What Are Athlete Plates?

They are visuals on how athletes can combine different foods and drink at meals, which will help them match their energy and nutrient needs for different training/exercise intensities and goals. With this approach the athlete doesn’t have to track calories or different macronutrients, rather just focus on proportions. This is an easier and more flexible approach to adhere to long-term.

The main component of each plate is a portion of whole grains/grains, protein, and fruits/vegetables. An easy way to remember this is “Carb, Protein, Color.” Each plate has different training goals and intensities associated with them (see images below).

What is a Carb? Carb = Carbohydrates. These are foods like bread, pasta, and rice (fruits and vegetables also can be a carb, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll refer to them as “color”). Carbs are the body’s predominate fuel source when performing higher intensity exercise/workouts.
What is Protein? Protein are foods like meat, fish, eggs, beans, and nuts. Protein is used by the body to build and repair tissues, like muscles after intense exercise/workouts.

Disclaimer: The Athlete Plates you see in this document are not the original work of Leverage Nutrition, rather they are an adaptation of the Athlete’s Plate® by the University of Colorado.

Understanding The Differences

Below are the main differences between the plates:

Different proportions of different food types
Beverage options: (+) Juice offered with Moderate and Hard Plates
Beverage size: +100ml with each increase with each increasing plate type
- Of note: +100ml is not enough to account for total increase necessary, rather this is just a suggestion that more is needed and will help add a more practical amount)
Fat serving sizes: 1-3 tsp (Easy), 1-2 Tbsp (Moderate), 2-3 Tbsp (Hard)
Lean Protein (Easy), Protein (Moderate and Hard)
Whole grain (Easy & Moderate), Grains (Hard)

The above differences, and different proportions, all help the athlete consume more/less energy (calories) from food. For example, larger servings of fat will help the athlete consume more energy, and vice versa.

“Lean Protein”, and “Protein” are different options since lean protein has less energy, which is needed with the Easy Plate.

The Hard plate suggests Grain vs Whole Grain. Whole Grain (think brown bread) contains more fibre than Grain (think white bread), and is something that makes you feel full. It’s possible that having too much fibre can make you feel too full and not eat enough food (energy). Fibre is also found in fruits and vegetables, which is why their proportion decreases with increasing training intensity.

Like fibre, but to a greater extent, protein also makes you feel full. Therefore, it’s kept at 1/4 plate proportion with all plates.

How to Implement

Eat plate type at each meal based on goal and activity level.

Easy Plate

Goal: weight/fat loss

Moderate Plate

Goal: weight maintenance/sport performance with 1-hour moderate intensity exercise
Eat more/less based on hunger

Hard Plate

Goal: building muscle/weight gain
Goal: weight maintenance/sport performance with 1-hour high intensity exercise or 2 hours moderate intensity exercise
Eat more/less based on hunger

Other things to consider:

Bigger person bigger plate
In addition to 3 meals per day, should have 2-3 snacks
For some, might need to personalize (e.g., if trying to gain weight and eating Hard Plate but not working)
Important to understand this is just one strategy (that isn’t perfect) to help simplify athlete food intake