Nutrition Advice

I like to think I have learned a lot within the past year about nutrition, through my Personal Trainer qualification, my own research and personal trial and error. I looked extensively into nutrition when trying to fix my acne, and the subject just fascinates me - I am am massive foodie, a big believer in balance, treating yourself, whilst respecting your body and eating to reach your personal goals. So I wanted to note down a few things that I have found helpful, just the basics, easy to understand, and hopefully helpful tips that you can take away to better your understanding of food groups, nutrition and how to better your life through what you eat.

Firstly - a mantra to live by. You cannot out-train a bad diet. Just because you go to the gym a few times a week, and burn a lot of calories on a spin bike for example, does not give you the allowance to eat more that day, when for majority of the rest of the day you are sitting down at a desk, staring at a computer.

Try and have a balance of each major food group for each meal. E.g. some form of carb, protein, source, healthy fat on top of a bed of micronutrients.

Consume the majority of your starchy carbohydrates e.g. potatoes, rice, oats, before and after your training sessions.

Protein: made up of branch chain amino acids, essential for muscle growth and repair

Carbohydrate: the bodies primal energy source

Fat: a source of energy, as well as essential for efficient hormone functioning

Vitamins and minerals (from micronutrients): contribute to just about everything in the body – essential for immune functioning, gut health, skin health, energy, mood, cell reproduction and repair etc etc.

Food is energy – what is used is burned (calories), what is not used is stored as fat. Therefore, to lose fat, you simply need to be burning more than you are eating (a calorie deficit). If you want to gain muscle, you need to be eating more than you are burning (a calorie surplus).

In order to gain lean muscle, the best thing to do is start in a 10% deficit from your maintenance calories (burning the same amount as you are eating), and gradually increase your calories once you have dropped a certain amount of body fat until you reach a 10% surplus. Ensure you are eating wholesome, nutritional whole foods as this food is the best for the gut and will ensure lean muscle gains without too much fat storage.

Try and stay away from anything out of a packet or processed as the artificial ingredients are very bad for our gut health which can lead to stubborn fat.

If you can keep eating out to a minimum, this is your best option as there are a lot of hidden calories in food, and you cannot control this.

Track everything – this is the only way to be sure you will lose the fat; you need to be in control of your calories. I use Lifesum, myfitnesspal is another good one to use. Just make sure you do not have your activity connected to the apps, as it is better to work out your own BMR (basal metabolic rate – what you burn by simply existing) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure – the amount burned taking into account your daily activity) beforehand and set your own calories to an average per day.

Drinks: stick to water. Liquid calories are empty calories, they cause you to store fat and do not fill you up. Try and stay away from alcohol if you can if you are really serious about getting into shape – alcohol is highly calorific, and because of its effect on our perception, it also causes us to eat more unhealthy food in large quantities. 

We are all human, and it is normal to want a treat every now and again, whether this be a night out, a dessert, a fancy meal. This is fine, and encouraged, but just be smart with it. You need to burn off the energy in other ways, or intake less energy. For example, if you are going to have a big meal on Saturday night, including alcohol and dessert which may end up being a 2,000 calorie meal – just reduce your calories by about 200-300 less per day a couple of days before, and a couple of days after this, or reduce them to 100 less per day, and increase your daily activity so you are burning an extra 150-200 calories per day. As long as you are still averaging at your TDEE goal, it is fine to indulge every now and again, just be smart with it, and be aware of the extra work needed to compensate for this.

What should be on your plate:

Macronutrients – you need to have a source of protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat in every meal, as well as a variety of micronutrients per meal.

Good protein sources:

-          Chicken

-          Fish

-          Lean turkey mince

-          Grass fed beef

-          Protein powders (try and find a natural one without a lot of artificial ingredients)

-          Eggs

Good Carbohydrate sources:

-          Sweet potato

-          Pumpkin

-          carrots

-          Brown rice

-          Quinoa

-          Lentils

-          Beans & pulses

-          Apples

-          Bananas

-          Berries

-          Rolled oats

-          Wholegrain bread (sourdough or rye – in moderation)

-          Mushrooms

-          eggplant

Good fat sources:

-          Avocado

-          Eggs

-          Organic nut butters (check ingredients – should be 100% nuts)

