Train.Eat.Think. Episode 2 - Nutrition Fundamentals

Ever feel lost in the nutrition maze? You’re not alone! Listen in to to cut through the confusion.   

In Episode 2 of Train. Eat. Think Francis (@coachfhm) and @BenjaminYeezus dive deep into nutrition fundamentals that everyone from beginner to advanced should understand. 

Nutrition doesn't have to be complicated to get results.

We focus on the basics:  

- Calories 

- IIFYM/Macronutrients and importantly too Micronutrients  

- Meal timing - does it really matter?  

Remember, it’s not just about what you eat, but how your body digests it. Find a rhythm that works for you and stick with it!  

Listen to the full conversation.....  

Share with someone who needs clarity on their nutrition journey. 

Want to dive even deeper? Check out our previous episode on training fundamentals for a comprehensive approach to fitness.

For online 121 coaching enquiries/information

Please contact Francis on X/Instagram @coachfhm                                                  or email fmeliacoaching@gmail.com 

Contact Ben on X/Instagram @benjaminyeezus                                                         or email benyeezus@gmail.com  

Thanks for listening. See you next week :D 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Episode two. Here we go. Train, eat, think. Um, hope everyone's well. Thanks for tuning in. Francis and I, this week we're going to touch on building from last week, where we done the fundamentals of training. We're going to do the fundamentals of nutrition this week.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Yeah, and last week we we got a got a good response, didn't we? From the uh the first one, mate. Lot of uh lot of positive feedback. People were listening in. I I even got a couple of ideas of other people for what we can talk on in the future. But yeah, I think we what what we want to do with this one is it's just it's branching off episode one. So if someone is coming to us new, you can listen or watch uh episode one, some training fundamentals. And this one is going to be just some nutrition fundamentals. Now I I would probably say, and you'll probably agree yourself as well, I mean, that there's I think there's more nonsense around nutrition than there is training. So I I think we're we can definitely get through a couple of myths in this one and uh help uh help a go a few people out.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I think it's one of the things that as great as social media is, is uh it can be a minefield for people, and and I completely understand I I've been through that minefield um offline, you know, when I fell for a lot of the myths and mistakes that we're going to talk about. And one of the real reasons, to be honest, I got into the industry was I remember one of the first conversations I had with a with a gent, and I said to him, you know, all of these barriers that are put up don't in the grand scheme of things make very little difference. I would go out there and say, you know, 95, 96, 97% of people will get results from doing the basics, and the basics are about 95% well, and you're gonna get some fantastic results from that.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

So you you touch on the basics there. So I think it'd be good to let's let's let's look at a pyramid of what what what are we what are we considering the basics with nutrition, the fundamentals around okay, someone is starting off in the gym, you know, we you've got all these, all this stuff that you know if you're new, you don't really know what what what's the difference, calories, macros, carbs, protein, fats, micronutrients, meal time, and protein time, and should I eat after six o'clock, you know, all this sorts of stuff. You know, there's there's a there's an absolute mindfield of where do you go? So I think we what's probably smart is if we break it down fundamentals and go, well, what's the someone new getting stuck into the gym? You got a good training program, uh, and you you you're trying to find some fundamentals with your nutrition to branch off. What what how would you approach it? Where would you be looking first?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

I mean, uh one of the things I would say, if we even sort of start with a sort of person coming towards us, so if that's like a a skinny fat person, let's just say, for example, um, maybe not being too focused on training and nutrition, but as you say, they've they've got the training on lock now, they understand what they need to do there. It's what we're gonna make their nutrition look like and how we're gonna set out things like their their calories, their calorie needs, and then break that down into the macros, but also to make it easier for them to understand what foods to consume when to consume them, which is obviously less of a kind of concern, but really how we can start to guide that person that they're making good decisions, positive choices, and I would say starting to build sustainable habits that are gonna carry them through what are going to be the phases. Again, if we're saying it's someone that that's skinny fat, so to speak, we're probably gonna put them into maybe a deficit, or if they've got time on their hands, we explain, you know, you can do a recomposition, it's slightly slower. Um, from that, you know, you're gonna build a bit of strength. We've touched on what that's gonna do in terms of you know from the training aspect, from the nutrition aspect, it's gonna give you you know the the the raw materials to build from, to recover from, um, and just make sure that you're making the best possible um start to your journey, really.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Well, I think fundamentals that it starts off with calories, doesn't it? Like we we have to we have to have our calories set. Now I know there's there's a lot that branches off from calories, it's not just uh it isn't just calories in calories out. As we know, there's a difference in the micronutrients that we and and how we break our macros down. There is a big um differentiator in the way that your body will digest that. It's not just calories, but that is the the the start of the umbrella, and then you branch off from there. So yeah, if we take the skinny fat example, you know, you're not going to put someone like that in an aggressive surface, it wouldn't make sense. You know, it's either going to be sort of maintenance or a slight deficit. So then once once you do get your calories set, and that can take sometimes for some people, it can take a little bit of trial and error for a week or two to find out where is your true maintenance, uh, what puts you in a deficit. There can be a little bit of an experimentation process with that, and that's fine. But then once you've got your calories set, I think we start breaking it down then into okay, I think you'd first look at how many meals is someone gonna eat throughout the day. Now, as you mentioned there, I think this is not as important as people make out, but I would still I'd like to see anywhere from that minimum three protein feeds throughout the day to spike that muscle protein synthesis. I don't really like seeing any less than that. You know, again, it you've got to meet a client where they're at. If if you've got a busy dad who's who's who's working, he hasn't got a lot of time to stop and just whip out chicken and rice, you know, you can't tell into these six meals a day. You know, you have to you have to work with the client. So, anywhere minimum from three, you know, maximum very six. I don't think you get much benefit above goal more than that. I think most people, the average person that I've seen, or what that I tend to work with, three to four meals spreading your protein out across the day works perfectly fine. So, no, let's say someone's having 200 grams of protein, you spread that out across four meals, 50 grams each meal, three to five hours apart, just as an example, you're gonna be good to go with that. So, yeah, I think you get your calories and then you get the amount of meals that you're gonna eat, and you get your protein in there, and then you know you branch off on there.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I mean, I agree 100%. You know, you've if you're spending time in um muscle protein breakdown, you're not spending time in muscle protein synthesis, so that's where the frequency of eating comes in. I think one meal a day can be quite heavy on someone's digestive system if if you're going from zero to two thousand calories in in one fell swoop. Don't get me wrong, as you say, if it's the only way that somebody can do it, then it's better than zero. But I would definitely say, you know, you're looking at that sort of one one thing I like is you know, can a three meals in two stacks is a nice cadence as well. And what you can do then is if someone can only eat four times in the day, it could be a meal, you know, as you say, your chicken and rice or sweet potato and and chili, something like that, and stick a wee yogurt on the on the end of it, or protein bar a wee protein bar or a meal bonnet, yeah. But seriously, you know, again, it's about finding ways for people and helping them understand. Yes, we we do want to hit the calories via the macros, and if it fits your macros, is is a very, very good thing. I think it's important, and and we can dive into that as well to say it doesn't necessarily mean you go to McDonald's every single day, but when you start to um follow something like that, and you're getting most of your foods and most of your sorry food sources, most of your meals from what we would call single ingredient, whole food, whatever you want to call them. People love calling it clean food. Yeah, I don't know quite how you do it. Maybe wash your food before you eat it, but anyway, you know, that that is important that you are hitting the macros. The macros will come, you know, when when whether we're speaking to yourself or or I, possibly at stages, it would be you know getting on your veggies and your salads for your fibre, rotating your your carbohydrate sources, so you are getting um that you know full circle, if you like, and it's not just a case of eating chicken and rice all the time, but you can hit your calories, hit your mic macros, and importantly, you know, for that long-term longevity, hit the micronutrients.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

