat) I will not meet my body composition goals.
The Specialized guy obviously knows what he is talking about. But, it doesn’t seem like it matches being a 40 year old experience at all.
Great podcast but I did wonder if age made any adjustments to the calculator.
I would be very interested in understanding the limitations in using this method. For example, in using the regular Macro Calculator apps that are everywhere, you have to select your subjective activity level, except doing “moderate activity” with a high vs low FTP, or for 1hr vs 1.5h can create its own 300+ calorie deficit without knowing any better, the subjective experience doesn’t change but the energy output changes significantly.
In my situation I have the opposite concern to most people here, I work a physical job and train when I can, so using this 40-45kcal/kg/ffm method can leave me under-eating since it doesn’t state what the equation assumes is considered baseline activity (NEAT). In some quick reading for where this equation and the 35/40/45 standards were determined I found that the studies were done on suspected RED-S athletes who were HS/University female students who were explicitly told to not perform any additional effortful activities outside of their sport, except walking. So if you work at your desk 8-10hrs a day then walk your dog, that applies just fine, but for those of us with higher energy output throughout the day than the equation accounts for still leaves us chasing a “multiplier”, meaning 40/45/50?kcal/kg/ffm that suits our energy needs.
Any thoughts?
I have this same thought/question. Are there any good studies out there of athletes (especially any non-pros) using this approach for body fat weigh loss? E.g.: is this a concept-driven model or evidence-driven approach?
Think of it more along the lines of the 2-3 meals before the hard workout. So if you’re a morning workout person then you definitely up the carbs the day before. If you’re an evening workout person you can probably stay lighter the day before (but maybe start increasing with dinner/dessert) but then day of your big workout day load up with breakfast and lunch.
