About The Triathlon Dietitian
I started The Triathlon Dietitian to be a voice of reason for athletes and high performers.
This feels especially important today, when there is an endless amount of information about nutrition online, which ultimately derails people from reaching their goals. My driving force is a desire to help athletes narrow in on the fundamental factors that are limiting their ability to achieve their goals and offer practical, evidence based solutions to help them realize their fullest potential.
Meet Kevin McCall, MS, RDN
My name is Kevin McCall, and I am a sports dietitian from the Central Coast of California. I specialize in nutrition consultations primarily for triathletes, but I also work with other athletes and individuals focused on improving their health, performance, and body composition.
My experience as a dietitian has included internships with the Philadelphia Eagles and Rutgers University Football, followed by work experience with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the San Francsisco 49ers. Most recently, I held a full-time position with O2X Human Performance as a Human Performance Specialist, where I served as an on-site dietitian for the Berkeley Fire Department. In this role, I implemented comprehensive strategies to optimize performance while prioritizing the long-term health and well-being of the firefighters under my care. My approach extends beyond conventional nutrition practices, focusing on sustainable lifestyle modifications that have a lasting impact.
My journey into sports nutrition is rooted in my own athletic background. I competed on the water polo and swim teams in high school and was a member of the club triathlon team at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I earned my Bachelor's degree in Nutrition. I furthered my education with a Master's degree in Nutrition and Dietetic Practice from Thomas Jefferson University, and was able to complete my Dietetic Internship with the Philadelphia Eagles, Rutgers University Football, Penn Medicine, and various other sites. Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with Olympians and elite athletes, as well as those suffering from serious illnesses, which has deeply informed my practice.
My career includes time as a dietitian with the San Francisco 49ers and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). I also have diverse experience serving as an Ocean Lifeguard and EMT for California State Parks and as a Reserve Harbor Patrol Officer for the City of Morro Bay. These roles have given me a nuanced understanding of the unique challenges faced by individuals in demanding physical professions. Through all of this, my passion for endurance sports nutrition and exercise physiology has remained.
Beyond my professional life, I’m an avid sports enthusiast, engaged in a variety of activities including surfing, mountain biking, snowboarding, weightlifting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, pickleball, and of course, triathlon. My connection to sports and the outdoors fuels my commitment to helping others achieve their own athletic and health goals.
Obviously, I have a lot of hobbies, but my favorite of these will always be endurance sports. There’s something about pushing your body for hours on end that teaches you what we’re capable of. In the deepest depths of the pain cave, you start to break down perceived limitations, and this seems to be one of the most reliable ways of helping you to realize your full potential.
Navigating the vast landscape of nutrition information can be overwhelming, but I serve as a trusted guide, offering practical, evidence-based applications of the latest nutrition science. My mission is to empower athletes and individuals to reach their highest potential and amplify their lives, both in sport and beyond.
My Philosophy
My philosophy has been influenced by working with some of the best athletes in the world across several sports. In working with these athletes, I have come to believe that there are just a handful of fundamental habits an athlete should focus on to maximize their performance, and ignore everything else. There are thousands of ways an athlete can improve their performance, but the fundamentals have the greatest return on investment. Though this seems overly simplistic, I’ve witnessed that the best athletes in the world do these things consistently for long periods of time, which results in the greatest possible performance adaptations. That said, I have never met an athlete who does all of these things perfectly 100% of the time, so there is always room for improvement. In my opinion, sports performance is influenced more by consistency of habits than by genetics alone.
In addition, I have come to believe that people’s nutrition and lifestyle choices are influenced by deeply engrained patterns as well as physiological, economic, and cultural factors, making lifestyle modifications incredibly complicated and challenging. However, helping athletes to overcome these challenges is one of the most rewarding and interesting parts of being a sports dietitian. I utilize a variety of techniques to do this including Motivational Interviewing, with consideration to the multi-stage model of adherence outlined by Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodization). In my opinion, a good dietitian is not just an expert in nutritional science, but is also capable of applying knowledge of the psychology of lifestyle change. After all, I could write the most “optimal” nutrition plan for an athlete, but if they don’t implement the plan as written, then what’s the point? So, I strive to continually deepen my knowledge and skills in this area.