Your two-day carb target and a six-meal plan of everyday foods, for your body weight. Runs in your browser; nothing is saved or sent.
What this does: turns your body weight into a two-day carb-loading target and a simple eating plan: six meals and snacks, with portions of everyday foods and the grams of carbohydrate in each. It’s for runners and other endurance athletes with a race longer than about 90 minutes, like a marathon, a half marathon that takes you more than about 90 minutes, an ultra or a long triathlon. Carb loading means eating extra carbohydrate for the last day or two before a long race so your muscles store as much fuel as they can hold. That stored fuel is called glycogen, and it is the main fuel for hard running. Enter your weight and how long your race will take, and we’ll lay out the meals.
Your plan appears below the options and updates as you change them.
g per kg means grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. If you’re new to loading, the lower end is easier to eat. If a meal is more than you can finish, move some of it to a snack or drink it as juice or milk.
How it works
The amounts follow sports nutrition guidance for races longer than about 90 minutes: 10–12 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight a day, for the 36–48 hours before the race, while your training tapers (Burke, 2007; Thomas, Erdman & Burke, 2016). For ultramarathons, the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests about 10 g/kg a day in the 48 hours before, taking care to avoid stomach trouble, plus a familiar, easily digested pre-race meal (Tiller et al., 2019). The daily range is the same one our race fuel calculator and carb-loading guide use.
We split your daily target across six meals and snacks (breakfast 22%, mid-morning 12%, lunch 22%, afternoon 12%, dinner 22%, evening 10%) and fill each one with everyday foods, using carbohydrate values from USDA FoodData Central. Portions move in steps of half a cup, a slice or a tablespoon, so each day lands within a few percent of your target. Swap foods with similar carbs freely: a banana, a cup of applesauce and a cup of orange juice are each about 26–28 g; a tablespoon of honey and a Medjool date are each about 17–18 g.
Add protein foods as you like. Eggs, chicken and fish carry almost no carbohydrate, so they don’t count toward the plan.
Women especially: eat more in total, not just a bigger share of carbs. In a study of carb loading in women, muscle glycogen rose only when total calories went up as well (Tarnopolsky et al., 2001); a practical review suggests women keep total energy up and carbs above 8 g/kg (Sedlock, 2008).
Lower fiber for those two days. Many sports dietitians suggest white rice, white bread and peeled potatoes over whole grains, so the volume sits easier. If oatmeal is your usual race breakfast, keep it: familiar beats new.
Drink some of it. Juice and milk add carbs with less bulk.
Practice first. Try a loading day before a long training run, and keep race week to foods you already know.
Carbs in the foods we use
Food
Portion
Carbs
Plain bagel
1 medium (3½–4 in)
about 55 g
White rice, cooked
1 cup
about 45 g
Pasta, cooked
1 loosely packed cup (about 125 g)
about 38 g
Raisins
1 small box (1.5 oz)
about 34 g
Potato, boiled, peeled
1 medium
about 33 g
Oatmeal, cooked
1 cup
about 28 g
Applesauce, unsweetened
1 cup
about 28 g
Banana
1 medium
about 27 g
Orange juice
1 cup
about 26 g
Medjool date
1 date
about 18 g
Honey
1 tbsp
about 17 g
White bread
1 slice
about 14 g
Jam
1 tbsp
about 14 g
Milk, 2%
1 cup
about 12 g
Values from USDA FoodData Central. A loosely packed cup of cooked pasta weighs about 125 g. A packed cup holds more, so weigh it once if you want to be exact.
For race morning and fuel during the race, use the race fuel calculator. Your loading days fall during your taper (the days when you cut back your running): the taper calculator lays out the running.
Sources
Burke LM. Nutrition strategies for the marathon: fuel for training and racing. Sports Med. 2007;37(4–5):344–347. Source
Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Nutrition and Athletic Performance: joint position statement of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dietitians of Canada. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2016;48(3):543–568. Source
Tiller NB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutritional considerations for single-stage ultra-marathon training and racing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2019;16:50. Source
Tarnopolsky MA, Zawada C, Richmond LB, et al. Gender differences in carbohydrate loading are related to energy intake. J Appl Physiol. 2001;91(1):225–230. Source
Sedlock DA. The latest on carbohydrate loading: a practical approach. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2008;7(4):209–213. Source
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central (food composition database). Source
General information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have diabetes or another medical condition, are pregnant, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before changing how you eat.
Log each loading meal in one spoken sentence, so before your next race you can look back at exactly what you ate before this one. Get My Track Record on the App Store