My name is Angie and I am a fitness freak who trains EIGHT times per week. I am a total F45 Lutwyche addict. We all know that. Getting my nutrition correct has been a difficult journey. If I eat too little, I lose fat but I get weaker in the gym because I also lose muscle. Drastic dieting also caused my menstruation to stop completely for TWO YEARS (but that is a blog post for another day). Eat too much, and I gain fat which makes body-weight exercises (pull ups, push ups etc) far more challenging. For the last twelve months I have been blindly guessing what to eat to support my level of training. I am not overweight but my goals are to continue to gain muscle/strength and to shed some body fat from my abdomen/thighs. A balance I can never seem to get right. After many months of trial and error macro-nutrient counting (and failing), I decided to enlist professional help. I found an accredited dietitian. THE Sports Dietitian, Taylor Ryan. You only need to look at her instagram for about two minutes to see that she is a nutrition nerd inside the body of a total babe. My initial email to Taylor went something like this: “Hi Taylor, I just wanted to make contact before I book in with you. I am looking for advice regarding my nutrition however before we start, I have some non-negotiables. If you won’t let me have dairy, gluten, coffee or dessert we may not be friends”. I have learnt through dozens of generic meal plans over the years, that if my favourite foods are not on the plan, then the plan is not sustainable. I NEED dairy. I NEED gluten. I NEED coffee. I NEED dessert. Luckily Taylor was happy to accommodate my demands and I booked in my initial appointment. My initial assessment involved an in-depth discussion regarding my goals, my training, and a fat pinch test with calipers. I told Taylor that one of my biggest vices is dessert. I CAN NOT finish my dinner and go to bed without something sweet. If ANYONE can do this, I would like to meet that axe murderer. I requested that Taylor incorporate Brisbane product Fitlato into my meal plan as my dessert every night. This gelato is low calorie, creamy and incredibly tasty. I mean..... look at it. Taylor agreed to my demands. When I received my meal plan a few days later, I flipped straight to the dessert section. My allowance was HALF A TUB of Fitlato after dinner every night. YOU BLOODY BEAUTY! I HAD to eat Fitlato every night!! It was in my plan!! The dietitian told me to! Was this a dream? So I embarked on (yet another) 8 week challenge. Unlike previous plans I had followed in the past, Taylor included a generous amount of food so my energy levels were great. I felt strong. I never felt deprived because I could have my coffee, pasta, bread, milk, cheese, and yoghurt. They were all incorporated into my plan. Best of all, I was eating dessert every single night. Half a tub of Fitlato! Entirely guilt free! I have tried many types of “healthy” ice-creams. Halo top, Fropro, and more recently the new Blue Ribbon low calorie ice cream. None of them are perfect. Some are too icey (fropro) , some make me thirsty (halo top), and some make me EXTREMELY bloated the next day (Blue Ribbon). Jane from Fitlato has somehow found the right recipe. I can eat Fitlato with zero bloating, zero thirst, and the consistency is perfect. Every week I would go in to pick my favourite flavours and I couldn’t decide. “I LOVE Cheesecake, Apple pie and Ferraro….. oh but I also love Carrot Cake, Malteaser, Salted Caramel, Cinnamon, and Honeycomb!”. DECISIONS DECISIONS. Through all this reckless gelato eating, people from the gym started to approach me to tell me how good I look! My clothes fit better and I feel so strong! Fast forward to eight weeks later. I checked in with Taylor to have my fat pinch tests done again. I lost nearly two and a half kilos of pure fat (mostly from around my abdomen). The best part is that I didn't lose ANY muscle whilst achieving this fat loss. A feat that I have always found incredibly difficult. Want photo proof? I know that for eight weeks, two and a half kilos of fat doesn't seem like much. We look at drastic weight loss before-and-after photos ALL THE TIME on instagram. In comparison, mine don't look anywhere near as impressive. BUT! Most rapid weight loss results in muscle deterioration (unless you are new to exercise) so my approach had to be slow, steady and balanced. AND IT WORKED! The best part about doing it gradually is that I am not hanging out for the end of the challenge so that I can go and binge out on “treats”. I have been treating myself the entire time! I didn't count ONE bloody macro-nutrient either. If you have counted "macros" before you will know how tedious it can be. I feel great and look pretty good for an old chook with two kids. I am in a really good place and I am not done yet! Taylor has on her website the quote: This resounds with me HUGELY! Eat to support your body in your training. No starvation. No diets. No restrictive eating. HELLO FITLATO!!!!! Have you tried Fitlato? What is your favourite flavour?
A HUGE THANK YOU TO: Jane at Ciao Gelato who fueled me with Fitlato throughout this whole challenge. Go and check them out at Ciao Gelato, Nundah. Jane (@sweetfitpharmacist) is a Pharmacist who (with her husband, Indi) quit their professional careers to open a gelato shop. They saw a demand in the market for a dessert product with the right balance of macronutrients tailor-made for the fitness community. After HUGE amounts of research, they nailed the recipe for Fitlato. You can talk to Jane for hours about how their product came to be (and I have). If counting macros is your thing, they have ALL the nutritional panels on their website. Fitlato is available in selected IGA's in Brisbane and at Ciao Gelato in Nundah. Get behind this local product. Taylor, the Sports Dietitian for showing me the way with my meal plan and who has gradually increased my daily calories over eight weeks while STILL achieving fat loss. F45 Lutwyche - my home away from home. The people who constantly push and inspire me to be fitter and stronger. Being fit takes a village!
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