Understanding Fats – the basics

The last in this series of three (the other two being 1:Understanding Protein and 2: Understanding Carbs) and it’s time to get to grips with fat.

Fat is essential to our diet. We need to consume some fat as it contain important nutrients and essential fatty acids. Vitamins A, D, E are fat soluble, which means they can only be absorbed with the help of fat.

As with carbohydrates, fat has a lower TEF (Thermic Effect of Food) than Protein. In fact, carbs and fat have the same TEF. This means you will burn between 5 to 15% of the calories of the fat from the digestion process.
Therefore you consume 200 calories of pure fat, around 10 to 30 calories will be burned by digestion.

Fat is the most calorie dense of the three macronutrients but as stated above it is needed and is not the enemy.

If fat loss is your goal, you will need to understand that fat comes at a high calorie cost. Calorie deficit is the key to fat loss so limiting your fat intake and making smart choices will be necessary.

There are two main types of fat; Saturated and Unsaturated.
*Ideally no more than 10% of your daily calorie intake should come from saturated fat.

Saturated Fats are found in both sweet and savoury foods and are mainly found in animal products (meat and dairy) although there are exceptions such as coconut oil.

Examples of saturated fat include:
Fatty cuts of meat
Sausages
Meat pies
Butter, Lard and Ghee
Cheese
Cream and Ice Cream
Biscuits, Cakes and Pastries
Chocolate Bars

Unsaturated Fat is mostly found in oils from plants and fish.

To reduce your risk of heart disease and maintain healthy levels of cholesterol it would be wise to reduce your overall fat intake and try to ensure you consume mostly unsaturated fat.

Examples of unsaturated fat include:
Olive oil and spreads made from olive oil
Rapeseed oil
Some nuts i.e. Brazil, Almond, Peanut
Avocados
Sunflower seeds
Oily Fish i.e. Herring, Salmon, Sardines, Mackerel




  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.
  • Practical Mental Coping Strategies for Endurance Lows
  • Avoiding the Euphoria-Despair Roller Coaster in Endurance Racing
  • The Importance of Periodisation in Endurance Training
  • Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Endurance Training
  • All About Stress
  • Train your breathing for better race results
  • Does how you breathe really matter?
  • Unlocking Your Athletic Potential: Nature vs. Nurture
  • Recovery: The Unsung Hero of Triumphs
  • Build Consistently, Adapt Relentlessly
  • Minimum effort. Maximum Impact
  • Specificity is KING for Endurance
  • Strength Reigns Supreme in Endurance
  • The 5 Pillars of the DB Training Methodology
  • The Three Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes make…
  • Mastering the SAID Principle for Endurance Training Success
  • Mastering Heart Rate Zones for Peak Endurance Performance
  • Can Herbal Adaptogens help Perimenopause? 
  • HIIT – Are you doing it right?
  • Setting your HR Zones & How to Judge Progress
  • How to Test your Lactate Threshold
  • Why Lactate Threshold trumps Max Heart Rate for Endurance Training
  • Golden Rule #5 Extreme Ownership

    • Understanding Carbohydrates – the basics

    Following on from my last post about Protein (Understanding Protein-the basics) now lets look at the next macronutrient – Carbohydrate or Carbs.

    Now, Carbs get a really bad rep and a lot of fad diet trends will preach the virtues of removing carbs from your diet. The true fact is though, there is no good reason to remove carbs from your diet. Carbs are not the enemy. Carbs provide us our energy for exercise, and for general life and they help our brain function.

    I am sure we all know at least one person that did some low carb diet and said how easy it was and how much weight they lost. Hell, I’m one of them – back in 2003 I did the Atkins diet and yep, I lost a tonne of weight… for a while.

    The truth of it is any diet where you cut a quantity of food will work for weight loss in the short term, as you are creating a calorie deficit. But cutting carbs for a period of time means that your body becomes carb resistant and when you reintroduce carbs, your body has a hell of time trying to figure out what to do with them and in the main, this results in some pretty serious weight gain. 2004 was my fat year, after I couldn’t sustain Atkins any longer, and to be honest, nor did I want to.. I wanted Pizza!

    The key to sustainable fat loss is calorie deficit. Not Keto, Not Paleo, Not Intermittent Fasting (especially not this for women as it has proven to have detrimental effects for women, especially menopausal women). You can achieve calorie deficit by those means and if thats your way then hell, you do you but for most of us, we want to enjoy our food, ALL our food and that includes the energy boosting, brain boosting carbohydrate.

    We know, as I talked about it in my Protein blog, that the body burns more calories digesting protein (known as the Thermic Effect of Food “TEF) than it does the other micronutrients.
    You will burn anywhere between 20 to 35% of the calories of the protein just from the digestion process.
    That figure drops to 5 to 15% for carbohydrate.
    Therefore  you consume 200 calories of pure carbs, around 10 to 30 calories will be burned by digestion.

