I’m currently studying for a professional diploma in sports and exercise nutrition and to help me understand how it works in “real life”, I asked any friends who were working with personal trainers if they would mind sharing their nutrition plans with me. I got 4 responses, all from people trying to lose weight, and what they sent me was really interesting. There was certainly a theme.

• All of them had their fruit and veg at 5 portions a day, the rest of the carbs being made up of starches (brown rice, rice cakes, etc.).
• All of them had vitamin and omega 3 supplements included in their plan.
• All of them contained high sugar breakfast cereal and other processed foods.
• None of their plans included oils or healthy fats; all the fat came from meat, dairy, or processed foods.
• Everyone said they had trouble eating that much.

The first thing that struck me was the vitamin and Omega 3 supplements. If you’re following a properly balanced diet, you shouldn’t need them (although minerals are a different story, thanks to soil depletion). So where did the imbalance come from? Turns out, the answer’s mostly in the carbs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying carbs are bad. In fact, carbs are essential. They’re the main and most efficient source of fuel for the body, but they’ve had a bad press over the last few years with the rise of diets like Keto and Low Carb High Fat, which claim that carbs make you gain weight. This is, of course, nonsense. Certainly if you eat more calories than you need you’ll gain weight, and a lot of people who gain weight tend to do it eating sweet things or more bread or potatoes, but it’s not the carbs that caused the weight gain. It’s the calories.

Having already certified in two weight management programmes, I thought it would be interesting to see how these personal trainers’ plans compared to those. Bearing in mind that the personal trainers do fit their plans into current nutritional advice (45-65% carbs, 10-35% protein, and 20-35% fat), the fats are based on total fat without specifying saturated or unsaturated fats, the carbs are mostly from starches, and shakes being a major source of protein rather than oily fish, which only makes a appearance a couple of times a week at most.

If you look at the advice for weight loss, the quantities are generally 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. Those fats should come from healthy sources, like houmous, olive oil, avocado, oily fish, etc., and each meal should have that same balance of macro nutrients. It’s easier than you might think to put something like this together. It just takes a bit of planning and knowledge. Over the last couple of years, I’ve got used to this way of eating and now I’ve started teaching people to do the same. And while I would never say that your personal trainer is wrong, perhaps ask a few questions, and check some of their numbers. Because from what I’ve seen, the calculations don’t always make pure mathematical sense.