META Nutrition Coaching

We’ve had 3 hot days this summer so far so here is the obligatory hydration post!

You may not realise this but:

A 1% loss of body water = decreased aerobic endurance

A 3% loss of body water = reduced muscular endurance

A 5% loss of water = heat exhaustion, muscle cramps and reduced mental function.

So you can see the importance of drinking enough if you want to train CrossFit or Hyrox hard.

To stay hydrated during the day most people will be fine drinking 2-3 litres daily. This doesn’t have to be just water - other drinks count.

And don’t forget your food also has water in it.

When you exercise you need extra water and electrolytes in the heat to replace fluid lost through sweating.

So as an example - if you weigh 70kg you want to be sipping something like 400ml of water+electrolytes during a 1 hour CrossFit, Hyrox or Redroom class.

If you’re a heavy sweater or a salty sweater you may need a little more water and a bit extra in the way of electrolytes.

Something like Hydrate has a good balance of electrolytes to keep you hydrated.

Here are some general rules:

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty.

Sip throughout the day rather than chug.

Pay attention to the colour of your p*e:

A light straw colour means you’re hydrated just fine.

If it’s darker yellow you need to drink a bit more.

If it’s clear you’re over hydrated and need to back off the water a bit.

If you want any additional advice catch a coach at or get in touch with me.

Nutrition coaching isn’t always about macros, measuring everything you eat and weighing yourself every day.

Data is great - but this approach doesn’t work for everyone.

This is especially true if you’re someone who has a difficult relationship with food, body image or standing on the scales.

Sometimes a better approach is to carry out “Full Body Scans” on a regular basis and take notice of how you feel.

Over time this method of tracking progress can help with disordered eating habits, body image and the psychological burden of feeling that you have to be a certain weight or look a certain way to be fit and healthy.

Please remember that looking healthy and actually being healthy are not always the same thing.

AP initially wanted to lose weight but we soon realised it was less about reaching a number on the scale and more about working on healthy behaviours that avoided the cycle of all or nothing.

We built habits that supported his desire to be healthy, work out hard and still have a social life whilst achieving the athletic physique he wanted.

Extremely coachable, honest and hard working, AP was a pleasure to coach and is now managing his own nutrition like a boss!!

If you want sustainable, long term results just like AP send me a message and let's fix up a consultation call. Its free!!

Its possible your inability to keep to your nutrition plan is a symptom of something else.

If you're tired or stressed out, once you've finished work and/or sorted the kids out maybe you just can't be bothered to cook for yourself or plan your meals.

We all have limited bandwidth.

Looking outside of the kitchen could be the answer.

Are you getting enough sleep?

Are you stressed out?

Addressing these areas of your life might give you that little bit extra to enable you to plan and prep your lunches for the week.

And give you back some sense of control over your own eating.

If this resonates but you don't know where to start drop me a message - I can help.

AF wrote to tell me:

“I’ve done a lot of reflecting and decided to take a break from nutritional coaching. I want to have a bash on my own for a little while.

I’ve learnt a lot from you over the past year and my decision is not a reflection on you. Just the opposite!!

Thank you for the support getting me ready for Hyrox and Crossfit competitions and also for the emotional support I’ve needed”

I always have mixed emotions when a client is released into the wild.

I’m sad to see them go as I genuinely love helping people improve their health.

But I’m also proud of them when they feel they have the tools to go it alone.

Its always the aim to only coach someone until their ready to go and live their life.

If you're someone who would like to improve their health and nutrition get in touch - I'm taking on clients.

What the hell does this mean?

This is my formula for successful coaching.

P - Planning. Its a cliche because its true "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"
E - Ex*****on. Planning is just a wish unless you act and execute your plan
T - Time. You need to be patient and allow yourself time from change to be lasting
S - Support. You need meaningful support to plan, execute and learn to be patient with yourself.

These actions result in progress.

If you need help in any of these areas in relation to your nutrition and health then coaching may be for you.

Get in touch to organise a free consultation call.

I can’t lie - I love getting messages like this.

LT has put it in the work over the last few months and it shows.

I”m proud to a part of her journey.

It’s Mental Health Week

Nutrition coaching gives an opportunity for self reflection and how we eat is often tied in to our emotions and feelings.

I need to stay in my lane and within my scope of practice but if you’d like to talk and want someone to listen I’m here for you.

For more information and support:

To all my clients and everyone who supports my small business - a huge thank you!

And thank you to every single person who has in any way supported, donated and helped along the way with

I'm now taking a much needed break from training, work and social media.

I'll be back on 8th April and all messages will be responded to when I return.

This thing was never supposed to be about us. We always wanted the Mahood family and Rory’s Hope to be the focal point of our endeavours.

