People expect a personal trainer to have some perfectly optimised meal plan with weighed portions and colour-coded Tupperware. I do not. I eat proper food, I eat enough of it, and I time things loosely around when I am training. Here is an actual day from my week — not a curated Instagram version, just what I really ate.
Breakfast — 7:00am
I coach the early sessions at The Engine Shed so I need something quick that is going to keep me going through the morning. Most days that is three eggs scrambled on two slices of sourdough toast with a bit of butter. Sometimes I will throw some smoked salmon on if I have it in the fridge. That gives me around 30 grams of protein and enough carbs to feel alert and energised for the first few hours.
I am not someone who can train on an empty stomach. I know some people swear by fasted training but it does not work for me. I feel flat and my performance is noticeably worse. So I eat.
Pre-training — 12:30pm
I usually train myself around 1:30 or 2:00pm in the gap between the lunchtime and evening sessions. About an hour before, I will have something with a decent amount of carbs and moderate protein. A typical one for me is a chicken wrap with rice, peppers and a bit of hot sauce. Or leftover bolognese from the night before on some pasta.
The key here is carbohydrates. Carbs are your body's preferred fuel source for high-intensity training. If you go into a heavy session with no carbs in you, your performance will suffer. It is not complicated. Eat some rice, pasta, bread, potatoes — whatever you like — before you train.
Post-training — 3:30pm
After I train I am usually genuinely hungry, which is a good sign. I will have a protein shake blended with a banana and some oats. It takes about 30 seconds to make and gives me roughly 40 grams of protein plus some fast-digesting carbs to start the recovery process.
I am not religious about the "anabolic window" thing. You do not need to neck a shake within 30 seconds of your last rep or your gains will disappear. But I do think getting some protein in within an hour or two of training is sensible. Your muscles have just been broken down and they need the raw materials to rebuild.
Dinner — 7:30pm
Dinner is usually the biggest meal of the day for me. A typical one would be lean beef mince chilli with rice and some avocado on the side. Or salmon fillets with sweet potato wedges and green veg. I try to get a proper portion of protein, a good serving of carbs to replenish what I used in training, and some vegetables because, honestly, most of us do not eat enough of them.
I will be honest, this is not what every day looks like. Some nights I will have a pizza or a burger and that is fine. I am not going to pretend I eat perfectly seven days a week because I do not. Nobody does. The point is that most of the time I am eating enough protein, enough carbs around training, and enough overall food to support what I am asking my body to do.
The takeaway
You do not need a meal plan to eat well around training. You need to eat enough protein across the day, put some carbs in before you train, get some protein in after, and eat proper food at dinner. That is it. Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and do not beat yourself up when you have an off day. One takeaway is not going to undo a week of good eating.
