If your motivation to train and improve your fitness or nutrition has been waning, here’s a few of my top tips to help you achieve your goals this year.

Whether the nutrition label happens to be something you regularly look at (or generally ignore) there’s bound to be at least one time when you look at all those numbers or nutrition claims and think what the heck does that mean? This list is to help you through that moment and understand those food nutrition labels.

Are you underestimating your portion sizes? Most people do. In my experience as an advanced sports dietitian, the average person underestimates what they eat each day by 500-1000kcal! Take the piece of bread I ate for breakfast yesterday...

Taking on an Ironman triathlon with a 3.8Km swim, 180-Km bike and 42.2Km run is no mean feat.

With little individually wrapped chocolates it's easy to eat them mindlessly not paying attention to how quickly they add up over time. It’s far better to incorporate a piece or two or one individual chocolate on daily basis as part of your every day nutrition plan, rather than to eat the whole block in one day on top of your normal food intake.

In recent years I've seen a huge rise in the number of people choosing to adopt plant based diets. A common concern for people transitioning into a plant based lifestyle is how to ensure you get enough protein from plants. This post shares some of the best plant based sources of protein when following a plant based, vegetarian or vegan diet.

If you don't like meat or prefer to follow a plant based or vegetarian diet, getting enough iron from plant based sources can be difficult to achieve. Difficult, but not impossible. With some careful planning it is possible for vegetarians to use plant based foods to achieve their iron needs.

This post provides nutrition advice for vegan athletes to ensure optimal balance, health and performance gains can be achieved.

Where do we begin reviewing the challenges and growth that 2020 has brought?! Here's 4 key life lessons I've learnt this year.

The average person is estimated to eat around 6,000 calories on Christmas day. Eating or drinking an extra 500 calories per day in the run up to Christmas means that some people find themselves with a few unwanted kilos by the time New Year’s Day arrives.

What does a mars bar and protein bar have in common? Both are small volume weighing around 50g a serve and on average provide 200-250kcal.

Many endurance athletes feel like they aren't doing enough training and try to constantly squeeze in another session to gain that extra training benefit. There's a fine balance between overreaching and overtraining. One pushes you and gets you stronger and fitter, the other can leave your performance in shreds resulting in injury and time off training. Here's my experience of what happened when I was intentionally overtrained as part of a research study.

How hungry and full are you before, during and after meals? Often I see peoples delaying eating to the point that their hunger levels drop to a ZERO. Leaving them so hungry they'll eat anything and everything and end up at a TEN where they are painfully full and feeling sick.

Low carb it may be, but every gram of alcohol in your wine provides 7 calories. Meaning if you drink a bottle of wine on the regular you’re adding an extra 500kcal to your energy intake. Thats the same as 100g or chocolate or 2kg broccoli.

Thinking of doing an Everesting? Deciding to climb 8848m on the bike in one ride is no mean feat. Beyond the mental and physical challenge, ensuring that you are well fuelled and hydrated to support your efforts is a key factor in your success. Here's an insight into the nutrition planning that went behind fuelling an Everesting attempt for me.

Do you use cheese as a source of protein? While a standard serve of cheese is approximately 30g, to get at least 20g of protein you need to eat over 80g providing more than 300kcal in energy.

Day one or one day? There's no perfect time to start. You don't have to be 'doing it perfectly' right from the get go. You just have to start.

Want to get better cycling results next season? Perhaps it’s time to start thinking about working with a coach. Without a doubt, I think it can be one of the most worthwhile investments you can make as an athlete for optimal performance gains.

Whether due to a dairy intolerance, cows milk allergy or personal choice to follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, getting enough calcium from plant based sources alone can be difficult to achieve. Difficult, but not impossible.

With some careful planning it is possible for vegetarians to use plant based sources of calcium to achieve their calcium needs.

You don't have to be an elite or professional athlete to benefit from nutrition support and advice. Here's 10 reasons why you should see a Sports Dietitian to get the most out of your cycling and triathlon training.