Mr. Sport

10 things I wish people would understand...

1️⃣ Every diet, including yours, is essentially just financial budgeting.

2️⃣ But instead of money, you’re saving calories for *expensive* (higher cal) days.

3️⃣ That social media influencer peddling diuretics doesn’t know what they’re talking about, nor do they care about you.

4️⃣ Slimming World & Weight Watchers are over complicated systems you have to depend on in order to maintain progress.

5️⃣ They also indirectly promote disordered eating & misinformation... “I can eat as much pasta as a I like & lose weight!”

6️⃣ BCAAs are pointless if you consume enough protein. If you don’t, that should be where to start. Not buying unnecessary supps.

7️⃣ Creatine. Take it. 3-5g daily. Whenever you like. Whether you’re man, women or hermit crab 🦀. Powder or pill form.

8️⃣ Your body type is irrelevant. Someone let that V-Shred helmet know.

9️⃣ Telling an overweight individual to just “eat less!” is like telling an alcoholic just to “drink less!” and a depressed person to “just be happy!”

🔟 You’re not going to be here forever. It’s your job to distinguish between which things/moments are worth sacrificing for. Because some moments may not be worth missing in pursuit of your physique goals. While others may be.

🙂🙏🏽

Here are some examples of how you can increase the protein in your diet without it skyrocketing your calories.

Some useful things to know...

Find a pattern of eating you enjoy.

Try to get a source of protein in early. Since this will make hitting your protein target a lot easier.

Include a protein source and veggies at each main meal (where possible).

Have a plan of action. You don’t have to meal prep, but if you don’t have an inkling of what choices to opt for on the move, you’ll likely reach for anything.

Hope this helps 👊🏽

Unpopular opinion but PTs shouldn’t be providing set meal plans & supplement guidance.

In fact, they’re not sanctioned to do so. It’s illegal. It’s out of their scope of practice.

The amount of trainers I’ve spoken to who have a sub-optimal knowledge of nutrition, is a major concern in an industry which is already filled with misinformation.

Misconceptions like this are just some which are spread around the gyms on a regular basis...

❌ Go low carb if you want to lose weight.
❌ Fasted cardio is best.
❌ Have a “cheat” meal once a week.
❌ You can’t eat a cookie everyday and lose weight.
❌ BCAAs are the best supp for muscle growth.
❌ Strict meal plans are best.
❌ Try harder to remove the foods you enjoy if you want to lose weight!
❌ “ClEaN eAtInG”

And so on.

If we want to make the industry a more sound and inclusive place for people to achieve their fitness goals, then we need to understand what we can and can’t do.

Having a great bod and enjoying training is not enough to warrant you dealing with an individual’s food & supplement intake.

At least not in a prescriptive sense.

Real talk, don’t be a helmet. It’s hard enough dealing with this heat let alone the other challenges many are dealing with which we can’t see.

Have a solid time in the sun and try to be inclusive of everyone.

See the next slide for some perspective 👉🏽

Don’t get caught up in the social media conundrum...

No one’s posting their losses (including me).

If you saw the struggles, you wouldn’t be so envious of those you think have more than you.

No one cares the way a real person does.

You think likes on a picture from randomers 400 miles away are going to help when things in your life go south?

No. But your family, friends & those who know the real you will.

Most of your likes are coming from people on the toilet 😅🚽

Read that again. And again. Until you realise that a social media presence isn’t as important as you think.

The Insta models/influencers you envy have it tough too. Trust me…

You’ve had to go out into the world and learn how to converse and get on with people.

They haven’t.

Outside of photoshopping, airbrushing & being a little easy on the eyes, they lack any real substance.

So they’ll sit at a dinner table with a conversation as interesting as a wet flannel while you’re on the other table having giggles with your friends & family.

Don’t get it twisted though, there are tons of positives to being online.

But erecting your ego isn’t one of them though 🙏🏽

I know this is a super sensitive topic, but nonetheless one we need to be able to talk about openly…

Implying that their is no distinct advantage for people born male in women’s sport is naive and insulting to the women who dedicate their lives to a career as athletes.

If they just let anyone take part in women’s sports, then people can abuse this opportunity and women / girls could very well lose their competitiveness.

This isn’t about attacking transgenders, it’s about protecting women’s sport.

Similar to the arguments made against steroid use.

Why are there separate competitions for males and females? Now I understand that “gender” can be a social construct independent of biological s*x, but not in competitive sport where physical advantages are clear.

