Why I Won’t Post What I Eat in a Day
We’ve all seen the Insta reels; some athlete or influencer posting about what they eat in a day and sharing how they have perhaps made a change in their physique, how they feel, or even a medical diagnosis.
And this is great!……for THEM.
The truth is that we are all different people with varying lifestyles, training regiments, medical histories, and overall preferences. No two people should be eating the exact same things and expect to get the same results. This means we all have different nutritional needs to meet any goals we might have.
In fact, even the same person will have different nutritional needs throughout the year. Different seasons mean different training schedules and amounts of intensity. You are sometimes training for a competition or performance, but not constantly (at least hopefully you are not). Even during any given week, it is healthy to focus on strength training some days, endurance-based training some days, and resting on any other day. When your training type or intensity changes, your needs for carbohydrates, fat, and protein will change.
More questions that come to mind are how long has the influencer been eating this way, and how long do they intend to continue? As athletes, we should be thinking about our eating as what we do over a long period of time (not just a week before wanting to experience results and then go back to “business as usual”). Think of how you fuel your body as deposits you make over time to not only be strong, flexible, and have endurance, but to also avoid illness and injury.
As a sports nutrition coach, I meet with clients individually and discuss all aspects of their lifestyle and any performance or body composition goals. When considering all of this, I propose amounts of daily carbohydrates, fat, and protein intake. I give tips on foods that could help them meet the daily intake goal that also fit their food preferences, any allergies, and lifestyle.
From there, I meet with the clients regularly to check-in about how they are feeling:
- Do they notice any patterns of feeling particularly full or hungry during certain parts of the day?
- Are they lethargic at any point in the day? Do they maintain energy around workouts?
- Are muscles sore and fatigued for a period of time after workouts, or do they recover quickly?
- This level of mindfulness is critical when coming up with a plan for eating around training.
Just remember you are an individual, and what helps a friend meet goals could be different from what you need. If you are trying to gain strength, flexibility, or endurance, consult with a sports nutrition coach (like me!) or consult a medical professional who specializes in nutrition to help you meet your goals.
You can catch my FREE workshop of fueling your pole practice at PoleCon 2025! I would love to meet you and answer any questions you might have about food and pole!
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