Body Composition | Ideal Nutrition

27 Jul 2021

Potential Downsides of IIFYM

When I first learnt about If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) I thought it was a game-changer. Instead of thinking about potential downsides, I only focused on the positive aspects. I remember thinking about how I do not think people really appreciate details such as how little of a difference there is in terms of body composition outcomes with different forms of carbohydrate for example. I was also thinking about how if people understand calories in vs calories out, it would be way easier to adjust intake and balance achieving goals with enjoying life. Even just the concept and understanding…

09 Jul 2021

By Aidan Muir

Flexible Dieting: Everything You Need to Know

Back in 2011, I first went onto bodybuilding.com and started learning about calories and macros. I am not necessarily proud of that starting point. But it was my introduction to a concept called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) which basically meant that it did not really matter what you ate as long as you meet your macronutrient targets. From a body composition perspective, while it is obviously a bit more nuanced than that, the outcomes will be mostly the same. Flexible dieting is a mostly interchangeable term with IIFYM. But I prefer the terminology flexible dieting. IIFYM has a…

07 Jun 2021

By Aidan Muir

Do Bcaas and Eaas Work? A Look at the Research

One of my goals with this blog is to have a quality post on pretty much every topic I frequently get asked about. That way I can always have somewhere solid to send people to whenever they DM me questions like “do branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) help with muscle growth?” I love the idea of that because it means I can do each question justice and give a well thought out response to everything, rather than just giving a basic summary. For this post in particular, I have avoided writing it for so long. Partly…

22 May 2021

By Aidan Muir

5 Simple Ways to Make Weight Loss Easier Through Nutrition

I have been a dietitian for around 5 years now. Throughout this journey, a large percentage of my clients have been those who are looking to lose weight. And there is a tonne of stuff I have learnt along the way. There is no one thing that is the secret to all this. Most people would benefit from more knowledge, but that alone is not the answer. No individual behaviour change strategy will be suitable for everybody either. No mindset hack will work for everybody. But what I will try to cover in this post is 5 key things that…

11 May 2021

By Paula Norris

What is Volume Eating? Everything You Need to Know

Volume eating helps with the most critical factor to success when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off… the calorie balance equation. In other words, to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume. Volume eating is one way that you can reduce the number of calories you eat whilst eating a lot of food. It is not a strict diet plan; it is a technique that you can apply to your current diet in order to reduce the calorie density (also referred to as energy density) of what you consume. When following this approach,…

07 May 2021

By Aidan Muir

Reverse Dieting: Everything You Need to Know

Reverse dieting gained massive traction some time almost a decade ago. It looked like this almost too good to be true strategy that could be useful for speeding up your metabolism and allowing you to eat more food without gaining weight. It could help to build better relationships with food, allow you to eat more food and manage your appetite better, while also allowing you more calories to use as fuel for your training. It is NOT a weight loss tool. Increasing the number of calories, you maintain your weight on could set you up for future weight loss. But…

31 Mar 2021

By Leah Higl

Fat Burning VS Fat Loss: A Simple Guide

Fasted cardio and very low carb diets have both been consistently touted as the special ingredient for fat loss due to their ability to increase fat burning. You don’t have to be a veteran of Bodybuilding.com to have heard that skipping breakfast before some morning cardio or eating chicken and broccoli, hold the rice, is the secret to getting ripped. Both fasted cardio and very low carb diets have gained popularity based on the assumption that if your body does not have carbs to burn for energy, it will burn fat instead. From a superficial level, it would make sense…

17 Mar 2021

By Aidan Muir

Nutrition for Fat Loss: Everything You Need to Know

Fat loss is something that from a nutritional perspective is somehow both simple and incredibly complex. Understanding nutritional priorities when it comes to fat loss can make the process seem simple. It can also make it easy to avoid focusing on things that do not really matter. But it can be ridiculously complex when you factor in all the details that can be relevant. This post is going to cover the fundamentals of nutrition for fat loss, while also touching on a lot of practical points. As a dietitian writing about nutrition for fat loss, the training/exercise aspect will not…

14 Oct 2020

By Aidan Muir

Supplements For Bodybuilding and Powerlifting: Everything You Need to Know

When it comes to bodybuilding and powerlifting, we all know that training, rest, and nutrition, in general, should be prioritized above supplementation. If you are looking to optimise your body composition and performance though, it makes sense to take advantage of any benefit you can. And while supplements might not be necessary to see great results, there are certain situations where they can help improve your results. This post is going to list common supplements used in the bodybuilding and powerlifting community and how they may or may not be beneficial. Creatine Creatine is one of the most well-studied supplements…

07 Oct 2020

By Tyler Brooks

Nutrition For Strength Athletes: Everything You Need to Know

Strength and power athletes are typically looking to enhance power relative to body weight. This means some sort of resistance training is going to be a big part of their training. As with any type of training, proper nutrition has a significant impact on how well your body responds to and recovers from training. In strength training, nutritional objectives include: meeting caloric needs providing the optimal ratio of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat) incorporating specific timing of meals/nutrition providing optimal micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) ensuring sufficient hydration Energy, nutrient needs, and nutrient timing can differ vastly from person to person or…