Not only that, but there are currently very low regulations on what’s an appropriate level of testosterone, and many transgender athletes are competing still with elevated levels and clear cut advantages (like bone density, limb length, hand size, more myonuclea, etc.) over cis-females.

It’s because these biological differences exist that sports are separated, enabling women to compete in environments that are not firmly weighted against them.

In debating what’s right for a small minority, we can’t lose sight of the much larger number of women who would be most disadvantaged.

Now before you say, I understand there’s a lot of nuance around this topic, and I am absolutely NOT talking about transgender men & women’s rights, which I am absolutely for!

I’m only speaking in the context of sport and the competitive advantages they may have, and how this can impact opportunities for cis-gender females.

Trying to pack on some last minute muscle in time for the summer? 💪🏽

Focus on these 5 areas vigilantly for the next month…

1️⃣ Focus LESS on cardio and MORE on lifting.

2️⃣ Do LESS isolation fluff and MORE multi-joint compound lifts.

3️⃣ START tracking your lifts, calories and protein. (Even just to gauge an understanding)

4️⃣ Eat 30-40g of protein every 4 hours when you’re awake.

5️⃣ Include 3-5g of Creatine Monohydrate post-workout.

Finally STOP focusing on what others are doing and focus on levelling yourself up!

👊🏽

This one’s for the girls who struggle with the immense pressure of feeling like they need to conform to social media standards.

10 things I wish people would understand...

1️⃣ Every diet, including yours, is essentially just financial budgeting.

2️⃣ But instead of money, you’re saving calories for *expensive* (higher cal) days.

3️⃣ That social media influencer peddling diuretics doesn’t know what they’re talking about, nor do they care about you.

4️⃣ Slimming World & Weight Watchers are over complicated systems you have to depend on in order to maintain progress.

5️⃣ They also indirectly promote disordered eating & misinformation... “I can eat as much pasta as a I like & lose weight!”

6️⃣ BCAAs are pointless if you consume enough protein. If you don’t, that should be where to start. Not buying unnecessary supps.

7️⃣ Creatine. Take it. 3-5g daily. Whenever you like. Whether you’re man, women or hermit crab 🦀. Powder or pill form.

8️⃣ Your body type is irrelevant. Someone let that V-Shred helmet know.

9️⃣ Telling an overweight individual to just “eat less!” is like telling an alcoholic just to “drink less!” and a depressed person to “just be happy!”

🔟 You’re not going to be here forever. It’s your job to distinguish between which things/moments are worth sacrificing for. Because some moments may not be worth missing in pursuit of your physique goals. While others may be.

🤙🏼

Just a reminder that no one is doing as well as it may appear and we all deal with setbacks. Keep going because you don’t know how close you are and how much you’re inspiring others 🙏🏽

Awareness for the lads who are also impacted by the toxic diet culture.

Thanks to Luke at for including my advice in your article 📰

It’s the first time being featured in a magazine of this magnitude so I’m grateful for the opportunity.

If you want to learn more about Protein Powders, and especially…

💡What they’re useful for.
🤷🏻‍♂️ The different types to choose.
⏱ When and how much to include.
🤔And considerations when buying.

Then head over to the link in my story and give it a read 🤓

I’d really appreciate you liking and sharing the article if you enjoy it 🙏🏽

I want you to know that you don’t need to starve or train yourself into the ground this week!

Maybe you’re aware that many things can cause your weight to fluctuate (carbs, salt, hydration, needing the loo 🚽, food still being digested, weight training, etc. etc.)

But this doesn’t make a blind bit of difference in making YOU feel better?

Here's the thing...

When you diet, especially when going low-carb, you deplete glycogen stores.

Most people have a maximal glycogen storage of 15g / KG of their bodyweight.

So naturally, when we have higher carb days, this is more filling than other days which are lower.

Now glycogen is stored with 3-4 parts of water. So there's an additional weight with that.

Keep this in mind.

So a client of mine contacted me after a weekend to tell me he's gained over 4 kilos of fat.

To which I said this was impossible.

He wasn't so sure though. So I explained...

His bodyweight is 80 kilos.

On this "refeed" day he would've taken in around 1.2kg of carbs with 3.6 kilos of water.

This equals a 4.8kg gain.
.. but clearly not from body fat.

I then followed it up with the question, how many calories do you think you consumed over the weekend?

He smiled and said maybe 5,000.

I said, cool. Then it's definitely not all fat.

In order for him to gain 4 kilos of fat across that weekend, he would've needed to consume 30,800 calories.

