Personal Training with
Nicky Jankovic

Top tips to help you make the right nutrition choices and create a lean athletic physique.

• Aim to eat 6-8 meals every day, every 2-3 hours. This will keep your metabolism firing and your body in fat burning mode.
• Ensure each of these meals includes a lean protein source such as chicken, fish, tuna, egg whites, protein powder or lean cuts of red meat.  You can also include low fat dairy sources (watch the sugar content), like cottage cheese and yoghurt. Protein is an important part of every cell in your body, and no other nutrient plays as many different roles in keeping you alive and healthy. It is vital for the growth and repair of your muscles, bones, skin, tendons, ligaments, hair, eyes and other tissues and without it you would lack enzymes and hormones required for metabolism, digestion and other important processes. It is of particular relevance if you are trying to build, or maintain lean muscle. The other benefit of protein is that it has a good satiety effect, which means it will help give you a feeling of fullness.
• If you are trying to build lean muscle and be able to train hard, you must eat carbohydrates. The timing of the carbohydrates you eat is important. Eating complex carbohydrates first thing in the morning will help fuel your body for the day after fasting through the night. Your body requires carbohydrates for energy so be sure to include sources around training times. That means having a source of carbohydrates before, during and after to get you through your workouts, and ensure your body has the nutrients to recovery and grow. The best sources are traditional oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, rice cakes and fruits.
• Vegetables are also carbohydrates but I like to think of  these more as a great source of fibre, nutrients and as a ‘filler’. The rest of the meals in your day should include a variety of vegetables and salads to help keep your body full of vitamins and minerals, as well as keeping you full. They are extremely low in calories (most), and therefore you can eats lots of them without putting on weight. The other bonus of eating your greens is that because they are so full of fibre, your body has to work hard to digest them, resulting in your metabolism being increased.
• Based on 6 meals a day you could structure you meals as, 3 meals with carbohydrates and 3 meals with salad/vegetables. For example, breakfast, your meal before training, and your meal after training, add your carbohydrate sources to your protein, then the other 3 meals rely on your salad and vegetables alongside your protein and fats.
• Fats are another important factor in the nutrition equation. They play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair, insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, promoting healthy cell function and are necessary for fat- soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K to be digested, absorbed, and transported . Often women cut out all the fat from their diet and then are left wondering why they cannot reduce their body fat any lower. The body requires a certain amount of healthy fat supply and if it ceases to get it, it will not release the remaining fat stores. Fat, like protein will also keep you feeling fuller for longer. It is important to realise that even with good fats, each gram of fat has 9 calories (protein and carbohydrates hve 4 calories per gram), so over double that of protein and carbohydrates. So you need to be careful in the amounts of fats you eat. Eat too many calories from any source and you will gain weight. Healthy fat sources include foods like nuts, olive oil, avocado, and seeds.
• Cheats - Allowing yourself the odd high calorie/high sugar food will help you stay on track and be involved in life’s activities. What works best for me is to know that I have two opportunities available a week, where I am free to eat something I want if I really feel like it. I like having the option to make the choice for myself rather than telling myself my cheat meal has to be on a particular day at a particular time. I have tried scheduling, however often I don’t feel like having it at that time. It really is finding what works for you. I know many competitors plan their cheat meal for a certain day and that is their reward for sticking to their plan throughout the week, and they have a lot of success with this approach. In most cases, I find that if I always leave myself with a choice, I generally decide not to have it and decide instead to have a lean body. The worst thing to tell yourself is that you ‘CAN’T’ have, because as soon as you get that in your head, you want it more, and the more you say no the bigger the blow out tends to be. If you do slip up don't beat yourself up about it. It happens! The best thing to do is enjoy the food, move on and get back on track. You don't want to make yourself feel guilty, because in most cases us girls end up telling ourselves 'Well I have messed up now so I might as well each as much as I want and get back on track tomorrow.' Then we try to make up for it by doing extremes the next few days, then back to the binge etc...and the cycle continues. So again if you slip up....accept it, move on, and get stright back on your plan!
• A note on diets: There are many different diets and eating plans on the market these days.  The majority of them work, however people often don’t (or can’t) stick to them long enough to see results. When deciding on improving your daily food choices, make sure you find a plan that will work for you. You need to find something YOU can stick to day in/day out, year round for the rest of your life. Create a nutrition goal that becomes a lifestyle.