Fueling Like a Pro: Nutrition Advice from a Collegiate Performance Dietitian
When I signed up for Hyrox, I knew fueling was going to matter. I didn’t know exactly how yet, but I knew it wouldn’t be the kind of thing where I could just wing it. The training volume didn’t scare me. Honestly, it’s what drew me in.
Because when I commit to something, I don’t do it halfway. It’s not enough to show up, I want to compete. To perform. To see how far I can go. I’ve always been that way. And when I say I’m competitive, I don’t mean in a cute “board game night gets heated” kind of way (although lets be honest, I’m not taking it easy there either). I mean: I’ve had to apologize to friends after pickup soccer games. There have been post-match conversations that start with: “Wait, I thought we were friends.”
So yeah, I know that mindset. I know the high that comes from chasing your edge. But I also know about the crash. The burn. The part where your body says, “Cool, I’m done now.”
This past week? I felt that. Especially in the gym. I couldn’t push the same weights I’d been moving just days earlier. It wasn’t soreness, it was fatigue. Which is exactly why I wanted to sit down with someone who gets it.
And what better person to talk to than the one responsible for fueling some of the country’s top collegiate athletes?
Sloan Vlahos is the performance dietitian for teams like track & field and women’s basketball at the University of Georgia. (To give you a sense of the level we’re talking about: the UGA track team is headed to the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Oregon this month—and their program has a history of producing Olympians and world-record holders.)
So when I say I felt lucky to pick her brain, that’s not an understatement.
Let’s start at the top. What does a performance dietitian actually do?
I asked Sloan how she’d describe her job. Her answer? It’s part nutritionist, part sport scientist, part detective, and part team liaison.
"I’m the go-to for everything nutrition-related for my teams," she explained. "That means meal planning, lab work interpretation, hydration testing, injury recovery protocols, supplement education—you name it."
Sloan works with track & field, cross country, volleyball, and softball, supporting athletes both on campus and on the road. She builds individualized plans, manages fueling stations, helps design menus for travel, and coordinates closely with strength coaches, athletic trainers, and physicians.
"Because we have multiple dietitians on staff, I get to go deep with each athlete," she said. "I know them. Their preferences, their performance, their challenges." And it shows—she genuinely loves her job, and you can hear it in the way she talks about it.
Wait—what’s a fueling station? And should I have one in my car?
As Sloan described her day-to-day work, she mentioned managing "fueling stations"—which led me to immediately ask what that meant.
"Every team has their own," she told me. "It’s a shelf or counter near their locker room or weight room with pre- and post-workout snacks. Think shakes, bars, sometimes fruit—simple stuff."
The goal is to prevent missed meals, not to replace them. "We found when it gets too elaborate, athletes start treating it like a meal. We want it to be a safety net—not a substitution."
And honestly? It made me want to set up a version in my trunk for those post-workout, no-time-to-eat moments.
Should athletes be tracking their food?
This is where things got interesting. I asked Sloan how she handles food tracking with her athletes.
"It depends on the person," she said. "Some of them send me pictures of their meals, which actually gives me great info on portions and balance. Others keep a note in their phone. I usually avoid calorie-tracking apps like MyFitnessPal unless I know an athlete has a really healthy relationship with food."
That hit home. I told her how, after my second child, I started logging everything I ate to get back on track—and how quickly that spiraled into food-anxiety. That was two years ago, and it took some time to reset my relationship with food.
More recently, when I began tracking again just to get a general sense of my intake, I realized my diet was pretty high in fat. All good fats—avocado, butter, nuts, cheese—but probably more than I needed.
She nodded. "So common. The issue isn’t entirely fat itself—it’s whether it’s crowding out protein and carbs, especially for performance."
Hearing that was so refreshing. Fats aren’t the enemy (and neither is any other macro, for that matter). But treating nutrition like a one-size-fits-all formula doesn’t work—there’s a bigger picture to consider.
Let’s give carbs a break
"Most athletes get enough protein," she said. "But carbs? That’s where people fall short."
There’s so much content online about hitting protein goals (often through some questionable-looking protein desserts), but carbs have been the villain for years. And that fear runs deep. I’ve felt it myself. But recently, as my training ramped up, I realized how much my body needs carbs—especially for running.
At one point I just asked Sloan straight up: How did carbs get such a bad reputation? When did eating a few pretzels after dinner start to feel like a rebellious act?
That’s when she broke it down.
"Your body stores carbs as glycogen to use later," she explained. "That 8pm pretzel isn’t going straight to body fat. It’s going into your fuel tank."
