Did you know that you don’t have to be going 100mph your whole dieting phase? Do you think you needed to always be pushing more cardio or eating less food?

Are you a female who’s always struggled to get lean glutes? Do you find yourself feeling that it is impossible?

Have you got to a point where fat loss has stalled? You’ve tried everything but you just can’t seem to get leaner, right? In truth, it is simply that your body has adapted to its current input and output; as such, staying there is no longer creating enough of a negative energy balance (calorie deficit) to continue to lose fat.

Have you ever heard someone say they’ve just completed their ‘recomp’ and you have no idea what they are talking about? Are you confused as to why you would complete one if the goal was to add more muscle mass?

Instagram might make dieting look cool and give you the impression that it is very easy; however, in reality, this is far from the truth.

If you follow competitors on Instagram, you may see that – on the odd occasion, whilst they are dieting – they will have a day in which they consume a lot of food. This is known as a refeed.

If it is your first time dieting for a show/shoot, or even just a holiday, it can feel a little overwhelming to know where to begin. There is so much information out there telling you about “This is the best diet ever”, or that “Keto is King”, it’s easy to get confused when you don’t quite know what you’re looking for.

As I write this (Aug 2021), I am currently in the process of doing 4 shows in a twenty-day period! It’s the first time in my competitive career that I’ve ever done something like this. In 2017 I only did one show; then in 2020 I did one show before lockdown hit, and therefore I had never truly experienced what it feels like to do back-to-back shows or multiple shows over a short period of time.

If you have dieted in the past, you will have no doubt hit a point where fat loss either slows down or completely stalls. This can be incredibly frustrating if you are already doing a lot of output (cardio and steps) and not eating very much. This is usually when people give up and say, “this just isn’t for me”, when in fact it is, it’s just about knowing what to do to continue to elicit more fat loss.

Although many things have changed over the years with bodybuilding, there are two things that have remained consistent: the rate at which you add muscle mass and the rate at which you lose body fat. The only thing that has changed over the years is our patience with each of those goals.

A high day(s) is a simply a strategic increase in calories that is used during prolonged dieting phases, to aid with fat loss. It used to be more frequently referred to as a ‘refeed day’, but the terminology has changed, along with its practice and how its implemented.

You may have seen bodybuilders on Instagram posting up stories from their glucometer, showing their fasted or post prandial (90 minutes after eating a meal) glucose levels. You might find this odd because you tend to only see diabetics track these values; however, it is becoming increasingly common to do so amongst bodybuilders, as there is a lot of value in having this data.

In the bodybuilding world, it’s well established that we need to progressively increase the food on our plate to continue to grow. However, there will always come a time where one’s appetite simply does not permit them to eat the calories that they require for growth, without physically feeling sick. In the past, I would have always said that you should immediately recomp.

Are you supplementing yohombine whilst dieting? If so, do you know how it works? Or are you just taking it because you’ve been told too? Not to worry, I will break down how it works in layman’s terms and why it can aid in fat loss.

Now that the competing season has begun in the UK, you may have seen athletes posting photos on their Instagram stories with their physique/skin covered in big red patches (similar to sunburn). You may have wondered: what have they done to themselves there?! And if it has anything to do with dieting, how on earth does hot pink skin help with fat loss?

Many of you within the bodybuilding realm will know that assisted bodybuilders use the hormones T3 (triiodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine) when dieting for a contest prep, but these hormones are also sometimes also used by individuals who are doing photoshoots or looking for an extreme body transformation. Specifically, T3 and T4 can help accelerate fat loss throughout a dieting phase, which is great; however, as with other compounds, many will take them without knowing much about how they work and what they do.

One of the most commonly asked questions surrounding cardio is whether doing it fasted, first thing in the morning, burns more fat than if you were to do it at any other time in the day. I won’t even encourage you to google it, because there is an overwhelming number of different opinions out there. Some coaches swear by it without any logical reasoning behind it, whereas others are completely against it and will always encourage you to eat before cardio.