What’s The Best Diet For (insert goal here)

I get asked a lot about what diet is best for a specific goal. For example, what diet is best for weight loss (but when people say weight loss, 99.9% of the time people mean fat loss, i.e. I want to be smaller or more toned, not necessarily look the same but weigh less). The short answer - the diet that is best for you should be one that is sustainable for you. Some people love or are forced into loving (sorry diabetics) a low carb diet. Others love high carb diets, and others like something more balanced. Although I could do an entire blog post on my advocacy of carbohydrates (maybe I will… mental note!), if you hate them and they’re not for you, then there is no rule that says you must eat them. Equally, if you LOVE them (me!), there is also no rule, nor any scientific evidence at all, to suggest a low carb diet is superior for fat loss.

It doesn’t matter whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain or overall performance, the fundamentals of your nutrition should remain unchanged. Good nutrition is good nutrition, so having 80% of your diet remain the same, with just the peripheral necessities changing (e.g. the amount of food you eat changing depending on if you’re in a fat loss phase vs. strength gain phase) depending on your goals.

Here are the five fundamentals of nutrition as I see them. If you nail these, overall health becomes easy, and nailing your goals becomes even easier!

1.     Consistency

The key to results is consistency. And the key to good results that lasts you a lifetime is a consistently GOOD diet.

2.     A balanced approach

Broadly, across all three goals your day should look something like 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.

There is some variability in this. For example, if you have a really fast metabolism you may need to eat slightly more fat to slow down your digestion so you’re not hungry all the time. Alternatively, if you’re training a lot you might need to increase your carbs slightly, so you have access to enough energy for the training you’re doing. However, for most of us, myself included, you will see results if you consistently hit the required overall calories for your goal, made up of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I have a macro calculator for breastfeeding mamas (if you’re not breastfeeding you can use it too – instructions are in there) that can help you here if you’re not sure where to start.

3.     Protein Intake

In order to build muscle tissue, we need to be consuming adequate protein. Protein is the building block of muscle, and because we all need strength and muscular health to protect our body as we age, consuming enough protein is critical for our current and future health. For those with body composition goals, protein is an important factor in retaining our lean mass (non fat mass) while we lose weight. Without high protein, studies show we are more likely to lose muscle and hold onto our fat.

The recommended protein intake for those who train is between 1.6g – 2.2g/kg of body weight per day. Because I like simple maths, I keep it simple. I just double my weight and away I go. For example, I am about 60kg so I eat about 120g of protein each day. If you’re not much into tracking that’s cool. One palm size piece of meat is about 25g of protein. So for me, 5 x palm sized serves and I’m good.

If you only take one thing away from this blog, take this – eat around 2g of protein/kg of body weight every day spread across the day.

4.     Never Train Fasted

You should always eat before training – a banana is my go to grab and go snack – to make sure your body has some energy for training. This is especially important for those in a calorie deficit / fat loss phase, and those who have performance goals. If you’re in a fat loss phase, feeling depleted and trying to push a workout can feel genuinely awful. Your lifts suck, and you feel like you can’t make a 200m run without collapsing. If your goals are performance goals, you will be hitting your workouts hard. You need access to fuel to do that. Without fuel you will either end up a shaky, nauseous mess, or your performance will be inhibited. Neither of these outcomes are aligned with your goal of maximising your performance. There is no evidence to suggest training fasted is a good idea. Literally none.

Ladies, listen up – our bodies are even more vulnerable to low energy availability than our male peers. If we’re hitting an early morning workout without fuel, cortisol (our stress hormone), rises to higher levels. If our body is putting a lot of resources towards managing cortisol it has less resources to put towards other functions such as our sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone. This is why it’s quite common for women’s cycles to go a little wonky or you lose it all together if you don’t fuel properly around your workouts. This is why I’m a huge fan of everyone, especially women, eating first thing in the morning, even if it’s just a piece of fruit or easily digestible carbohydrate sources. However, everyone will benefit from this approach, especially if you want to maximise your performance.

A lot of people use this as a fat loss strategy. However, rather than ‘saving those calories’ as being a great way to lose body fat, I often see it backfire. Instead, people end up having more intense cravings later in the day which are more difficult to control. By eating first thing in the morning, you are more likely to be able to manage your hunger and fullness cues throughout the day.

5.     Resistance training

Although this isn’t nutrition, it is really important. Many people drop strength training in favour of more cardio when they’re losing fat. In partnership with eating enough protein to retain lean mass, you also need to train to protect lean mass, no matter whether you’re losing fat, gaining muscle, or looking for overall performance. You will find that the stronger you are the better your all-round performance is. Don’t cheat yourself out of your gains. Embrace strength days all year round.

And there you have it, my top five nutrition fundamentals for overall health no matter your goals. If you have any questions about these fundamentals of nutrition, my Well Nourished Mama course is an incredible place to start xx

PS. Mama, you are amazing, and you are doing a great job!