And and the other big thing about meal time, and we we spoke about this in length in the past, it's it's the digestibility of the foods that you take on. It's only what you take on, it's only as good really as what the body can actually digest and utilise. If you start cramming meals too close together, you know, let's say you we you'd even say the one meal a day, you know, and you're let's say someone is trying to put down over 2,000 calories in one meal a day. Can that person's digestive system actually go through those nutrients and digest those properly? If someone gets used to it, maybe, but you know, the average person coming in just eating once a day, a big meal like that, you're only going to be better off spreading your meals out evenly throughout the day and allowing the the digestive process to take place and you can spread your nutrients out and the digestion across the day. So then that leads to less digestive issues, less less bloating, things like that. You know, after imagine putting down 2,000 calories in one meal, you feel pretty bloated or full after that. And if you've got to go and train, you know, on top of that, or you've got things to do around that, that's where maybe some smaller meals throughout the day uh just uh allow the digestive process to go smoother, which would put you into when we talk about timing of carbohydrates around your training window as well. That's very important with your meal timing, um, making sure that we're again a good load of those carbohydrates around your training window. That is a very, very uh important piece of the puzzle when it comes to your meal timing.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Absolutely. I'm gonna use the uh going to use the buzzword optimal. Um, you know, I I I use that and use myself as an example at the moment. Obviously, um I'm in a bit of a cut, but with the approach I've got at the moment, I'm absolutely incinerating food, and I'm just having a little bit, and I'm I'm I'm doing four or five meals on average per day at the moment. But when I've I've eaten that meal, I'm ready to go again in a couple hours, and obviously counting down a little bit. But you you want it to be optimal in that sense for your digestion, exactly as you said, you don't want to be sluggish in and around your training, you know, by loading in a huge meal before you go. The other thing there as well, you know, you're gonna um you're gonna draw blood away from the muscles that you're trying to train and they're gonna sit in your digestive system. So rather than being fully focused when you get into the session, you're just gonna have too much food sort of kicking around the system. And I think what that's why it's very important to get that balance right, and that will look different. And I have experienced it to look different. Um I'm not gonna tell you who. I know somebody that can eat 200 grams of oats and go and train.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah, you know, I know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I personally couldn't I if I if I'm gonna go training just as an example, I'll maybe have something like a bagel, some jam, and a protein shake, uh shot caller. Um, you know, something nice and light, and I'm doing that probably 90 minutes before my workout. Um so important, you know, as you're saying, fuel the training, and that fuel comes from you know eating those meals across the day, which is which is where I'm saying optimal. The optimal would be what works for you on the cadence that you can eat and and digest so that you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah, and I think with your pre-wear how meal, as you mentioned there, you yes, we want to bias a good amount of carbohydrates, but you don't want it to be this a meal that it's too big that you can't digest it in time. You're walking into the gym and you're feeling sluggish, you're feeling nauseous, like you don't want to be all over the squat rack shitting yourself or about the vomit, you know, because you've had too much prior. You've got to get that balance right. You want just enough carbohydrates, arguably coming from something that you know that digests well for you. Uh, you want you want a decent amount of protein in there to spike protein synthesis, and I would probably be for most people minimal on the fat, but you still want a little bit in there just to slow down the digestion just a touch, just so it doesn't empty through the system too fast. So, what I would recommend for people with uh a pre-work out meal is once you find something that sticks and it works, just keep it. Don't this is not a meal to be messing around with. Something I tell clients quite a lot. I had this conversation with a gent and the other week, he'll probably be listening in. It's pre-warehouse meal, it's it's the same, it's working tremendously well. And he he found uh the John Meadows video, he used to call it his pre-warehouse concoction bowl, which was like cream of rice and a little bit of whey protein and a little bit of peanut butter. It's a great pre-warehouse meal. He sent me the reel and said, Should I have this? Should I try this? And I said to him, Well, what you're doing right now is working, your training's been going fantastically well. Why would we change it? So it just goes to show don't be looking for novelty with the pre-warehouse meal. Once you find something that sticks, use it because your body digests it and utilises it well, and you're not playing a guessing game when you walk in the gym. I think that is a very important point for people to grasp with your pre-warehand nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, definitely. I think you've made a great point there about keeping it low to minimal fats.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Again, we're making the point about digestion, you want it to be in that sweet spot, and if you overload a little bit too much, um you you'll end up feeling and you used a great example, you know, if it's a leg day, you definitely don't want that feeling around your stomach where you might need to leave the gym at any given second or the gym floor at any given second to go a place.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, you don't want that on a pendulum squat or a leg press. You don't want you don't want food sitting in your gut there. No way. You will uh you'll know about it. Well, yeah, so where we're talking there, we've we've got we've got calories, and then we're talking meal time and protein and carb distribution. And I know you touched on it there about um where do you stand on protein bars, protein shakes, because you get the thing, or everyone loves to say it's not real food, just eat steak, like you know, we're gonna I'm I'm gonna stick a ribeye in my pocket and walk around with a ribeye. You know, sorry, I'm not you know it's that's that's again as as we talk about like it shows that you know you can't expect everyone to walk around with chicken and rice steak in the back pocket and just pull out these meals all the time. People do have busy lives, busy jobs, and that's where things like your whey protein and your bars or whatever can come in handy. So I know you've got lots to say on that, especially after the old middle bonner suite.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