    In the ideal your carbohydrate consumption should be based on food rich in fibre, as fibre helps keep you fuller for longer and has many benefits for gut health.

    Wholefood carbohydrates such as grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables are also rich in micronutrients and have wide ranging benefits for body function.

    Carbs are split into two types; Simple and Complex, based on their chemical structure and how easily they are absorbed by the body.

    Simple carbs are easily absorbed by the body and include fruits and honey.

    A lot of processed and refined foods are simple carbs and these are the ones that need to be limited within a diet to achieve fat loss. Think biscuits, cakes, sweets and chocolate bars.

    Complex carbs take longer to digest and include things like rice, beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, potatoes parsnips, wholemeal bread and pasta and wholegrain cereal.


  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.
  • Practical Mental Coping Strategies for Endurance Lows
  • Avoiding the Euphoria-Despair Roller Coaster in Endurance Racing
  • The Importance of Periodisation in Endurance Training
  • Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Endurance Training
  • All About Stress
  • Train your breathing for better race results
  • Does how you breathe really matter?
  • Unlocking Your Athletic Potential: Nature vs. Nurture
  • Recovery: The Unsung Hero of Triumphs
  • Build Consistently, Adapt Relentlessly
  • Minimum effort. Maximum Impact
  • Specificity is KING for Endurance
  • Strength Reigns Supreme in Endurance
  • The 5 Pillars of the DB Training Methodology
  • The Three Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes make…
  • Mastering the SAID Principle for Endurance Training Success
  • Mastering Heart Rate Zones for Peak Endurance Performance
  • Can Herbal Adaptogens help Perimenopause? 
  • HIIT – Are you doing it right?
  • Setting your HR Zones & How to Judge Progress
  • How to Test your Lactate Threshold
  • Why Lactate Threshold trumps Max Heart Rate for Endurance Training
  • Golden Rule #5 Extreme Ownership

    • Understanding Protein – the basics.

    If you are trying to change your body composition then you need to get to grips with calorie deficit (you can read more about that here in a previous blog; Calorie Deficit ) AND balancing your macros.

    Calorie deficit will equal weight loss. Balancing macros will ensure fat loss.

    When it comes to fat loss, understanding protein is key so here are the simple facts about protein and fat loss.

    1)
    We digest protein more slowly that the other macronutrients (carbohydrates and fats) which is the reason we feel fuller after eating protein. Including a good lean protein source at every meal will help you feel full and less prone to snacking due to hunger. Protein at breakfast is THE best way to start your day.

    2)
    The body burns more calories digesting protein (known as the Thermic Effect of Food “TEF) than it does the other micronutrients. You will burn anywhere between 20 to 35% of the calories of the protein just from the digestion process.
    As an example; you consume 200 calories of pure protein, around 40 to 70 calories will be burned just by digesting it.
    This means eating protein can both increases your energy expenditure and your calorie deficit. Win Win.

    How much Protein should you be eating:

    As a general rule of thumb you should be consuming 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. This will help keep you feeling full, support fat loss while also maintaining muscle mass.

    If you are an athlete or you train heavily several times a week you will need to increase this to 2.2 to 3.4kg per kilogram of bodyweight.

    Some Good sources of Lean Protein:
    Chicken / Turkey breast, 5% fat Beef Mince, Pork Fillet, Tuna, Cod, Prawns, Egg White, Low Fat Greek Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Seitan, Edamame, Tofu, Tempah.
    *this list is not exhaustive

  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.
  • Practical Mental Coping Strategies for Endurance Lows
  • Avoiding the Euphoria-Despair Roller Coaster in Endurance Racing
  • The Importance of Periodisation in Endurance Training
  • Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Endurance Training
  • All About Stress
  • Train your breathing for better race results
  • Does how you breathe really matter?
  • Unlocking Your Athletic Potential: Nature vs. Nurture
  • Recovery: The Unsung Hero of Triumphs
  • Build Consistently, Adapt Relentlessly
  • Minimum effort. Maximum Impact
  • Specificity is KING for Endurance
  • Strength Reigns Supreme in Endurance
  • The 5 Pillars of the DB Training Methodology
  • The Three Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes make…
  • Mastering the SAID Principle for Endurance Training Success
  • Mastering Heart Rate Zones for Peak Endurance Performance
  • Can Herbal Adaptogens help Perimenopause? 
  • HIIT – Are you doing it right?
  • Setting your HR Zones & How to Judge Progress
  • How to Test your Lactate Threshold
  • Why Lactate Threshold trumps Max Heart Rate for Endurance Training
  • Golden Rule #5 Extreme Ownership

    • F&%K Herbalife!

