The new year is here, and many athletes think about training goals, competition schedules, and performance benchmarks. Nutrition resolutions often get reduced to weight or body composition. While weight is an important focus for some, all athletes can benefit from goals related to fueling performance, recovery, and long-term health. Nutrition resolutions can be health-focused, sustainable, and positive. Here are some New Year's nutrition goals that do just that:
Don’t Skip Meals
Skipping meals, especially around training, can compromise energy availability, performance, and recovery. While athletes can get by without fueling short, easy morning sessions, performance-driven workouts require fuel. Eating regularly helps maintain stable blood sugar levels. This is important for all athletes because blood sugar dips can cause energy crashes during the day, dizziness or lightheadedness, and increased cravings that lead to overeating at night. For those with big athletic goals, consistent fueling may reduce injury risk and help athletes train harder, recover faster, and adapt better over time.
Eat More Fiber
Fiber is crucially important but its inclusion is an often-overlooked topic in sports nutrition. Fiber is defined as "non-digestible carbohydrates” found in plants. Humans don't have digestive enzymes that break down fiber; however, the bacteria living in our GI tract do. The intestinal microbiome uses fiber from the diet as its own energy source. Fiber plays a role in digestive health by supporting a diverse microbiome. A healthy gut helps promote regularity and improve digestion, and supports immune function, potentially reducing illness-related training interruptions. Fiber can be found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and small additions can add up over the course of the day. Generally, people should aim for 14g of fiber per 1000 calories consumed. For someone consuming a 2500-calorie diet, this is roughly 35g of fiber per day.
If an athlete’s fiber intake is currently low, start by adding small increments. Gastrointestinal distress is more likely to occur with large jumps in intake. Try adding raspberries to your morning bowl of oatmeal, swap regular bread for whole-wheat options, or choose beans and lentils as your starchy carb sources. Be wary of fiber around key training sessions. Large amounts of fiber immediately before long runs, rides, or races can cause bloating, cramping, or urgent bathroom needs. Instead, athletes should aim to spread fiber intake evenly across meals and after key sessions.
Schedule Lab Work
A season of high-level racing is built on a foundation of good health. Scheduling routine lab work provides insight into health and performance readiness. Blood labs can help identify issues such as low iron, vitamin D deficiency, or other health issues that could affect sports performance. These problems often develop gradually and may not show obvious symptoms until performance declines, fatigue increases, or injury risk rises.
By making lab work a regular habit (we recommend at least 2x per year), athletes can catch potential issues early, adjust nutrition strategies, and train with greater confidence. Knowing that the body is well-supported allows athletes to focus on training quality rather than guessing whether fatigue is due to training demands or an underlying health concern. It’s important to take a proactive, preventative approach, instead of needing to take a forced break to recoup health mid-season.
Hydrate and Test
Adequate hydration is a daily performance habit, not just something athletes think about during workouts. For endurance athletes especially, hydration affects energy levels, heart rate, temperature regulation, digestion, and recovery. Even mild dehydration can increase perceived effort, slow recovery, and contribute to headaches or poor concentration. Over time, these effects add up, diminishing recovery between sessions. Increasing hydration throughout the day doesn’t need to require drastic changes. Take small, consistent actions like starting fluid intake early, keeping a water bottle with you, and pairing fluids with meals and workouts can lead to meaningful differences.
Hydration needs during exercise vary widely between athletes, so knowing your personal fluid requirements is step #1 and can be achieved through sweat and carb tests. Fuelin will guide you through it. Sweat tests are simple: athletes simply need to weigh themselves before training, track all food and fluid consumed during, and weigh themselves again right after finishing. Once we understand your needs, we personalize future workout recommendations to the athlete’s results. The more tests an athlete completes, the smarter the recommendations become. This easily allows athletes to identify personal hydration patterns and improve hydration planning for future sessions, leading to better performances.
Cook at Home More Often
Fueling properly both in and out of training is a skill. Preparing meals at home supports better nutrition, increased cooking competencies, and greater awareness of food choices. While it may be time-consuming at first, cooking at home often saves time and money over the long term. Preparing meals in batches, using leftovers, and planning ahead reduces reliance on last-minute options. Takeout or convenience items may feel easy but may provide nutrition that aligns less with your goals. Need a quick snack? Well, if you’ve prepped food, now you’ve got the options you need at home. This flexibility is especially valuable for athletes, as consistent fueling is key to steady energy and avoiding fatigue.
Cooking allows meals to be easily adjusted based on needs and preferences. Ingredients can be modified to support higher training loads (I.e., more starchy carbs) or easily adjusted to ensure athletes are hitting their protein targets. Home cooking also helps reduce food waste by encouraging thoughtful grocery shopping and better use of ingredients already on hand, which leads us to our next item…
Reduce Food Waste (and use Smart Meals)
Reducing food waste is not only an environmental responsibility, but also a practical habit that supports efficiency and smarter fueling. For athletes, learning to use food intentionally strengthens both performance and sustainability. Reducing food waste is one of the many benefits of using our new Smart Meals feature. Not only can athletes get coach-recommended meals and ideas to eat out, but they can use the “meals with… (my ingredients)” feature. Athletes can input what’s in their fridge and pantry, Smart Meals creates balanced meal ideas that align with their nutrition targets for that meal, whether it’s pre-training, post-training, or Saturday night dinner. This option removes guesswork, saves time, and reduces food waste, while ensuring athletes get what they need to support performance and recovery. The best part is that athletes can provide feedback within the Smart Meals feature and receive updated suggestions that better meet their individual tastes.
MY LAST WORD
Not all resolutions need to be restrictive to be effective. Focusing on sustainable habits creates a strong foundation for health, performance, and an enjoyable year ahead. With straightforward recommendations, personalized insights, and data-driven guidance, Fuelin makes nutrition simple. Whether your goals are in sport or in health, we’re here to support you with advice tailored to what matters most to you.
Happy New Year from us to you.
Megan