16 million in counting. Um that's crazy. I mean, you've you've hit the nail on the head there. We're talking here about people that are coming into the fray. They're already thinking and wondering. I can take myself back to the to the very beginning, and a lot of the myths that I that I fell for about can't do this, can't do that, it doesn't help people. All it does is create barriers, make barriers for people to entry. Oh well, there's no point in me starting that training lack because I need to spend three hours in the kitchen every day. And let's be honest, Francis. If you were in an ideal world where you had no responsibilities, you didn't have a business to run, your own training to do, yada yada. List goes on. People have got a myriad of things to do. You want people to be in the gym, to be following their nutrition. Why create these hoops that they need to jump through? Is it optimal? Does it need to be? So back back to your question, sorry. I'm I'm a big fan of of whey protein, protein shakes. I don't mind protein bars. My only caveat around them really is you need to be careful that again, like any any um advice or guidance, don't create your whole diet about one thing. But you'll find that certainly on this channel, you and I, we're never gonna say one thing is the absolute. You know, we're gonna present a balanced case, and like and like you're saying, if you've got someone that's working two or three jobs, somebody that's maybe got two businesses, somebody that's maybe got dependence, or they're a main carer for somebody, or no, uh a protein shake's not gonna serve you. What you need to do is you need to get up 15 minutes early because you don't want it bad enough. Bottom line, when we're talking about protein, it's about amino acids. When you when your body ingests it and you break it down to the chemical level, it's amino acids. Whey protein is one of the most bio-available things that you can have. Now, again, just to re- reiterate, we're not saying drink only protein shakes. If you've got the opportunity to get the whole food in, single ingredient where you can, if you've just come out of a five-hour meeting and you're a bit hungry and you've got a protein shake to hand. Again, I use myself as an example here, Francis. I worked away full-time for a couple of years. I worked away in total for about 12 years, but uh fully away for two full years. I used to walk about site with a bag of bagels and a protein shake, and it meant that I didn't need to take a lunch break because we were given such aggressive targets in terms of the proc program itself. That time allowed me to finish and get my training in. So a great example, and in that time I was working away. I also managed two bodybuilding preps where I went to stage level condition. So I'm still yet to see, and I I don't like to see this thinking that's again just black and white, that you and must do that. Ideal world, nobody's got responsibilities, nobody, everybody's got 12 spare hours. Imagine you had 12 spare hours in your day. We just all kick around eating chicken and rice and just doing it. Now, there are some people out there that do do it and kudos to them, they find a way, but it doesn't mean that you have to be hardcore and that you're missing out or doing something wrong just because you maybe want to have a little bit of whey protein. I probably went on a rant now.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

That's been festering inside for ages, mate. That's a letter out. But I think you you make it the great point there is balance, right? I think you'd be the first one to recommend so to most people look where possible. We always want to try and get you know whole foods, micronutrient dense, where possible, right? But you're gonna work with people. There's gonna be people who have to travel a lot for work, they might be on planes, long car journeys, and they might not have access to bring every meal with them all the time, they might not have access to that. Again, so what are you gonna tell that person? Ah, you just don't want it enough. You need to bring the steak out of your ass pocket and bring that on the plane, meet or otherwise you don't want it enough. You know, there's things like that where you've you've got to look again. Who are you working with? You're trying to meet the client where they're at. If someone knows that they're gonna be they're on six hour flights or whatever, bring some protein bars or some whatever you need with your beef jerky, all this sort of stuff, protein yogurts, protein drinks, whatever you need to bring. Is that gonna be better? And let's take that example of someone who's in an airport on a plane. Is the what what's gonna be a better option for them? You're gonna tell that that person, just just run to Burger King there, mate, and just eat whatever shite that you want, or the plain food that comes on on the absolute poison that they serve up on them planes. What's gonna be better having that? Or you know, you know what? I've got a protein bar here and a protein shake and you know, maybe a little bit of fruit with me. So I'm gonna have a protein bar and a banana and some apples, whatever. That that's my meal. Job done. Digest well, sift a box of muscle protein synthesis, and you know, you know, you're not you're not walking around with steaks in your pants. So, you know, you've got to you've got to meet the the the people and and and the clients where they're at. But just a caveat, what I would say, with when it comes to these protein bars and waste shakes, you've got to make sure that they you find ones that digest well for you because some of them do have sugar alcohols in that can disrupt people's digestive system. So you need to try and farm ones that work for you. Once you you farm that and you have no issues, that you know they can definitely be implemented into a plant, but you just yeah, you don't want to be uh that fella who's uh farting all over the plane with because you've had too many protein pads. So there's a balance again with it.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

