Nutrition: What your body needs...

There are many articles and lots of misleading information out there telling us what we should and should not eat, even telling us the amount of calories that we should be consuming. The problem with a lot of this information is that it is not aimed directly at you and for this reason it can only be considered a guideline.

Lets, for example, say you want to lose some weight or shift that last bit of body fat, maybe you know somebody that has tried the latest diet or has signed up to one of the many slimming clubs out there that is claiming so many success stories, so you decide to give that a try. You are then probably told a random amount of calories you should consume and maybe even cut down on your carbohydrate intake in order to succeed? If you are overweight and over eating, reducing your calorie intake will of course help you lose the weight, but can you sustain that? You need to be consuming the correct balance of food and know what works for you as an individual to be able to maintain the weight loss.
If it was as easy as just consuming a certain amount of calories then why are you not where you want to be?
The answer is simple, your body has it’s own dietary needs but you are being sold a generalised plan, aimed at the masses and not to what your own body requires.

Based on a healthy, balanced diet, we are told a man needs around 2,500kcal a day to maintain his weight. For a woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal a day. These values will vary depending on a wide variety of factors. So how do you know what you need to be consuming and what will work for you?

The first thing you need to establish is a set goal, what do you want to achieve? When do you want to achieve it by? Setting realistic goals is key to success.

Our body is a fantastic machine, absolutely incredible. It needs certain levels of carbohydrates, fats and proteins to be able to function. Here lies the tricky bit, all of that is dependent on you. It is affected by lifestyle, activity level, age, weight, height and specific goals. When you know all of the things that impact on how your energy consumption is calculated, you will begin to realise just why those ‘perfect for all’ franchise diet plans won’t work.

When you know what you are aiming for, the calculation of your macronutrients (macros) comes into play; this is a term describing the type of food that is required in large quantities in the diet, namely; carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The balance of these foods will vary depending on your goal and you as an individual. By getting this balance right, you will be able to sustain weight loss, build muscle and improve the overall performance of your body.

At Functional Training Collective, we are committed to education. We want you to understand what your body needs and why. We want you to know why you need that level of Carbohydrates, why you need that amount of Fats and why you need that amount of Protein.

We are not here to give you a meal plan. We are not here to offer you juices or shakes in place of meals. You won’t find us telling you to skip meals.
We want to empower you with knowledge, to help you understand all the incredible things that your body is doing with the fuel you give it. We believe that when you know all of that, when you listen to your body and accept that you are a unique bit of kit, you will succeed.

Functional Training Collective is about offering you all the tools you need to create a new lifestyle, a sustainable, healthy, happy lifestyle. We want to get to know you, understand your goals, appreciate your lifestyle and help you create a way of living that works for you.

Together ,we achieve more.

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