Welcome back, this week’s blog is quite special, not only have I managed to stay consistent for 6 weeks but this is also the first blog that I’ve been requested to write. A member in the gym I work at asked me to write about strategies for improving nutrition and how to manage it around shift work. It’s important to note that I am not a qualified nutritionist and depending on your current situation it may be recommended to seek help from either a doctor or nutritionist before making wholesale changes to your diet, especially if you are on medication. However, for 99% of us the strategies we’re about to discuss are manageable and relatively easy to implement. So before we crack on let’s do a quick rundown of what we’re going to discuss, 1) General nutrition guidelines and knowing how much of what to eat. 2) How to plan around your schedule and stay on track with your calories and achieve your goals.
General guidelines around nutrition:
There are many, many factors that come into play when discussing nutrition and in truth there are very little “General guidelines”. Yes, the age old eat your vegetables still holds strong and always will but your guidelines will be determined by your goals. Your overall goal dictates the amount of food you should be eating and what levels of macronutrients you need to consume. Thankfully there are some ways to nail this down without the help of a professional. The smartphone app MyFitnessPal is a fantastic FREE tool for tracking calories. You input your details and target weight and it calculates your total daily calories. However, it’s recommended you make some adjustments in the back end of the app to get the most out of the app. If you go to ‘calorie and macronutrient goals’, you can adjust the percentage of calories from each macronutrient. It would be recommended to lower the carbohydrate % and increase the % of calories from Protein.
Research over the past number of years has all pointed to an increase in protein being needed in most diets and suggests 1.8-2.0g PRO/KG of bodyweight per day. Let’s work that out in simple maths. If my goal weight is 100KG then using the formulae above I need 2g of protein per KG, so I need to consume 200g protein per day. It’s a very easy formula to use and clears up a lot of confusion around how much protein one should be eating. As for the rest just follow your MyFitnessPal, stick to your calorie and macro targets and achieve your goals.
In summary, nutrition can be very tricky… if you let it and fall victim to marketing scams.
· Understand what you’re trying to achieve.
· set your goal.
· let MyFitnessPal calculate your calories.
· eat 2g of protein per KG of GOAL bodyweight.
· Eat your vegetables.
· Strength train.
Plan to succeed
In theory, this is very easy. Calculate your calorific goals, plan your meals and snacks accordingly, stick to the goals you set, achieve success. In reality, it’s not that simple but one thing does hold true. PLAN YOUR DAMN MEALS AND SNACKS!! If you are relying on the canteen in work or the local garage to fuel you in the correct way, with foods that meet your specific needs then you will only end up frustrated and annoyed when you don’t hit your targets.
I was asked to write this to benefit shift workers so let’s use them as an example. They are regularly going to be put on night shifts and will probably hit a slump in the middle of the night while we’re all fast asleep in bed. The unorganized worker will hit the vending machine or 24Hr garage nearby and probably reach for something high in sugar and very processed. The organized worker will have a protein shake and maybe some fruit packed with them, or perhaps even an entire home cooked meal depending on their schedule and goals.
It takes some big picture thinking, planning and time to set your meals for the week. But if you can dedicate a couple hours every week to planning and prepping your food you are going to save yourself a lot of anger and frustration down the line. My tip for shift workers is the same for everyone, set your goals, take the time to plan for those goals and give it time.
There is so much more I can talk about when it comes to nutrition and I will definitely be doing a part 2 blog on more advanced nutrition strategies in the future but for now I think we’ve enough done for 1 post. Before I sign off though I want to mention some Instagram accounts I recommended following for all things nutrition.
@FoodFlicker_official
Daniel Davey is an excellent nutritionist, employed by Leinster Rugby and Dublin G.A.A. his Instagram page is probably my favorite nutrition based page out there. He provides some amazing recipes that are so easy to cook. Not only that but he regularly posts instastories where he answers common nutrition questions and debunks some myths around the topic.
@Cartergood
Another great account, Carter posts a lot of info graphs and tips around nutrition specifically around fat loss. It’s super simple information and really easy to implement. Another page definitely worth checking out.
So there we have it, my first low down on nutrition and some simple strategies for you to follow. Ultimately it comes down to your own discipline and patience, there is no magic pill despite what some companies want you to think. Eat natural, eat local, eat your protein and above all, be patient.
Thanks for checking out this week’s blog. If you enjoyed it and found it useful please share it with your friends and family. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share past posts on their social medias and thanks to those who have reached out so far. Please feel free to contact me for more information about any topic I bring up or if there’s something you want me to talk about. Don’t forget to hit subscribe at the bottom of the page to get the latest blogs straight to your email.
Thanks guys,
Rory.