Carb loading: quantities, meals and snacks

Does your event need a carb load?

Carbohydrate loading is a short preparation strategy for longer, demanding endurance events. It is different from eating a decent breakfast, and different from the food you take during a race. Most short events do not need a formal loading protocol.

For sustained competition lasting more than about 90 minutes, established guidance commonly describes 10–12 g carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day for the final 36–48 hours, alongside reduced training. This is a large amount of carbohydrate and needs practice, not a last-minute challenge.

Build it across the day.

Use meals, snacks and familiar drinks instead of relying on one enormous pasta dinner. A bagel, rice-based meal and rice pudding are different ways to add carbohydrate. Check the amount supplied by your actual portions.

Some runners find lower-fibre choices and smaller, more frequent meals easier during this short period. Keep normal protein foods, drink normally and avoid unfamiliar ingredients. Your everyday diet does not have to stay low in fibre.

Try this recipeCreamy rice pudding80 g carbohydrate · 14 g protein per default serving ↗

A menu structure to adapt.

• Breakfast: a familiar bagel, toast or pancakes with a tolerated topping.
• Between meals: fruit, rice pudding or another familiar carbohydrate snack.
• Lunch: a rice or pasta meal with a normal protein portion.
• Dinner: another carbohydrate-based meal, without making it your only chance to eat enough.

This is a structure, not a personalised prescription or a complete target-matched menu. Use the recipe carbohydrate amounts and additional foods to understand your own day.

Keep comfort part of the plan.

Rehearse the plan before race week. Appetite, stomach symptoms, body size, medical needs and your relationship with food can make a generic calculation unsuitable. A registered sports dietitian can help tailor it.

Loading does not replace carbohydrate during a long race. The before-run and during-run recommendations answer separate questions, so use each in its own context.

Put the guidance into practice

Explore your carb load.

Loading depends on the demands and duration of your event. This calculator gives a general planning range, then points you towards familiar meals.

Before exercise lasting over an hour, broad guidance is 1–4 g carbohydrate per kilogram in the 1–4 hours beforehand. That range is not a target to force immediately before every run. Choose an amount and timing that you have rehearsed.

Loading, breakfast and during-run fuel are separate parts of the plan. Hydration and sodium need their own assessment; do not turn carbohydrate grams into a fluid target.