-          Almonds

-          Cashews

-          Macadamia nuts

-          Chia seeds

-          Flax seeds

-          Pumpkin seeds

-          Extra virgin olive oil

-          Hemp seed oil

-          Avocado oil

-          Coconut oil

-          Ghee

-          Edamame beans

Micronutrients (your veggies)

-          Spinach

-          Kale

-          Broccoli

-          Bell peppers

-          Alfalfa sprouts

-          Asparagus

-          Green beans

-          Cauliflower

-          Cabbage

-          Peas

-          Onion

-          Garlic

-          Ginger

-          Zucchini

-          Herbs and spices

I hope you found this helpful, and if you implement any of these tips let me know:) Thank you so much to those of you who are reading my blog it really means a lot!

Getting Back on Track - how to achieve your goals in 2020

I love January. I know for some it is a dreaded month. However, it is a month where we all hit reset on our lives. We have blown out over Christmas and New Year, and most of us have this new found motivation to be the best version of ourselves - the ‘new year new me’ blah blah.

There is something about going into a new year, not much changes, but it does feel like a fresh start. I know it is cliche, but I say ride with it, the impact of making a new, healthy start can only effect you positively. I say, utilise whatever motivation you have, at whatever time it surfaces, this doesn’t have to apply to just January - but this is a time when most of us are in the same boat.

Now, for getting back on track, it is important that you do not adopt an all or nothing approach. For example, if you are someone who never goes to the gym, then in January decides to go 6x per week, come February, you will be back to square one. That is just not sustainable. Remember it is a marathon not a sprint. Start slow, maybe go once or twice a week, and build up from there. I guarantee this will be more effective, you will actually enjoy going, it will then become a long term habit, not a chore. The results you see will be much more significant. You can build up to the 6 times a week, but don’t start there. You don’t make it to the top of the mountain without climbing it first. This applies to anything you want to start, not just fitness. For example with me, I need a serious reset after Christmas, but I am not doing anything that I don’t usually do in my normal routine. I am just eating and training the same as I normally would. I am not placing any food restrictions on myself. I have just decided to cut out refined sugar and alcohol. Which for me are do-able (the sugar part will be hard, just as I have such a sweet tooth, but I eat too much of it and I am aware that I need to change, my skin is telling me this). I am cutting out alcohol purely because of the amount I consumed over the holidays, my body just needs a break. These two things I am only doing for January, and after that, I will do my best to practice moderation.

This brings me onto another point, as you can see, my changes are not drastic, but the changes I have made, have a reasoning behind them. Really figure out your why when it comes to habits you want to make or break, so when it gets tough, you can go back to your why and re-spark your motivation. It will be tough, be aware of this. Especially if you are looking to break a habit that you have been a slave to for years. This brings me onto my third point…

Get yourself some support. Say your new year goals out loud, tell your family and friends, write them down. You are far more likely to achieve something if it is actually written down in front of you and you have said it out loud. Telling your family and friends means you are now accountable to someone else, and if you do'n’t manage to achieve what you set out to do, you will feel like you have let them down. So this is a good motivator. Me and my family have created a Dry Jan Whatsapp group (lol) because we are all doing it together, and it really helps. Just small things like checking in at the end of each day to say you have achieved your goal for the day, and others are there to support and encourage.

Lastly, If you are like me, a new year is not just about what behaviours you want to change for the month of January. It is a chance to look toward the whole year and set some long term goals. For me personally, I have certain business goals I want to achieve within my industry, as well as personal goals and fitness goals. I think it is important to write these down, daily if you can. If you want something, be clear on what that is and keep it in your mind, because what you focus on will grow. I do believe it is manifesting your own reality to an extent, however the more you think about something, the more you are likely to take action on it. So it is ultimately down to you and how you choose to behave to get to where you want to be. So be clear on what you want, and implement the steps to get there. You will surely have to step out of your comfort zone, as no one has ever become a better/more successful person by staying in their comfort zone, but it will be worth it. Don’t think about the fact it is scary or uncomfortable, just move, and think later - I guarantee your thoughts after you have stepped out of your comfort zone will be totally different to the thoughts you had before doing so. Action over thought.