One one of the great things now for Francis and and you've been in the game now close to two decades, sixteen years plus, whatever. We we now have great availability of things. You mentioned protein yogurts there. Even uh would you say six six years ago, maybe five, six years ago. Yeah, it was not lofty a few years ago, but yeah, you didn't get your mobona yogurt, or you know, like your arlah, those types of things scare. You can walk through an airport now and go past boots and for example get a meal deal, a chicken salad sandwich, uh an Arla yogurt, and and even a protein bar for maybe a top-up later on. So there you've just got three protein hits in your hand. And again, it just comes down to putting that into your mindset of kind of looking forward and saying, well, how can how can I navigate this piece where I am? So I'm going through the airport just now, for example. But one of the great things that I think makes it easier than it's ever been is that availability. It's out there, whereas, as I say, maybe six, seven years ago, you you just didn't have that. You did have to take it with you.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Yeah, I I I I remember you go back when we first started out in this game, mate. There was there was no such thing as protein yogurts. Yeah, you have to just get like a big Greek yogurt and put maybe whey protein in it. There was no uh you go to every supermarket back home in the UK now, Asda, little Aldi, Tesco, whatever, they've all got protein yogurts, protein puddings, um, everything's just got high protein stuff, and you know, some of them are pretty decent. You can you can make them work. So yeah, I think I think nowadays we've we've got no excuse, really. We've all got a choice to uh to bring some of these decent options, and you know, I think a lot of that does come down to as you as you mentioned there, when you're in an airport or or whatever it is now, you walk past boots, you've got the option to stay on track and stay on point. You're not at the mercy of KFC's Burger King, McDonald's in an airport. You always have a choice nowadays, whereas maybe 10 years ago it was a little bit more difficult. So people traveling for work right now, you know, you you've you've got a uh you've got a lot of options.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, I mean, even like things like service stations, you go into a service station now again, you'll find a general store, whether it is I I don't know why boots became my example, but I think it's a good one. Um boots or WH Smith. Yeah, the only the only sort of caveat is some of the high protein when they stick the word protein on things, um, they they sometimes tell you a little bit of fibs, and Wheatabicks is a good example of that. The protein Wheatabicks that they have, they on the back of the packet, they add the milk in on the protein variant, but on the plain one, they don't. So it looks like you're getting all this extra protein, but when you strip it back on the Wheatabicks, it's like four grams extra. And those are the ones just to be wary of again if you're kind of starting out and trying to cut through it all. Um you know, you want to be making sure that you're getting value for your money because it's a nice market employ where they stick the word high or stick the word protein on, and all of a sudden it's like gold.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Oh, we've got to check the labels carefully, haven't you? 100%. So if we've been through the fundamentals, we've got you've got your calories, meal timing, protein timing, carb timing around your training sessions. We've been over um protein shakes, protein bars, utilization of them when needed. Uh, I'd probably branch off now into uh micronutrients, fruits and veggies, maybe fibre that comes in with that, and then uh just making sure that we're getting enough sort of fruits and veggies in there. So, yeah, what sort of recommendations, what what do you like to see with your clients in terms of fruits and veggies intake? What do you go with?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Again, using myself as an example at the moment, I'm having a salad before every meal, and I think that's one of the things that's really important to get to hit your micros, and that that definitely comes to the fore. I think it gets lost a little bit in an improvement season, but when we're talking here, beginner coming into maybe a deficit or sitting close to maybe just under maintenance, those micros are going to be really important because you're asking from your body to to train hard, you want to recover well, and that comes from giving your body the right nutrients. I I would um liken it to you know servicing your car when you when you're gonna service your car, you're gonna want decent oil going into it, you're gonna want to change the oil filter and stuff like that. You won't want somebody else's used oil going on your car that then gets recycled. So you definitely want um good quality salads, green veggies, even if those extend to some some starches. I've worked with some people that particular don't like veg at all, and it's like, can you eat anything? One client comes to mind, and I know he's gonna be listening to this. He likes peas and carrots. Can't go wrong, exactly. A little bit more starchy. I normally don't get people to count green veg, so like lettuce and cucumber and a little bit of peppers. It becomes a concern if you're eating like a kilogram of peas across a week, is maybe something that you you maybe want to track on your on your calorie tracker. Aside from that, just enjoy your broccoli and your kale and your cauliflower and stuff like that, and make sure that you're getting them in. Again, if you're doing a cadence of maybe four meals, let's assume that that's three meals and a snack, or if it's five meals, three meals and two snacks, you probably want to get three, four um portions of fruit and vegetable in there to help you with the fibre. So you basically fibre is like a toothbrush for your stomach, so it just keeps everything moving along quite nicely, but also in a deficit, it's going to stop you being really hungry. Um, and again, as we're talking about the kind of the micronutrient perspective, you're giving your body the right um base level to to go and do what you're asking from it now on on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

And I I think I think that's where if if it's your macros falls down, and just focusing on calories in, calories out, this is where when we start talking on micronutrients, this is where that that's the Achilles heel, that's the thorn in its side. Because if you just focus on just calories, you the micros can get missed. And as you just said there, the micros are very important for digestion, having enough fibre, making sure we're going to the toilet. Very important. You're going to feel better when you've got an adequate amount of the micronutrients that you need in there. You feel better, you perform better in the side of the gym. More muscle tissue is going to be built long term. This is not just a short snapshot of one day. This is again your your training career. The better you feel, the better you're going to train, the better you're going to recover, you know, more anti-inflammatory markers coming from having these micronutrients in there. So then what comes down to is picking ones, as you mentioned there with the with the fellow who just has peas and carrots. It's pick on ones that digest well for you. Because some of them, they can, you know, they can you can cause some eruptions down there if you're not careful. I have to be careful again with onions. Onions set me off like a bonfire. I have to be careful. I have read that. I have read that with some. Yeah, I think it's it's the fob maps in it or whatever it is. It just they just don't digest. So some of my my favourite go-to's in terms of veggies. I like um carrots, tomatoes, peppers, digest well for me. Fruits, I'm a big fan of berries, especially the frozen strawberries right now that we're in prep. They're they're they're coming back out. Thinking of the berries and honey, yeah, you know it's serious from the frozen berries are coming back out. But yeah, it's just it's finding variants for you that digest well for you. And as you mentioned in the diet phase as well, I think this is very important for people is that when when you are in a diet phase, you're on lower food as it is, you're on lower food availability. So we want to make everything that we eat as much as possible. We want it to pack a punch, we want things that are going to be micronutrient dense and are going to help us perform, feel better, and recover better. Because when you are, again, you're on lower food as it is, you know, you everything's fighting against you. So you've got to, you know, bring in the powerhouses with the micronutrients in there. So that's why, not just from a society standpoint to keep you fuller for longer. You know, we're trying to make sure our body is functioning properly. And as you as you alluded to, like an oil change on a car, it's great and hard. That's exactly what it's like. We want to be running on you know good oil so we can function properly.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