In doing so I’ve had to tell the story of training, our ups and downs and use that as a vehicle to raise awareness of what we were attempting.

Putting myself at the centre of something feels uncomfortable and isn’t natural for me - I’m just a very average 49 year old bloke and certainly not an athlete.

We always knew this was going to be a tough and challenging task.

On the day I tried to do the influencer thing of posting little videos while we were running but you’ll notice that stopped

After mile 25 we went to a very dark place.

Max had to dig really deep to get this thing done and it was a privilege to get to share the suffering with my son.

I’m very proud of his effort and determination.

We really wanted to quit so many times after mile 25 but we didn’t.

This was partly because we didn’t want to let anyone down but also due to the fantastic and selfless support from our “Meet and Greet Crew”

Tom and Patrick
(with the Coca Cola and fruit pastilles)



Jack Rogers

You guys really did get us through the last 5 miles.

What we thought would be 35 miles actually turned out to be 45.4 by the time we arrived

For those interested my data tells a tale.

Without Gain Fitness, CrossFit and the community and the rest of the coaches have built neither of us would have ever believed we could complete an ultra marathon.

Max and I want to thank every single person who has been helpful along the way, made a donation and sent us messages of support.

We’ve raised £1585 so far which is absolutely mind-blowing.

Thank you.

Think about a time when you’ve been really into something and kept it up for a good amount of time.

What kept you going?

The reason habits and consistency are so important when it comes to your nutrition is because once you build some momentum you tend to keep going - and the great thing about momentum is once you’re moving forward the effort involved tends to decrease.

Kind of like a truck pull in Strongman competitions - getting the truck moving takes a big effort - but once it’s rolling it’s a little easier.

The knack is to not stop.

Just keep moving forwards - even if its baby steps.

So we’re just under 3 weeks out!

It’s creeping up and getting more real by the day.

This week has been our biggest running week - we’ve managed close to 40 miles each.

NGL I’m looking forwards to less running!

The body is starting to feel the mileage - knees, hips and feet are just about holding up.

Nutrition is on point - Hydrate & Endure helping power us through. Defence, Omega and Joints holding me together (Max is fine!!:))

The goal now is to stay injury free and prioritise eating all the food and getting all the sleep so we’re as ready as we can be - but it does feel like a leap into the unknown.

The last leg of the run is going to from Whitlingham Lane to and we’re hoping we may get some company for the last 5k or so - I think we’d really appreciate the moral support!

To everyone who has made a donation or shared our posts please accept our sincere thanks - we really do appreciate you all.

We’re just over halfway to our target of £1000 so if you haven’t yet donated there is still time so please do what you can, if you can (link in Bio)

It's fair to say I go on about the importance of consistency ........... consistently!

But its not always possible.

Life happens and no matter how robust you think your nutrition plan is, there will almost certainly come a time when you get knocked off course.

Its OK, it happens.

By being aware of it, noticing what has knocked you off course can help.

Maybe your awareness will allow you to put something in place so that next time, when whatever it is happens, you have a plan to enable you to remain consistent.

There's always something you can work on, some way that you make tiny improvements.

They all count - and they add up.

I talk to clients about the importance of recovery - staying hydrated, taking rest days, consistent sleep patterns and managing stress on a regular basis and I like to think I’m realistic in the way I help clients build routines that fit into the reality of their lives.

But I’ve got a confession to make - I can’t alway practice what I preach.

I’ve noticed training for has challenged my ability to manage my own recovery.

I’m trying to balance my needs and wants -

I need to work - sometimes leaving at 5.30am and sometime getting home after 7.30pm.
I need to carry out my parental responsibilities - and yes these continue even when your offspring are technically adults!
I need to train for this Ultra-marathon - this is currently 5-6 hours per week building to a max of 6-7 hours.

I want to be part of my kids lives - that means being there for them when I can.
I want to do Crossfit 3 times per week.
I want to got to Yoga and a steam room with my wife once a week (what I call self care Saturday).
I want to play badminton once a week.
I want to support Rorys Hope.

I think of the Needs as emptying my cup and the Wants refilling it.

To me they’re equally important and worth the trade off.

I know my sleep routine isn’t amazing at the moment - sometimes I’m in bed by 9.30, sometime it’s 11.30.

Technically I’m not having any rest days.

I feel more stressed.

I’ve observed that I struggle to remember to drink enough water - this is a new one and something else to think about.

I wanted to take part in the Crossfit Open this year but need to prioritise running so I’m sitting it out for the first time in 6 years.

So I know where I’m not doing my best or not doing all the things that I think I should be doing to recover - but at least I’m mindful of this.

I’m not mindlessly wondering why I’m more tired, stressed or hungry - I’m paying attention but accepting things aren’t perfect.