That's a lot of food & I doubt he managed to eat that much.

In a nutshell, this empowered my client to steer away from the neurotic daily weigh-ins.

And begin to understand that progress isn't always linear.

That week-to-week tracking may be a more beneficial method to suit his social life.

Don't get hung up on the scale weight if it went up this weekend.

It's likely just an increase in glycogen/water, since you've been dieting remember?

Remember 50-70% of your body weight is water. Up to 73% of your muscle mass is made up of water too.

BUT only up to 10% of your fat mass contains water.

THIS IS NORMAL.

So keep going.
Focus on body measurements. Don’t see these fluctuations as a negative.
They’re part of the process.

In case you’ve not been told this week…

Oldie but a goldie right here…

Ever thought “diet ruined” all because of the weekend 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

This is the mindset I used to have when I first got into fitness.

If dieting didn’t require massive amounts of effort, I never really felt satisfied with the progress I made.

If I ate “badly” for one day, it made me want to just give up.

But the truth is, fat loss is a lot slower than you think. That’s why it’s good to look at your eating habits and focus on your WEEKLY intake rather than DAILY.

I also ended up throwing my scales away.

It’s not in our nature to understand the complex system our body is.

That’s why we get hung up on things like the figure on the scale; even though it’s measuring the entirety of our weight (not just fat).

It’s a very strange thing the mind of a dieter. But once you push through, it can be liberating in ways that improve other areas of your life.

If you binged this weekend, try not to give as much of a f*ck.

It will do more good for your mindset cutting yourself some slack than resorting to starvation.

Eating one good meal won’t give you the body of your dreams. Just like eating a not-so good meal won’t ruin all of your progress.

You can work hard for fat loss as we head towards the summer.

Or you can make fat loss work for YOU.

Take it easy and spend this week focusing on “healthy habits” and including more of the food stuff…

Instead of neurotic restriction.

Never know, it might help 🙏🏽

Factoring socials into your week is good practice and more likely to lead to a long term, sustainable strategy.

Even if you messed it up and went overboard on the weekend.

TRIAL & ERROR.

Cos anyone can achieve weight loss by isolating themselves and eating nothing but kale salads.

But weight loss doesn’t have to come at the loss of all life’s pleasures OR your sanity.

Remember that ☝🏽

Just a reminder that the Nutrition and Fitness Industries are super confusing.

And it’s not your fault.

Let’s stop forcing our personal biases on others, stop demonising food groups and stop pushing the idea that seeing scale spikes (eating more on weekends) is a bad thing.

You got this 🙏🏽

Not everyone wants to remove snacking when they’re pursuing fat loss. So understanding more about which snacks are advantageous is always a good thing to do.

Snacks which are lower in calories and provide a similar volume/satisfaction tend to be best ☝🏽

Check out this snack guide if you’re a daytime or evening muncher and want to include some solid additions to your next food shop 🛒

Slide 6 is my personal favourite and shows you how to include more protein around meals.

Let me know if this helps and give it a save if you find it useful 📝

What’s one book you just can’t put down this year? 📚

Give me your suggestions 🙂👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

While no food can exclusively burn body fat and this is achieved through consuming fewer calories and creating a caloric deficit…

Some foods can assist in making the journey a little easier.

✅ Foods which leave you feeling more full (satiated) and satisfied for longer.

✅ Foods which are volumous and don’t leave you wanting more or worse, raiding the fridge.

✅ Foods which are protein-dense, since this is important for muscle retention, and the most filling of the 3 macros.

💡+ protein has a higher thermic effect, meaning it burns more energy during digestion than carbs or fats.

Any food can have a place in your diet (some more than others), but specific foods that are smaller in volume but higher in calories, and those drenched in butter and salt, are likely to lead to overconsumption.

If you don’t prioritise including the foods on the left, then you may have very little food to eat and this can make achieving fat loss MUCH harder.

Something to think about 🙏🏽

Your weekly check-ins shouldn’t be about food confessions, feeling guilty or being judged for going off track.

Your coach isn’t there to scold you or shame you into doing better.

They’re there to help you identify what’s causing you challenges and how you can overcome these challenges together.

Weekly check-ins are an opportunity to work together as a team. To communicate, understand and be honest (not ashamed) with each other.

Your coach should have your back and give you direction & reassurance going into the new week 😊👊🏽

I’m currently working on an article about protein and muscle gain for Men’s Health 📰

A topic I’m asked a lot about is if nut milks are a good alternative to cow milk?

Here’s what you need to know...