I think you've branched into a fantastic um piece there, Francis. We're starting to talk about health and longevity. And if it fits your macros, unfortunately, I think has been sort of dragged through the mire. If it fits your macros, it stands itself to give you a great platform for flexibility as well, which absolutely there should be. But as I mentioned earlier, it doesn't mean that it turns into a mixed diet. Now, you can have social circumstances again, fully supportive of that. You you should have that. It's good for your mind, it's good for your body, it's good for your soul. Uh nothing worse than you know, your family are asking you out for something to eat, and you're like, Oh, here's my lot or you're you're popping out the Tupperware box. Now, don't get me wrong, you may be a competitive bodybuilder that's two weeks out from show. Different conversation, potentially. Um, but when we're talking here about giving the body what it needs, especially when you are drawn down on you know your energy stores, that includes like things like vitamins and minerals in your body, you need to be making sure that you're replacing them, and that's where there's a real health and longevity. And I think as we would, you know, we would explain if it fits your macros, we're looking to get 80, 85, 90% of foods from these sources. Again, you've mentioned the berries, frozen berries, even better because the the nutrients are locked in the minute that that they're frozen, arguably even better for you than non-frozen varieties. But it's about that steer, you know. Anybody that that we're talking to that comes to us, we're trying to set them up for life. We're not just trying to starve them into well, let's get some pictures for the gram or let's get some. We're trying to teach people sustainability at all times and to empower them to give them the skills for life that they can go out and say, I'm gonna choose this or I'm gonna choose that, but they're building on those platforms that they understand what things do to their body and what they should look for.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

I think you you make a great point about the health and longevity side of things that you know the perfect talk about all the stuff we're talking about here with meal time and protein, carb timing. But if we're gonna do this for a long time, we're not just talking five years, we're talking decades plus. You're still gonna be in this game 20, 30, 40, 50 years down the line for you know, some people watching this. How are we gonna make this sustainable? Now, we've spoken so many times about like we don't expect people to sit in the house eating chicken and rice for every meal. There's going to be occasions, you know, again, meals out, going out to restaurants, and this is where if it fits your macros can shine and it can be utilized. Now, I'm gonna give a a great example. It it happened to me last couple of days. Um, you know, I'm four weeks into prep. Um, so you know, dieting down for uh stepping on stage for the first time. So this is not just a regular diet, this is uh, you know, we mean business. So my family's been here from the UK. Obviously, I'm in Venezuela, they've been here to visit me, the wife, the baby. So on Friday night, we we all went out to a restaurant. Now, I could have brought Tupperware, I didn't. Uh we went out to a restaurant and it was a steakhouse, so I scoped the menu. Uh good. Is that a vanilla coke, was it?

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Uh uh ch cherry.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Cherry Coke, ah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Cherry for now.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

You can't go wrong. I've always went out to um a steakhouse, I scoped the menu, we got there, and I was looking at the menu, and I I I I I went for the uh I got the grilled fillet steak, which was about a 300 gram piece. Uh I went for the fillet steak, a side of boiled potatoes cooked in no oil, and then I got a uh a salad with tomato lettuce uh on the side, cooked it with there was no oils on top of that. So I went out and sat with my family and stayed on track, ate that meal, plugged it into my fitness pal, made it work. You know, everybody else is uh you know, they're having maybe the more of the fattier cuts of steak, and you know, they're having their sides with whatever they want, they do what they want, you know. Just because I'm in prep doesn't mean that they uh they can't enjoy themselves. So that's an example of going out and making it work as long as you're not being greedy and you know, and then you're trying to make it all about food, and you know, you're passing remarks to other people because they're choosing to eat everything, and you you you know it's it's your choice, but this this is an example of uh how you can go out and make it work, and you just make smart choices, and this this is important if you're gonna be in this game for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I think what you've touched on there is a little bit of forward thinking. You know, you you probably knew for a few days that you were gonna go out for something to eat with your family. Obviously, your situation where you are just now, um it's so important that you you don't you know blow a hole in your in your week, for example, because you've got a an allotted number of calories, which potentially somebody at the start of their journey could be. And what we're really saying here is you can be sociable and you can go out and you can still enjoy yourself, be there, be present. Sometimes you'll get a look at the menu and you can make the choices like in advance. Other times it might be maybe like it's it's all of a sudden you've just been invited out, and maybe you know you've had a bad day or whatever, and you're just gonna go out. Again, if you can just get it into your mind where you're like, I'm gonna try and make the best decision possible. Now that's the majority of the time, you know, whatever percentage you want to put on it, 80, 90 percent, just a good majority of the time. If there's some times you go out and it's like I want to go and enjoy a little bit of pizza, one of the things I often say to my clients, your consistency stacks up. You mentioned earlier, Francis, that we don't expect clients to sit in the basement with no lights on, just to be light for the microwave where they take their chicken and reheat it. You know, like life happens, and that's something as well that we would want to teach to someone coming in. I think there's perfection ruins a lot of of journeys. You know, people come into this space, and I st again we we've touched on it when we talk about whey protein, when we talk about protein bars. If I'm not 100%, then I'm failing. Now you've got you've got to win your battles. Again, what we're not saying is that you can have Burger King in the morning, McDonald's in the afternoon, Pizza Hut at night, or is Pizza Hut still a thing, dominoes at night. We're not saying that. But what we are saying is pick your battles, and if there's a time where you need to go and be social and enjoy yourself, don't put it in my fitness pile. Don't think about how many calories it was. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's fully supported because it's gonna give you one of the things we're talking about here about health and longevity, includes the mental aspect of it. And if you're sitting there and you're thinking, oh my god, I'm gonna be 500 calories, I'm gonna be a thousand calories over or whatever. For me, that's not a good space for who we're talking about here, beginners, lifestyle clients, and I think it's so important again that we educate people and empower them to go out and make those decisions and say it's once a quarter or twice a year, or whatever it is, once a month, even I go out and have something to eat with my friends or my family or whatever it is, and it's just a meal that I enjoy. Again, these uh people that we we we've picked as the the the subject tonight, they're not going to stage. You know, it's it's a meal. What you do is you just get right back to it on your next meal or the next morning, and you just go from there.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

