Strngfuel Nutrition Coaching

Your body was not designed to diet forever! ❌

Some coaches are very quick to put clients into a calorie deficit, but not always so quick to readjust and increase calories again.

Don’t get me wrong, a deficit is a great tool when fat loss is the goal. But it’s exactly that, a tool.

The longer you spend eating below your body’s energy needs, the more likely you will experience:
Low energy (this can have significant consequences)
Reduced training performance
Poor recovery
Difficulty building or maintaining muscle

Over time, you will see diminishing returns from a prolonged deficit, making results harder to sustain.

Fat loss phases should be temporary. Good nutrition should not be advertised as eating less for as long as possible and coaches should be educating their clients about when and why it is important to increase calories again.

Long term success comes from learning how to maintain the results once they have been achieved.

People training for competition and performance have different nutritional priorities than the average gym-goer.

Athletes training can often involve:
Multiple sessions per day
High training volumes with demanding intensities
Limited recovery windows between sessions

Prolonged moderate-high intensity exercise significantly depletes energy stores, increases fluid losses and places great stress on the body.

For performance athletes, nutrition is not just about eating healthy, it’s about providing the body with enough fuel to repeatedly train, recover and perform at a high level.

Because of this, the nutrition needs of athletes often extends beyond what is typically outlined in the Australian Healthy Eating Guidelines.

Recovery nutrition should be strategic, practical and match the energy demands of the athlete.

Post-training nutrition should match:
✔️ training volume
✔️ training intensity
✔️ training frequency
✔️ overall goals

To put it simply:
Greater output = greater recovery demands.

An average gym-goer will generally have different recovery needs compared to a high-volume endurance athlete.

A simple post-training formula is
Quality protein -> support muscle repair
+
Carbohydrates -> replenish energy stores
+
Fluids/Electrolytes -> support rehydration
=
Optimal Recovery 🙌🏽

For most people, nailing consistent nutrition habits across the day will have the biggest impact, but some people will need much more intention than this.

Many people focus heavily on what they eat after training, but pre-training nutrition also plays an important role in performance.

In most cases, simply having a source of carbohydrates before training can help support better performance and overall training output.

Your pre-training snack does not need to be fancy, you should aim for:
✔️ easily digestible carbohydrates
✔️ lower fat, lower fibre options closer to training
✔️ foods that sit well in your stomach
✔️ convenient options that you can consistently rely on

Performance nutrition is rarely overcomplicated or extreme, it’s generally about nailing the basics 👌🏽

Rehabbing my back over the past 7 weeks has been such a humbling experience.

After having 3 weeks off any kind of exercise, to slowly introducing short walks, extremely light upper body and rehab exercises.

I am finally introducing the most basic (and I mean basic) lower body workouts you can imagine.

This is what I’m currently working with👇🏽
3x3 Bar only squats
3x5 Bar only rack pulls
3x10 Bar only hip thrusts (controlled, non-explosive)
3x5 bodyweight reverse lunges, each leg
3x10 back extensions (controlled, no weight)
3x10 seated leg press (no weight)

It’s definitely not exciting and certainly not what I was previously doing, but I’ll take what I can get 😮‍💨

Most meal plans don’t fail because they don’t work, they fail because people expect them to do all the work.

A plan can give you structure, direction and clarity, but it cannot build consistency or awareness for you.

You can have the ‘perfect’ plan on paper and still see no progress if your habits do not support it. At some point, you have to take ownership for your behaviour.

Your health and knowledge is not something that gets handed to you. It is something you build through daily choices, effort and accountability. No coach, no plan and no shortcuts can replace that.

The real change happens when you stop looking for the ‘secret’ and start doing the work.