I suppose what I’m getting at is that we should all be aspiring to do our best - whatever that looks like.

And if we’re lucky we get to balance our wants and needs.

We’re 6 weeks out from our Run for Rory’s Hope and training is ramping up.

I’ve clocked up 30 miles this week including a half marathon distance yesterday. Max has done about the same.

Crossfit has given us a level of fitness, mental and physical toughness that has made taking this task on a little more realistic so I'm making sure I hit 3 Crossfit sessions every week.

I definitely believe this is keeping me resilient. I’m extremely mindful of injury and I see strength work as a key component of staying healthy enough to complete this challenge on 28th March.

So I intend to make sure to get 2-3 Crossfit sessions in every week leading up to the event.

Recovery is something I need to get better at - I’m terrible at warming up and stretching after a run. It’s not such a problem on the shorter runs (I never thought I’d think of a 1 hour run as short!) but on the longer runs I cease up really quickly after stopping.

Now that I’m hitting bigger mileage, nutrition is becoming more important - eating enough and the timing of food is critical to me not running out of energy and crucial for my recovery.

Plenty of veg, plenty of complex carbs, simple carbs during runs and an emphasis on plant based protein is working really well for me so far. I’d say I’m about 60-70% plant based these days.

To everyone who has donated so far - thank you.

Please see below the link to our fundraising page and to read Hollie & Tom’s story.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/RunforRorysHope

Max and I are proud to play our small part in contributing to this cause.

So far we’ve raised £430 which I’m blown away by - we stand a really good chance of hitting our goal of raising £1000.

Please support us if you can.

I'm not really a fan of posting transformation photos - and I wanted to share my thoughts on why.

For a start clients aren’t always happy with photos of their bodies being shared online.

There is no getting away from the fact that how we look is considered important and often the initial reason someone comes to a coach but in my observations it becomes less important as we work through the process.

I much prefer to celebrate a clients’ successes in ways other than concentrating on what they look like:

- Improved relationships with food
- Better sleep
- Increased energy
- More daily structure and planning skills
- Confidence
- Self awareness
- Nutritional knowledge to take away and keep for life
- Balance
- Happiness
- Food Freedom

All these things will do more for the quality of your life day to day than having abs ever will.

And no transformation picture will show any of them.

Lets not forget any photo is just 1 moment in time and easily manipulated anyway.

So does this approach make it harder to sell my services?

Maybe - but there are other ways that don’t rely purely on a before and after picture.

If this resonates and my approach sounds like it would suit you please get in touch - I’m currently taking on clients.

Anything new takes effort.

And that makes it hard.

You need to plan and then to execute if you're to do that thing.

And to do it repeatedly you need to add motivation and discipline into the mix.

All these things wax and wane over time - this is normal.

And this is where coaching helps.

We can help you figure out a destination if you're feeling a bit lost but know that where you are is not a good place.

We can point you in the right direction if you know the destination but not how to get there.

We can keep you on the right track when the discipline wavers or you lack motivation.

One foot in front of the other.

The more steps you take the easier it gets.

If you need some help let us be your nutritional SatNav.

Get in touch for more info.

Alcohol is a proven disruptor of quality sleep and has no physiological benefits at all.

Sleep is your best performance enhancer - improving mood, productivity, hormone balance, HRV - I could go on.

By minimising or eliminating alcohol consumption and making sure you get 7-8 hours of quality sleep every night you’ll do more for yourself physiologically and neurologically than with beta-alanine, ZMA or any number of other supplements.

And it doesn't cost a thing.

If you need advice on how to build good habits around nutrition, sleep and health in general let’s fix up a call.

Your initial consultation is free!

1. Despite being constantly vigilant for signs of disordered eating tendencies in my clients I neglected to notice my own weird arbitrary food rules creeping up on me. I only became aware of this when I recognised I was spending more time thinking about the contents of my meals than I used to and it was starting to get a bit obsessive. Tracking food is an important tool in Nutrition Coaching but its not the only way to work on improving eatin habits. I stopped logging my food and macros about 6 weeks ago and feel better for it. If you think it's getting a bit much tracking all your food give yourself a break and see how you get on.

2. Fitness. Relationships. Work. Life. Nothing stays the same and assuming that because something currently IS does not mean it always will be. Being present and not looking backwards or forwards is a skill I’m learning. I’m not great at it but I’ll continue to practice.

3. Emotional health is just as important as physical health. Prompted by a renewed yoga practice I’ve embarked on a somewhat spiritual journey to further understand myself, my insecurities and my relationships to those around me. Gratitude’s and journalling really do work for me. Through this process I’m only just accessing the full range of human emotions. At times it’s felt self-absorbed but as I continue I’m becoming more accepting, patient, understanding and compassionate to not just myself but hopefully to those around me too. Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach has helped a great deal.

