Ahhh, good question! It’s a common misconception that on our rest days we need fewer calories than on a training day because we’re not physically exerting ourselves as much. However, this is not true - for several reasons!
The Importance of Rest Days
First of all, I just want to briefly go over the importance of rest days themselves. I, myself, really struggled for a long time to actually take any rest days. I thought that if I took a day off from training then I wouldn’t be making any progress, but actually, I was doing myself more harm than good! If we’re doing any kind of strength training and looking to either build lean muscle mass or retain lean muscle when we’re dieting, our training sessions aren’t actually when we build muscle.
I know, crazy, right?! It’s actually during our rest and recovery that our body repairs the damaged tissue from training and builds it back bigger and stronger than before. That’s why sleep and rest days are suuuuuuper important! So, I was getting frustrated because, even though my strength was increasing, I wasn’t actually building muscle as fast as I’d hoped. It was only when I scaled back my training and made sleep a priority that I truly saw the gainz I was after!
How should I eat on a rest day?
OK, so now we know why rest days are important, how should you actually eat on a rest day?
Well, whether you’re eating at maintenance or you’re on a fat loss plan, it’s still really important to keep fuelling your body when you’re not training for several reasons;
The calories you’re eating each day are worked out on a weekly average. So, if you’ve already figured out how many calories you need, then that just needs to be spread evenly over 7-days.
As mentioned above, muscles recover and are built when you’re not training. This means they still need just as much fuel (if not more - depending on your goal) as a training day
If you under fuel yourself on a rest day you’re potentially limiting your available energy for your next training session, meaning you can’t push as hard, don’t have the motivation to actually complete your workout or even risk injury.
However, you might be hungrier on training days than rest days, so, based on your calories being spread out over a 7-day average you don't HAVE to eat more or less on a non-training day, as the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. However, you should still try to aim to hit your protein goals on rest days :)
So, there we have it, the answer to ‘should I lower calories on a rest day?’ is - not necessarily!
Now, if you’re not eating less, then what exactly should you eat on a rest day?
Well, depending on your goal, your nutrition should still be dialled in. Ideally, you’ll be having 3-5 protein-rich meals spread throughout the day to maximise muscle protein synthesis - which is really important if you’re in a calorie deficit. It just means that the muscles are getting ‘fed’ regularly, and your body can concentrate on breaking down fat stores instead of muscle stores.
What should I eat on a rest day?
Some good ideas for rest day meals are;
Breakfast: Tofu Scramble
Early Lunch: Black Bean Soup with Sourdough Bread
Afternoon Snack: Choco Chickpea Thickshake
Dinner: Teriyaki Tempeh
Pre-Bed: Blueberry Nicecream
Anyhoo, I hope you found the above useful and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Catch you soon.
Vicki x
Founder: Vegan Macros 101
P.S Don’t forget to download my free sample high-protein vegan meal plan if you haven’t seen them already;
Or, if you're ready to start taking control of your nutrition and training you can join my Vegan Macros Mastery monthly membership where you'll get personalised calories, macros, recipes and training plans along with education and support for all for less than 80p/$1 per month!