    PLEASE, Please stop giving your hard earned money to lazy bloody Herbalife distributors! 
    *This was originally a facebook post but deserves a space here 🙂

    Yes, learning about nutrition and how to successfully manage your diet (which just means your daily intake of food and drink) may take a little more time and effort but it is worth it!

    You will save money and have the knowledge and skills you need to control your own life. 

    Why on earth would you want to make someone else richer just because they tell you they’ll get you results (they claim) you can’t get on your own?

    News Flash… of course you can!

    Think about some of the bullshit lies these “coaches” (they are distributors, not coaches!) tell people:

    1) Fruit and Veg has no real nutritional value anymore. 

    Seriously? You are buying this? You honestly believe you need to buy expensive supplements because it’ll be better for you than eating real fruit and veg 

    2) It’s not a meal replacement.

    Yet they tell you to replace your breakfast with their product as it’ll be better for you… why? (And also, it says it right there on the product!) 

    WTF is wrong with eating actual food. Nothing, except they can’t make money from that! 

    3) Drink this “whizzy tea”. You’ll burn up to 80/100 calories.

    Right, just fuck off now! How, and I mean seriously how, can you burn up to 100 calories just by drinking a tea 

    Also… did you know that in 2021, as a company, they still test on animals???

    If this post gets one person currently wasting their hard earned money on Herbalife to stop and think it’s a win for me! 

    All we see is posts and stories from distributors showing how great their lives are, talking about how easy HL makes their lives (not your life by the way, theirs!) they care about money, not helping people. 

    Yes we see endless posts of people looking smaller holding up newspapers but guess what restrict calories by replacing meals with shakes and anyone can get those results. And,  “anyone” does. You don’t have to learn anything about nutrition to become a seller. 

    I get tapped by a HL seller at least every 3 months “hey, I’ve got a great opportunity for you” 

     I occasionally entertain their enquires just to find out more (or I’m bored and fancy a laugh). I usually ask about the training I’d get and I get list upon list of all the sales training but not one mention about actual nutrition training. 

    Did you know those in the top echelons are reported to be earning +£400k a year from this pyramid scheme 

     Yup, they make that much money just from convincing others to sell and building up their “team”. Because that’s another fun piece of this ridiculous puzzle… if you try their products you can pretty much guarantee you’ll be tapped up to sell. You are a cash cow in so many ways! 

    Come on people! 

    Any Fit Pro selling HL is fucking just lazy. Don’t be lazy too and help them with their “blessed” lifestyle. 

    Put some effort in, learn about nutrition and make YOUR life better, not theirs. 

    If you want some help drop me a message and I’ll try and help you with the basics. It’s not as complicated as you maybe think. 

    If you want to read and learn, buy any of the books by The Fitness Chef (and give him a follow on social media) 

    If you need a protein supplement (and do you know that you do actually need it!) buy direct from a decent company that doesn’t still test on animals. 

    If you need Aloe Vera it’s about £8 a bottle from Holland & Barrett, and yes that’s 100% pure. Rather than the 40% stuff they sell for approx £30! 

    The same goes for most, if not all, of their supplements! 

    There is not 1 valid, viable reason to need Herbalife 

  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.
  • Practical Mental Coping Strategies for Endurance Lows
  • Avoiding the Euphoria-Despair Roller Coaster in Endurance Racing
  • The Importance of Periodisation in Endurance Training
  • Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Endurance Training
  • All About Stress
  • Train your breathing for better race results
  • Does how you breathe really matter?
  • Unlocking Your Athletic Potential: Nature vs. Nurture
  • Recovery: The Unsung Hero of Triumphs
  • Build Consistently, Adapt Relentlessly
  • Minimum effort. Maximum Impact
  • Specificity is KING for Endurance
  • Strength Reigns Supreme in Endurance
  • The 5 Pillars of the DB Training Methodology
  • The Three Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes make…
  • Mastering the SAID Principle for Endurance Training Success
  • Mastering Heart Rate Zones for Peak Endurance Performance
  • Can Herbal Adaptogens help Perimenopause? 
  • HIIT – Are you doing it right?
  • Setting your HR Zones & How to Judge Progress
  • How to Test your Lactate Threshold
  • Why Lactate Threshold trumps Max Heart Rate for Endurance Training
  • Golden Rule #5 Extreme Ownership

    • Calorie Deficit…

    You’ve probably heard the term Calorie Deficit. It’s almost like its the new topic topic for the fitness world but it has long been know that when it comes to losing fat, it is the only real way to go. 

    It’s not new, it’s not even that exciting (apart from the results it brings)… but if you are serious about your health and fitness journey and you are looking to decrease your body fat, you need to understand it.

    So… What is it?

    When we eat and drink we consume the energy stored within. This energy is measured as calories. 

    Your body can then either burn, store or absorb* those calories.