I’m grateful for what 2023 has taught me and excited for what 2024 will bring.

What were your 3 most important lessons from 2023?

Now is the time to enjoy the festive period.

Its important to nourish the soul as well as the body.
🍖
🍤
Eat the food
🍗
🍮

Drink the drink
🥂
🍸
🍹
🍾

Reconnect with friends and family.

A Happy Christmas to all my Clients and Friends🎉🎄🎁🥳

Thanks to & for the opportunity to sit down with A&E doctors to discuss looking after their own health & nutrition.

I'm grateful for everybody's time and to give these guys a chance to think about their own wellbeing.

I've been absolutely inundated with an enquiry (yes a whole 1 enquiry!) about the supplements I choose to use.

So here it is! Awesome Supplements all the way!

Protein - for my muscles. Its plant based!
Omega - for my brain. Its algae based so perfect if you're on a plant based diet.
Power (creatine+beta alanine) - for my strength
Hydrate - for my water balance while training. Watermelon flavour is spot on!
Defence (multi-vitamin) - to fill in the vitamin and mineral gaps from my diet.

Awesome Supplements are super high quality, the doses are all really well researched - the multi-vitamin especially - and the service is amazing.

Give them a try - you won't regret it.

Use my code for ££ off - metanutrition10

I didn't realise quite how tribal nutrition was until I became a Coach and paid attention to what is available on-line - especially on Social Media.

I feel sorry for anyone turning to Social Media for advice on how to make changes to their diet and lifestyle.

Carnivore, low carb, high carb, low fat, vegan, paleo, kept, intermittent fasting or time restricted eating.

Often each camp claims their way is the only way - and you should follow it to look like them or perform like them.

Who it right, who is wrong, what does the science say? Who knows - so you do nothing.

If only we focused on what each of these approaches have in common rather than arguing about which is best we might actually stand a chance of addressing the epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease.

So what do most of these diets have in common?

They mostly promote eating REAL FOOD and cutting down on the ultra processed stuff.

This one action will move the needle more than anything else - it will give you more energy, improve your gut health, improve your sleep, make you feel fuller and have better skin - among many other benefits.

So if you want help navigating the minefield of nutrition advice get yourself a good CLIENT CENTRED NUTRITION COACH who will work with you as an individual.

If you're interested - DM me - lets chat.

RPE is a training term standing for Rate of Perceived Effort (or exertion)
If 1 is a deadlift with an empty bar then 10 is an all out eye bulging, vein bursting max effort.
Between 4 and 8 is a volume you train at every week and will help you increase your strength over time.
10 is everything you have and unsustainable.
If you tried to train at a 10 every week you’d burn out and likely get injured. You’d then have to stop training to recover.
Now be honest - what is your nutrition RPE?
4-8 is the sweet spot - it’s repeatable week in and week out. It’s varied foods with nothing off the menu.
10 is “I’m only eating clean, no sugar, no chocolate, no alcohol, no cake, no meals out, no takeaways”
Just like a 10 RPE on a deadlift - this is likely to be unsustainable and lead to burn out and inconsistency.
Aiming for a Nutrition RPE of between 4-8 will mean you’re much more likely to stick to the plan - and over the longer term see better results.
Need help figuring our what your Nutrition RPE should be? Send me a DM - let’s set up a free consultation call!

I love these 7 signs you're on the right track.
And what I like most about them is that there is no mention of scales or body weight.

I'm now an Awesome Supplements Ambassador!
I've been using for the last 5 years - the ingredients in each of the supplements is high quality and in proportions that are back by extensive research to deliver best results.
The Hydrate in watermelon is 👌
The service is excellent - and I'm proud to be supporting a UK based business.
Use my code (above or in my bio) to get 10% off and save yourself a few ££

Athletes come in all shapes and sizes - just like non-athletes.
There’s no point comparing the physique of a weightlifter with that of a marathon runner - their training and nutrition is completely different.
So try not to compare yourself to others - their goals, genetics and resources are different.
As the saying goes “Comparison is the thief of joy”.
If you’d like help with your health and nutrition then get in touch and find out how I can help you.

To get the most of tracking your food don't think of it as a recording thing.

Instead think of it as a planning thing.

I've lost count of the times clients have mentioned to me that they struggle to drink enough water.

This nifty little bottle may help -

It uses cartridges with a scent to create a "flavour" for those of you who need to drink something with a taste.

There are loads of flavour so should be something for everyone.

I'm not affiliated or sponsored by this company in any way - I just like what they offer.

Let me know if it helps you!