And you've nailed it there with the perfectionism, people's chasing that. And it doesn't have to be all or nothing. We spoke at great length in this in the past. Uh you've got to ask yourself if you know, even someone stepping on stage, you know, you you're not you might be 98, 99%, it's it's not 100% perfection all the time. Things are things happen, life happens, and you again those care balls will come up, and you've got to try and get around it. If you're just a general, again, a a lifestyle client, as you like to call it, someone who's not competing, someone just wanting to be, you know, trying to become the sort of best version of themselves, get jacked and be healthy. You know, what's your minimum standard? Raise your minimum standard, don't be trying to be 100% all the time. I would much rather someone be 85-90% year-round than trying to be 100%, 100%, and then they just drive themselves crazy, and then they just they just end up going off the rails, binge eating, and they hate training, they hate everything to do. And I've seen that in the past, there isn't there is no need to chase that perfectionism, raise your minimum standard and just say to yourself, look, I'd rather be 85-90% year round than trying to chase perfection, and that will still get someone fantastic results because it's what you do, you know, the majority of the year, not these little odd occasions here or there. And as you know yourself, me, when you do all you go out on these occasions, you'd always have a choice. It again, you'd avoid that all or nothing. It doesn't have to be right, I'm going out once a month here, and I'm gonna have 7,000 calories of pizza and ice cream and links. It doesn't have to be that. It could be right, I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna have a couple of slices of pizza with me mates. I might have a drink or two, uh a cookie or whatever, a piece of cake, and that's me. Yeah, I might be over a thousand calories on this day or whatever. That's fine. Back to it the next day. It is what it is, fine, no problem. It's when you start then, okay, oh, I'm a thousand, two thousand calories over next day. I've got to restrict myself, I've messed up, I can't believe it, I've failed. No, you it's it's it's it's not like that. You just it's like the men in black thing where they hold up the pimp, forget about it, back on the next day. That's it. You always choose your response to it. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Um you've used you've used the word restrictive, as it's sometimes funny how how we align, um Francis. It's uh it's actually quite uncanny. Over restriction just leads to people feeling that they can't do something. I listened to a great gent called Phil Lerney, and I I stole this, I'm just gonna put it out there. He uses something called the white polar bear example. So don't think about a white polar bear. The first thing you think about is a white polar bear. Now, if we said to our potential client, you can't have another good one, a pineapple pizza for the rest of your life and no more ice cream ever, that person immediately, and this is just human nature, human psychology, you immediately go, I could really got a pineapple pizza and some ice cream to kind of wash it down with, even though they probably never even had a pineapple pizza in in their entire life. But the minute I find that you put restriction on people, it becomes overly restrictive, it becomes them looking for 100%, there's absolutely no room for error, and then they start doing things like I'll take my calories down, I'll do some punishment cardio. I need to take my calories even lower. And one of the things that you need to be very, very careful of is ending up in this restrict binge cycle, as I call it, and it's such an easy place to get to because you've you feel like you've eaten. Again, we're not attaching any calories to what you've what you've eaten, we've just given giving an example, but you then feel that you need to somehow earn those calories back by whatever you know, I'm gonna go and do a three-hour run, for example, to to work that back. And it's about just accepting that if you're brutally consistent, one of the good analogies I've got is if you studied for an exam and you got let's say you got 90%, 89% for the exam, you give yourself a pat on the back, it can be like it's a job well done. Done only in the nutrition and fitness space is anything less than a hundred percent viewed as being you know below par. I had a great example of of a of a gent that I'm I'm working with at the moment and he's in a he's in uh a senior role. Uh he's actually done two roles, trust be told at the moment, two senior roles, the way he's explained it to me. And he was out at the weekend there, and he hecked checked in on Sunday and he was like, I wasn't gonna check in, I wasn't gonna send you my pictures. I was out drinking last night and I said it was the end of his project, it was the end of whatever. He went out, he was social, had a couple of drinks, uh he had more than a couple of drinks, he had a good a good scoop. And I was like, Well, sometimes that's what life is, you know. We're human, you've got those interactions, you're celebrating the end of something. If he was doing it every single weekend, there's a conversation to be had to say maybe you need to look at this behaviour. Someone gone out to celebrate in whatever way that they see fit. The good thing was he got straight back to it the next day, you know. He didn't have like any hangover for it or anything like that. So fantastic. Kudos to him, and he said to me, Well, why why are you not shouting at me? I expected you to shout at me, and I was like, Well, uh, that's not really how I coach. Like, I'm not gonna shout at people. I think people are already hard enough on themselves that they don't need me to be like, Well, you know, you're a very naughty boy or whatever. It's understanding that this gent has a life, he's got kids, he's doing two business roles, he just finished a big project. Why am I gonna come down on him with a ton of bricks? If anything, he's earned that right to go and enjoy himself for a couple of hours.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

And you're right in the way you've said there, like the the way the way he's responded, that's very, very big on that. That's something I always get across to to everyone I'm working with. That you know, if these nights or these days happen, if your if your baseline and your minimum standard is that 85-90%, you that that's where your baseline standard is. You know, you're always eight, nine out of ten every week. If you go out every every now and then and you'd have a night like this, fine, it is what it is. You choose your response the next day. That's that is always it's it's critical. Something that I always say to everybody nobody tells you how to think. You always choose your response to every every single situation. Care balls, things that are not going right, you know, a bad day or with nutrition. Okay, it happens, but how do you respond to that? Nobody tells you what to do the next day. You you respond and you go, right? Yeah, I've had a couple of drinks there, or had a good scoop, as you mentioned, you know, uh, might might be a couple of couple of thousand calories over. You know, not the best nutrition day, is what it is, but I'm gonna wake up and I'm I'm right back to it. Just normal day, normal day of eating, normal training. Let's get stuck in. So you can you choose that positive and that sort of fight back response versus okay, I was out last night, I had a good scoop, a couple of thousand calories over, ah, bollocks to it. I'm gonna wake up again today. I'm gonna do the same again. I can't be arse with this training no more. I've had enough of it. And then the thing is, you know, it just it spirals then, and before you know it, someone puts one bad night, and then they've had uh a week out the gym, a week of just poor nutrition, and that's where it spirals. So, yeah, it's when these when these days or nights happen, don't beat yourself up about it, just get back on the horse the next day. That is critical.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

