Most people who choose to ask themselves the question of how to eat do so either for health reasons or for aesthetic reasons, but if we want to focus on the goals of athletes alone, two reasons in particular can be identified:

1. optimisation of post-workout recovery and replenishment of performance-enhancing substances;
2. optimisation of body composition.

Regarding this second aspect, a further classification is possible:

1. pursuit of anabolism (weight gain), almost always at the expense of muscle tissue;
2. pursuit of catabolism (weight loss), often at the expense of fat mass.