Your body can store 300–500 grams of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, mostly in the muscles and liver. That’s fuel waiting to be used. So unless you’re chronically overeating, your evening rice bowl isn’t turning into fat—it’s topping off your tank.
Her favorite analogy: your body is like a phone battery. Don’t start your training at 40% and expect it to last.
On supplements: What’s actually worth it?
Whole foods are always the foundation—but supplements can also help keep your tank from running on empty. Sloan’s advice? Skip the hype and stick to what’s proven.
Here’s her evidence-backed list:
Whey protein – Not required, but convenient for hitting that 20–30g protein target post-workout.
Creatine – Helps with strength, recovery, brain health, and bone density. She recommends 5g daily. Timing doesn’t matter—just consistency.
Beta-alanine & sodium bicarbonate – Help reduce lactic acid buildup, especially for efforts in the 30-second to 10-minute range. Think rowing, burpee broad jumps, and longer sled pushes.
Caffeine – Effective when taken ~60 minutes pre-workout. (also needed for basic survival. Just saying)
Sloan also explained how creatine supports your phosphocreatine system—the body’s go-to energy source for short, explosive efforts (like sled pushes or squats). It gives your body more energy for that initial 8–10 seconds of high power work, and over time, that can translate into strength and performance gains.
As for beta-alanine and sodium bicarbonate? They help buffer lactic acid—that burning sensation during intense intervals—so you can push a little harder, a little longer.
What should your plate look like after a workout?
Sloan uses a visual guide called the "performance plate."
Think: 🍚 Half carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta) 🍗 Quarter protein (chicken, eggs, tofu) 🥦 Quarter produce (leafy greens, berries, whatever’s fresh).
"It doesn’t need to be fancy," she said. "If you can’t get a full meal in, just get something in. A shake or bar can hold you over until you can sit down and eat."
On lighter or rest days? Just reduce the carbs a bit—aim for thirds across the plate instead of half carbs.
If she could erase one myth from the internet?
"The idea that you can’t eat after 7pm, or 8pm, whatever it is."
She gets where it came from—people tend to snack mindlessly at night—but as an athlete, your needs are different.
"If your body is hungry, listen. Fueling properly matters more than following arbitrary time rules."
And of course context matters. Late-night eating isn’t the issue, mindless eating is. If you’ve got a 6pm dinner and a midnight bedtime, a small snack in between is smart, not shameful.
What happened after the mic was off
Once we wrapped our recording, Sloan asked to take a look at the food log I had tracked in MyFitnessPal for the past four days. She barely looked at the screen before raising an eyebrow and saying, “You’re not eating nearly enough.” She explained further that even though my eating looked healthy overall—balanced, thoughtful, full of nutrient-dense foods—I just wasn’t eating enough of it.
Apparently, my app was auto-set to 1,980 calories, a leftover number from when I used it two and a half years ago. Sloan immediately said she’d likely increase that number by almost 1,000 calories. She promised to run the numbers more precisely later, but that was her ballpark estimate.
And honestly? That tracks. I’ve been dragging this past week—especially on strength days. I’ve always been someone who trains consistently, so I couldn’t figure out why I was suddenly crashing. But this week, I felt it. My upper body workout was rough. I couldn’t push the same weights I hit just seven days earlier. It didn’t feel like a random off day—it felt like full-on fatigue.
Sloan told me to hang tight while she builds a full nutrition and supplement plan, but in the meantime, she gave me a simple marching order: increase your portion sizes by about 20%. It’s not a magic fix, but it’s a tangible place to start.
It’s funny, in the past, food logging always felt like a restriction tool. A way to monitor and keep myself in check. I’d see how many calories or macros I had “left” for the day and feel this internal uh oh, like I needed to pull back or be extra careful. But now It’s almost the opposite. I’m looking at my tracker thinking, crap, how am I going to squeeze in more carbs before I go to bed? It’s not a free-for-all, but it is a shift—from monitoring intake to making sure I’m giving my body enough. That mindset change alone feels like progress.
Sloan agreed to schedule regular check ins with me throughout the rest of my training block and tweak things as we go, which, honestly, feels like a huge win. Having someone with her expertise and experience in my corner (on top of everything she’s already doing for elite collegiate athletes!) is not something I take for granted. I feel incredibly lucky to have her support on this journey.
More updates—and my full plan—coming soon. For now, I’m feeling pretty grateful to be training like a pro… and finally learning to fuel like one too.