I I really like your point where you're saying, or something close to having that having a filter, you know, you're you're responsible for what happens next. Um, one of the things I've got a little thing, it's like a wee Jesus Christ thing, and I've wrote I've written on it, and it says, Does this decision take me closer or further away from my goals? And I sometimes use that with people that are maybe struggling in in a space or in a scenario whereby something happens again, no punishment, there's no guilt attached to it. But what we're doing is we're then looking forward. One thing I do like is that don't make two mistakes. So it's happened, it's earned, it's enjoyed, it's whatever, it's absolutely fine if you've got that consistency that you're building up. Another good thing is a year from now, are you gonna look back and go, I should never had that night out because that caused this. And and and the truth is it it didn't, because again, if you're playing you're playing the numbers and you're playing the percentages every every st every week, you're scoring like 80, 90 percent. You're keeping those standards, you're keeping the sustainable habits in. And that allows you to have that freedom and flexibility at points when you need it. Whatever that cadence is, again, whether it's monthly or bi-monthly or whatever it is that you do, just understanding though that you can't do it every single day, which is again the message that we're putting out. You can get away with things, but most of the time you want to be following a path. And one of the things I was gonna say to you as well, Francis, is for a beginner, one of the things we probably want to try and instill in them is there's seven days in a week, which includes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I I don't know how you feel about that.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Yeah, this is a this this is a big one, isn't it? I was just about to mention this as well. No, I know we've we've touched slightly on um alcohol consumption, um, but I had this conversation with a client this weekend, and he's um he's got a he's going he's he's he's a fellow scouser, he's going to Liverpool and Man City game this Saturday coming up, and uh you know he might be going out with his mates afterwards, and you know, he's in the midst of a dire phase and all this stuff, and he was saying to me, Well, uh, how can I stay on point? And you know, if Liverpool win as an example, we're gonna go out for a couple of drinks, or you know, me and the boys were going out to town. What can I do? So, you know, it this brings us on to the what we just said there about the balance elements of it that you know you can if it's one day, it is what it is, you get back on the horse. That's fine when that happens, if it you get back on the horse, but there's so many people again, Friday, Saturday, Sunday rolls around every weekend. There's a footy match every weekend, there's always things to you know go out and celebrate, as you know. So, you know, if if you're good, so you're not not good, I don't want to frame it as that, uh, because that people get spiral out of control with that. But if you're on point with your food, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, five days. Saturday rolls around. Every Saturday, it there's always something going on, and you're always you're always blowing over on Saturday, and then you're trying to pick up the pieces on Sunday. That's two out of seven days that you fell off. But if that consistently happens, now we're turning into eight days across the month, eight days out of 30 days, and you do the percentage of that. Now we're starting to really dip into that sort of 50-60% being on point. Now we're just as we're saying, yes, it's fans that have the balance of that 85-90%, that's fine. But if you're starting to dip down that 60% range, you know your likelihood of stepping forward in a meaningful manner, it's really gonna drop off, and that's when conversations do have to be had. So again, it comes back to the balance element, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 51:38

Absolutely. Um, one of the things I offer to my clients, and I'm probably going to absolutely butcher this. It was actually my sister's idea, and it's a fantastic idea. It's called the 321 method. So every three drinks, space it with two others. So that can be you have an alcoholic drink, you have uh Pepsi Max or a cherry coke throat, um and and then a water. So then you're breaking down the amount of alcohol that you could potentially intake on a night by 33%. You're intaking 33% as opposed to 100%. Again, there might be times where it's a wedding, it's an important anniversary, whatever it may be. Sometimes you're just gonna be like, I'm just gonna go and I'm gonna enjoy the occasion, I'm gonna see where it takes me. Other people, you know, might like applying the method, and and another thing sometimes say to people, maybe if it's a more run-in-the-mill kind of night out, why don't you put an upper limit on it? You know, much like we're talking about going to the restaurant, you maybe have uh a starter. So before you go, you say, I've had a look at the menu, I'm gonna have a starter and a main course, I'm not gonna have a pudding, or I'm gonna have the main course, I'm gonna have a pudding, and I'm maybe gonna share it with someone, or I'm gonna have I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna enjoy it. So there's there's obviously different approaches for different times, but what I'm saying is there's there's ways there that you can say, This is what I'm gonna do, and I think as long as you pick a way that you're gonna um attempt to to go after it, then you can say this is what I'm gonna do, and you've got your your plan. And people maybe like us, we'd be like, That's what I'm gonna do, and I'm gonna stick to that. You know, sometimes it might become a little more fluid, but at least you've got some sort of guardrails there.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

I like that that shout there about the the upper limit to the drinks. I think that's a very good one for a lot of people. If people stuck to that advice, they'd be far better off. You know, we have to, you know, it's it's great though, because you know, if you said to yourself, look, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna cut myself three or four drinks, that's it. And I'm gonna test those out as long as I can, you know, maybe doing the 3-2-1 method that you've mentioned there. Another one is pick on better options. This this is one of my favourites whenever any sort of social events come up. I don't mind a good shandy. I'll have I'll take a can of a can of lager and I'll pour half of that into like uh some splice or seven up, no calories in it. Uh, and again, I I can make you know one can of beer, might be a 330 millilitre can of beer, I can turn that into two or three drinks. Stretch that out. Um, you know, you're still social, you're having a little drink with everybody every now and then. If I'm gonna do it, that's I I I would go down that route. So you've got options like that. People like to drink uh again, another good one is uh vodka soda, you know, you can stretch those out. Um yeah, not going out and drinking 15 pints because you know that's that that's no good for the old uh the old calorie bomb as well. So yeah, you you you you can you can make choices with your limits there. And the other big thing which I know you're big on would be the preparation in advance to it. If you know, again, this is where if it fits your macros can shine. If you know you've got X amount of calories or whatever to play with, and you're gonna go out for you know a big meal in the night, and there's gonna be a couple of drinks, graze on protein throughout the day, save a fair chunk of your calories for when you're gonna go out in the evening, so that way you're not going out and having an excessive calorie bomb. You know, you you're gonna you've got some guardrails on there which can, you know, that can just help you out. So I I know you're big on that, the preparation for as well.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