If you're intolerant or experience discomfort from drinking cow milk, then nut milks can be a tasty alternative.

They go great with oats and smoothies, but you must ensure you're consuming enough protein from the rest of your diet.

In terms of protein content, nut milks aren't a great alternative, so if you're struggling to consume enough protein daily, I'd always say support your local moo milk 🐮🥛

Swipe left for more tips on how to include more protein and achieve your muscle building goals 💪🏽
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It’s Fight Week again for

He’s been super professional and organised with his nutrition all camp and we’re honing in on weight ✅

Please join me in wishing him good luck as he faces this weekend 🏟🥊

Weight making sports like MMA, boxing, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu are prolific for containing yo-yo dieting, binge eating periods, and drastic weight cutting methods.

We try to maintain a steady balance with our athletes to ensure they’re never drifting too far from their competition weight, nor are feeling restricted or deprived.

As a general rule of thumb, we aim for a 0.5-1% reduction in bodyweight per week leading up to fight week.

This is to ensure training sessions are still appropriately fuelled and we’re reducing body fat stores, rather than water/glycogen.

We then aim to lose anywhere between 5-10% during fight week, with most of this coming from water/glycogen depletion.

Stay locked into your nutrition and you’re much more likely to have better camps, less stress during fight week, and more chance of competing at your best 🤙🏽

As fitness professionals…

We have a duty of care to those who trust us and very often, PTs, Nutritionists & Online Coaches take more pride in their egos than they do helping their clients attain sustainable results.

That’s why there’s so many 30 day plans, “fat loss secrets” & wild promises circling the internet... and not enough honesty.

In fact some of the most popular diet plans you’ve seen actually have some of the highest failure rates.

This isn’t because of the individual trying to lose weight though.

It’s the fact they’re trying to adhere to something that requires massive amounts of constant effort & focus... which isn’t specific to their lifestyle whatsoever.

So they end up forcing themselves to fit this one-size-fits all approach in the hope that any weight loss they achieve, might make them happy.

Don’t allow flashy marketing ads and false promises to steer you away from the truth and someone who is actually trying to help 🙏🏽

Many people are at a hinderance when it comes to losing weight and improving their health.

Narrow minded comments about how obesity is a choice isn’t the solution.

In fact it completely disregards the social & financial restraints these people experience.

Obesity is multifactorial and not something that can be “fixed” by just saying “eat less & move more”.

Keep this in mind the next time you offer unsolicited advice 🙏🏽

Let yourself go from the toxic diet culture commandments and the unnecessary scrutiny.

Are you the sort of person who stresses about the scale weight?

Are you in a horrible cycle of restriction and bingeing?

Maybe you’re aware that many things can cause your weight to fluctuate (carbs, salt, hydration, needing the loo 💩, food still being digested, weight training, etc. etc.)

But this doesn’t make a blind bit of difference in making YOU feel better?

-

Here's the thing...

When you diet, especially when going low-carb, you deplete glycogen stores.

Most people have a maximal glycogen storage of 15g / KG of their bodyweight.

So naturally, when we have higher carb days, this is more filling than other days which are lower.

Now glycogen is stored with 3-4 parts of water. So there's an additional weight with that.

Keep this in mind.

-

So a client of mine contacted me after a weekend to tell me he's gained over 4 kilos of fat.

To which I said this was impossible.

He wasn't so sure though. So I explained...

His bodyweight is 80 kilos.

On this "refeed" day he would've taken in around 1.2kg of carbs with 3.6 kilos of water.

This equals a 4.8kg gain.
.. but clearly not from body fat.

I then followed it up with the question, how many calories do you think you consumed over the weekend?

He smiled and said maybe 5,000.

I said, cool. Then it's definitely not all fat.

In order for him to gain 4 kilos of fat across that weekend, he would've needed to consume 30,800 calories.

That's a lot of food & I doubt he managed to eat that much.

In a nutshell, this empowered my client to steer away from the neurotic daily weigh-ins.

And begin to understand that progress isn't always linear.

That week-to-week tracking may be a more beneficial method to suit his social life.

-

Don't get hung up on the scale weight if it goes up this weekend.

It's likely just an increase in glycogen/water, since you've been dieting remember?

Remember 50-70% of your body weight is water. Up to 73% of your muscle mass is made up of water too.

BUT only up to 10% of your fat mass contains water.

SCALE SPIKES ARE NORMAL.

🙏🏽

Creasing 😂😂😂

This is deffo me and my fitness colleagues 😅
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Friendly reminder…
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