How to keep your relationship alive through ironman training build

I like to take a holistic approach to triathlon. I’ve got the nutrition side covered but feel it’s of value to bring in experts to help you in other areas.

Triathlon is a crazy sport. Training for three sports means you’re up early, home late, you may have a full-time job you need to work around too.

Then the weekend can be taken up by 6 hours rides, long runs. Or race weekends away for races, training camps etc.   All this means there aren’t many hours left in the day or days in the week to be at home spending time with your partner.

I see couples and families break down because of triathlon. One partner does the sport and the other doesn’t and it can put a strain on relationships. Or, even if they are there as your no. 1 crew, everything usually gets put on hold until after the event. This is where relationships can also break down.

When you don’t have the...

 Tips for food prep and organisation for the time poor athlete

Eating for optimal health and performance doesn’t happen by accident. Think of the food choices you make when you’re time poor or in a rush…

• You’re more likely to get takeaway or eat out
• You’re more likely to grab and go whatever is available, quick and easy to fill a hole
• You’re more likely to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner
• You’re more likely to smash a protein shake after a session and go to bed without ticking all of your recovery boxes  
  
  

I'm a black belt organisation ninja! Let me teach you some of the strategies I use to help my athletes eat better, even when they’re time poor. A little bit of time spent in preparation and organisation goes a LONG way when you’re trying to juggle training, work and family commitments!

Weekly Planning

• This is the biggest game-changer
• Don’t fly by the seat of your pants – get ORGANISED!
• ...

Stop wasting your money on Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scans

Don’t book in for a body composition scan until you read this! 

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (or BIA) scans are popping up in just about every gym and I’ve even seen some health professional clinics offering them as a service. 

They’re advertised as a quick and affordable way to accurately measure your body composition i.e. how much muscle, fat and bone tissue you’re made up of.

But if an athlete of mine brings me a scan to interpret, I tell them to throw it in the bin!

Here’s why….

What is a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scan?

BIA stands for Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. You see them at gyms – they're those little scales that you can either stand on or hold on to (or both) that give you a report to tell you what you're made up of. They’re really popular for the before and afters in Gym Challenges.

How does a Bioelectrical...

 Why Am I Not Losing Weight?

Are you frustrated you can’t seem to reach your body composition goals? You train more than most people but still have a little excess body fat to lose.

Are you constantly trying to eat a little less to burn more fat and end up starving all the time? Or absolutely wrecked after training?

That is definitely no way to live

But don't stress, you're not alone. A lot of athletes who I work with struggle with the same challenges.

Here are 3 reasons why you might not be losing weight as an endurance athlete:

1. You can’t out-train a bad diet

To lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. It's as simple as that. You need to consume less energy than you're burning. But the types of foods that you're consuming are really important as well.

• Even if you train for 18 hours a week, not being strategic with your nutrition can cause you to hold on to body fat
• Your body is really smart at recalibrating – if you do more training it...

Why You Need to Stop Weighing Yourself with Gary Slater

Body composition is an aspect many triathletes really struggle with. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be leaner and faster, but changes without appropriate assessment and regular adjustments can often lead to performance detriments.

Here are some practicalities around how to manipulate your body composition as a triathlete, how to decide whether it’s useful, and how to accurately measure it.

Do changes in body composition just mean weight loss?

• No! This should be a fat loss journey as opposed to a weight-loss journey
• There are many tools you can use to assess body composition - all are not created equal
• Weight loss does not always equal performance enhancement
  • Having a reduced energy availability can compromise fuelling and recovery
    • Quality of training will decline, leading to sub-optimal training adaptations
  • It can increase the risk of losing lean tissue/muscle mass
  • It can change the way individuals...

Nutrition to help you through Menopause

Menopause can be a confusing and confronting time of life for many women. But what can we do to help us through the symptoms of Menopause from a nutrition and exercise perspective?

First things first, what is menopause?

• Menopause is the 12-month anniversary of your last period, whereas perimenopause is the time leading up to menopause
• Menopause occurs at an average age of around 55 but varies widely among women
• It is a natural aging progression and can actually be a really great time for women
  
  

What is happening to our body at Menopause?

• Oestrogen and progesterone will be at their lowest levels
• Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) will often be high
  
  

What are some of the symptoms experienced during menopause?

• Poor mood, emotional instability and stress become more prevalent
• You may see a decrease in cognitive function, specifically learning and memory
• Our Immune system is decreased
• Appetite is affected...

Nutrition to help you through Perimenopause

Do you experience hot flushes, night sweats, a rollercoaster of moods and changing periods? You may be in Perimenopause. Often described as the roller coaster shit show heading towards Menopause, Perimenopause can start from as young as 35 in some people.

But what can we do to manage Perimenopause from a nutrition perspective?

What is Perimenopause?

• It is a natural aging process
• It is the point in a women's life leading up to her final period
• This typically happens around mid-40s, however, can vary between individuals and start as young as 35
  
  

What happens to the body during Perimenopause?

• There is a decline in the female sex hormones; oestrogen and progesterone
• The decline in these hormones is not linear
• In general, between the age of 35 to 50, there will be about a 35% reduction in estrogen and a 75% reduction in progesterone over about a 5-10 year period
  
  

What are the symptoms of Perimenopause?

(All women experience it quite...

Why You Need to Ditch the Detox this Year

Welcome to 2022!

I hope you all had a lovely break. I'm feeling pretty refreshed actually and ready for an awesome year ahead. I always have lots of really good ideas when I get to take the opportunity to step away for a bit. So I've got some pretty exciting things planned.

To set the scene for the year, I just wanted to give you some tips to help you actually achieve your health and fitness goals and stay on track. Instead of smashing it really hard at the start, going too hard, too fast and losing puff by February.

This is why you need to ditch the diet and detox mentality this year...

 1. Ditch the detoxes

• So many people think you need to detox the body to get rid of toxins, to lose weight, to kick start something
• There is no evidence to support detoxes
• Our body is well equipped with two kidneys, and a liver that know how to filter our blood and that gets rid of the toxins out of it
• If you can just simply eat well, and exercise...

5 Tips for Surviving the Festive Season

Before I take my one and only break for the year, I want to leave you with five tips to help you survive the silly season. I find that most people just completely switch off and let go of their healthy lifestyle and fitness goals as soon as December hits. We overindulge on delicious food and alcohol, are way more sedentary and just accept that 2kg weight gain is inevitable. Knowing that we’ll hit the diet or detox hard come January.

I'm not here to tell you to be strict and not enjoy all of the delicacies. I really want you to enjoy this time. But I challenge you to change your attitude this year and implement my top five tips for surviving the festive season without having a massive blowout.

 1. Aim For Balance

• Find a comfortable middle ground where you can still go out and have a great time, but try and minimise the damage by going overboard
• Make healthy choices when you can and when you can't, don’t feel guilty...

The Shit Show that was 2021

I wanted to take you behind the scenes a little bit at Dietitian Approved and the Triathlon Nutrition Academy and give you some insight into what's been happening this year. The highs and the lows, the lessons I’ve learnt and a peek behind the scenes at our plans for 2022.

Highlights of the year

• The Olympics! It provided a great distraction and banded the country together
• The Debut of the Triathlon mixed team relay
• Launched the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program
• Launched the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast
• Dietitian Approved turned 6
• Dietitian Approved transitioned to a more global brand with the change from .com.au to .com
   

Things I learnt this year

• Exercise is a huge part of my life, specifically social exercising. I need to prioritise
• I need to schedule breaks/holidays ahead of time so they actually happen
• If I am going to put myself out there in the online world, I need to develop a thicker skin. Because negativity will happen
• The...