Yeah, I mean that fear of missing out is is a is a big one, and and you know, again, we're not expecting people to say no to absolutely every social event that's gonna come up, but there are um benefits and bonuses. Um I had a client who had obviously listened to somebody, he asked me my advice on what to do when I go out, and I was like, well, again, maybe go on the upper limit. And he messaged me, he said, Great success. I went out last night, I think he had three, I think it was three tequila and a mixer of three drinks and a tequila, something like that. He's like, I'm up the next day, I feel fresh, I've already smashed my step count for the day, all of that sort of good stuff. And it just shows you that you can you can do it, you can go out, you can be social, you don't need to have that fear of missing out, you don't need to sit in your basement in the in the dark. Um, and and another good thing, one thing I I I've done before was have a bowl of oats before I went out for the meal, and that's something I found that really stopped me from from overeating. Again, I was in a in a diet phase. I was actually um competing, it was in Belfast when I was competing, and I bought a packet of uh oats and I was eating it at a protein shaker before I went for anything to eat, and what it done is it just stopped me kind of overeating because I was already arriving to the restaurant, something kind of already in my system. Still enjoyed what I ate, but I didn't, you know, smash the doors down.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

Well, it makes sense, doesn't it, because of the the fibre contents as well. It's it's it's it's gonna fill you up. Um there has been some research on protein feedings, like perfect examples before someone goes out, even something as small as a 25 gram to 30, 30 gram scoop of whey protein before going out, it sends the satiety signal to the brain that you're full. Because as we know, protein is the the most satiating macronutrient. So just maybe being strategic with that. Again, the perfect example of where a protein shake could come in handy for someone, you know, if you'd you'd have to try it. Have you ever tried that? Have you ever tried a protein shake before like a meal or anything like that? It it does shut off the signal.

SPEAKER_01 57:39

Well, that that um the oats that I had was oats and whey, and uh and and I would tell them I just boiled the kettle, yeah, stuck it in, and I had a spoon, you know, like uh I would call it a knickerbocker glory spoon. The oats and whey, and yeah, I mean that absolutely at that point helped me because I arrived at the restaurant, I already feel full. So, like that, I I got something to eat, I didn't need to have the chips, um, you know, I enjoyed it. Again, you're there, there's no fear of missing out. You're you're being social, you're there with your family, and and you've made a good choice even before. So you can even extend you know what we're saying to if you get a look at the menu, sometimes you can't, but there's sometimes the decisions, and again you made a great point. And uh I used to do this when I was young, you know, you'd kind of eat low slash starve because you'd be going out for something to eat on on Saturday night, um and that's that's a great way of doing it. Again, we want to keep the protein in for the the muscle protein synthesis throughout the day, but when you get to night time, then you've left yourself some room. Again, if that's your decision and choice that you want to do that, then at least you've got the knowledge and and the ability to make that choice.

SPEAKER_02 58:58

And you've also got the things like diet soldiers as well. We forgot about them. They're they're they're very useful when you when you go on out as well, and you know, there you go. Even before like a meal, you know, uh you go out and you and you have a uh uh a diet solder before your meal, you know, the the gas, the the carb the carbonated from the from the beverage itself, it can it can fill you up, make you feel fuller for longer. And I know you've you've mentioned one in the past, you know, before a meal, drink a big glass of water, things like that. It sends the society signal to your brain, it keeps your stomach full. You know, there's all these all these little tips and sticks that you can use. Uh it's all at your disposal, so you're not going out and going absolutely uh absolutely nuts in a restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

Um I think I think we've done pretty well a nice, I would say, a nice offering for anyone you know that's that's starting out. I think if we just kind of recap, you know, it's so important that we're trying to dispel some myths. I think it's really important to to say right from the off you don't need to be perfect, but you need to be consistent. You know, yes, we are talking a lot about calories, we've spoken about macros, we've said how important the micros are, you know, timing for most people, you know, maybe a one-two percent thing, if if you're totally honest, it's not as big a deal as people would make it. If you're getting your regular feedings in across the day, then that's a bigger for me, a bigger win. You know, again, we've mentioned we're looking at muscle building and fat loss. So having your your protein synthesis in play, um, with obviously protein having the highest thermal effect in terms of feeding, that's something that you want in your diet. You want to be hitting that across the curve. Um, we touched on the importance of digestion. We are what we digest and absorb, and there's no point doing that. So I think there's some really good fundamentals in there that we've covered across the the last hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:08

Yeah, and then it's it's it's trying to have that as an umbrella to fit into a lifestyle that we can you know, you you can go out to eat guilt-free, you can make the right choices, that's the key. You make the right choices, and you know, whenever if any of these nights do happen where you go overboard, you just get right back on the horse the next day. You don't start beating yourself down about it and you know going down a negative spiral because you know, we've all been there, it has happened to every one of us. You just get right back on the horse the next day, so yeah, just bringing it in and having some of this sort of fundamental structure, and that's it's really gonna help somebody else and avoid a lot of the nonsense that's uh that's out there, mate, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

I think the the next thing I was gonna say was just we'd spoken about you know offering something maybe like a QA. So for anyone that's that's listening and maybe listened as well to the end, if there's some content that you'd like to cover or you know, questions that you'd like to see as or topics to come across, um we're always open to to that, something that we can dig in and explore.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

Yeah, absolutely. I had that last time. Uh I had a couple of clients who gave me a couple of ideas for um you know potential topics to talk about. So if uh if anybody has got any ideas, please let us know. Uh, and if anybody is interested in working with either me or Benjamin directly, just give us a message on uh on Twitter. I'm at coach fhm you're at Benjamin Yesus. I've got it right, haven't I? Just drop us a message and uh we'll we'll get you sorted. All right, so yeah, that's uh another episode wrapped up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:44

Pleasure as always, mate. Superb, mate. I've enjoyed it and I look forward to next week already. As always, right? See you all later. Good man. Cheers, chats and mate.