    Understanding how your body uses calories is key to understanding fat loss and fat gain. Put simply:

    If you eat more calories than you burn, you will store fat = Calorie Surplus

    If you burn more calories than you eat, you will burn fat = Calorie Deficit

    If you eat the same amount of calories as you burn, you stay the same = Calorie Balance

    *The calories that are absorbed are the ones that end up in the toilet, not the most pleasant thought but its a fact!

    OK, How does it help me?

    Obviously the bit most of us are really interested in is Calorie Deficit. It is the key to our success in our fat loss journey. In this blog I am going to try and help you understand how to determine how to achieve the right calorie deficit for you. 

    First, you need to understand that 1lb of fat has about 3,500 calories. 

    Let’s say you decide you want to lose 1lb of fat a week. You would need a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories a day to achieve a weekly deficit of 3,500.

    Now you need to determine your current daily calorie consumption. You do this by counting your calories every day for atleast one week. You can either use an app such as MyFitnessPal or write everything down everything you eat and drink and then look up the calorie content. 

    Let’s say, for example, you have maintained your weight by consuming 2000 calories a day. You are currently in Calorie Balance. You want to lose 1lb of fat a week so you would need to cut your daily intake to 1500 calories. 

    However, for some people, cutting their intake in this way may be too drastic and for others, too slow. If someone was maintaining their current weight at 1600 calories, to go down to 1100 calories a day would likely be too aggressive. On the contrary, if someone was maintaining their weight at 3000 calories, they would likely be able to achieve a faster fat loss with a bigger calorie deficit. 

    So, you could just pick a number for your deficit (like 500 calories a day) and stick to it.

    But, if you fall into one of the groups where maybe this doesn’t work as well for you, you could work on a percentage basis. 

    To do this, you find your maintenance calorie number and subtract 20%. 

    Let’s stick with the maintenance figure of 2000 per day. If we take 20% from this it would mean reducing the calorie intake by 400 calories to 1600 per day. 

    This method works well and many believe it is the best approach as it takes into account your actual energy needs, rather than using a set figure which might not be suitable for your needs and lifestyle. 

    So there you have it. Now you are armed with the information needed to get to work losing that fat. 

    Then what? 

    Once you have your calories right, and only then, can you start to look at the other areas of nutrition, like your macro balance; how those calories are made up between protein, carbs and fats. 

    I will just say one thing on this, I have tried a few different things over the last couple of years; high fat diet, high protein diet, low carb diet and the results from all of them were pretty much the same… as long as my calories were on point. My body composition (weight, fat% and muscle%) didn’t vary much from plan to plan and the thing that was always the same was my calorie intake. If my calories were on point, I got the results I wanted, if they weren’t I didn’t!

    My advice:

    1) Focus on real food. Avoid quick fixes, meal replacements and “detox” plans. These may work in the short term but you aren’t addressing the long term issues or changing your relationship with food. Do not be fooled – the only way they work is by seriously cutting your calorie intake. Also you may not be consuming enough calories for your energy needs and this can leave you open to all sorts of issues. You may drop a few inches or a dress size by having one or two shakes instead of meals a day but what happens when you reintroduce the food. You haven’t learnt anything and I can pretty much guarantee that weight will come back on, and then some unless you are really lucky! 

    2) Focus on foods with good flavour. If you are in this for the long term then you have to enjoy it. There is no point including foods you don’t really like just because you think you should. If you don’t like what you are eating, you won’t stick to it. Make the journey enjoyable for your taste buds, as well as your waist line.

    3) Focus on Calories. As this blog post has hopefully shown, once you have thought about real food with good flavours, you need to get the calorie intake right. You now know how to do this 🙂 Once you have the calorie intake right you can start to look a bit more in depth at the function of the food and if you can tweak this to your advantage. 

  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.
  • Practical Mental Coping Strategies for Endurance Lows
  • Avoiding the Euphoria-Despair Roller Coaster in Endurance Racing
  • The Importance of Periodisation in Endurance Training
  • Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Endurance Training
  • All About Stress
  • Train your breathing for better race results
  • Does how you breathe really matter?
  • Unlocking Your Athletic Potential: Nature vs. Nurture
  • Recovery: The Unsung Hero of Triumphs
  • Build Consistently, Adapt Relentlessly
  • Minimum effort. Maximum Impact
  • Specificity is KING for Endurance
  • Strength Reigns Supreme in Endurance
  • The 5 Pillars of the DB Training Methodology
  • The Three Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes make…
  • Mastering the SAID Principle for Endurance Training Success
  • Mastering Heart Rate Zones for Peak Endurance Performance
  • Can Herbal Adaptogens help Perimenopause? 
  • HIIT – Are you doing it right?
  • Setting your HR Zones & How to Judge Progress
  • How to Test your Lactate Threshold
  • Why Lactate Threshold trumps Max Heart Rate for Endurance Training
  • Golden Rule #5 Extreme Ownership