How to: Grow your booty

Lets be honest - us ladies all want a great ass. It is on trend at the moment and for me personally when my butt is looking good, I feel great about myself, strong and sexy, and who doesn’t want that. When I ask women what they want to achieve physique wise in the gym, 99% of them will also say they want a bigger butt, or a more shapely, and toned booty. So I wanted to share my top 4 tips on how to grow your glutes.

1. Compound movements

These are so so important and I talk about them all the time. I literally wont ever be able to stress enough how important compound exercises are for every aspect of your body, and in particular your glutes. If I could only perform one form of exercise for the rest of my life it would be compound exercises. They have so so many benefits and work every single large muscle group in your body. Every single leg and booty day should involve compound movements. I would go as far to say centre your workouts around them. These are all forms of your squats, deadlifts and lunges. I would include 2-3 of these into your workout. And for optimal growth, you want to be training your legs around 3 times a week. But make sure you are getting adequate rest in between. Remember with these moves to also go HEAVY. This is where you will make the most gains.

2. Eat

Think of food as fuel. If you are only consuming enough to provide you with the energy expenditure you use per day, there is none left over to go towards anything else. Basically, if you don’t eat a significant amount, you wont put on size. Unfortunately we cannot control where we want the weight to go. But if you implement proper training along with a healthy balanced diet of a lot of food, you will make good gains. Of course, with increase in muscle comes increase in fat, we cant help this, so it really depends on your goals. We need to make sacrifices. If you want to gain muscle, you need to be prepared to put on a little bit of extra fluff, because like fat, muscle will only increase if it is fed. It’s the opposite on the other end of the scale, if you want to lose weight, you will have to sacrifice a bit of muscle mass for this also. So just figure out what is the most important to you at this point in time. But if you want a booty, you wont get very far if you are not eating in a slight surplus.

3. Activation

This is a big one and is something I am actually guilty of not implementing enough. Our glutes are such a large muscle group and it takes a long time to get them fired up. I am struggling to think of a good example to compare them to, if you can think of a good one, let me know in the comments below.

I am going to go with a grumpy teenager analogy. Think about how long it takes to wake up a teenager at 7am to get ready for school. They probably snooze their alarm, their parents come in a few times to try wake them up, and after all these little nags, eventually they are up. It is similar with our glutes, they are such a big muscle that it takes longer to get them to wake up and take over. Usually, when performing our compound movements, a lot of us will be quad dominant and have the quads take over. However, if you activate your glutes beforehand, this will help get them ready to be the dominant muscle used for the movement. You can activate your glutes through crab walks, leg raises, glute bridges etc. You can also add a band if you want to get that extra isolation activation before your workout. This also helps to engage the mind to muscle connection throughput your workout which makes a big difference.

4. Progression

The last one I want to talk about is progression. You simply wont get far if you are not progressing. So TRACK YOUR WORKOUTS. This is so important, so you make an active decision to lift heavier than you did last session. When I don’t track my workouts, 99% of the time I will just stick to the same weight or rep range, because I wont be thinking - ok so I did this much weight last week, so today lets push for this. This is why I also highly recommend following a program and not just going in doing whatever on the day. With a program, you will be progressing throughout - and practice makes perfect. Stick to one program for about 6-8 weeks, and then move onto another one. Don’t switch it up every week, you will just end up moving in a circle.

You also do not just have to increase the weight. There are so many other forms of progression, for example your range of motion (maybe you are aiming for a deeper squat), time under tension (adding a pause at the bottom of the movement), increasing the reps or increasing the sets etc etc. There is so much you can play with. Just keep the exercises consistent and TRACK.

Lastly, I want to note down a few of my favourite exercises that I like to implement on my leg and booty days, so you can give them a go too :)

• sumo dead lift

• stiff leg romanian deadlift

• squat (conventional, sumo and front)

• leg press

• glute pull through

• hip thrusts

• good mornings

Thank you so much for reading this and if you read my blog posts on a regular basis. I want to run a little competition to say thank you. I am going to give away a free 8 week workout guide tailored specifically to you. So if you would like a chance to have me design this for you, to enter all you need to do is take a screenshot of my blog and share it to your Instagram story! Also go onto my page and tag two friends in my most recent instagram post. I will announce the winner in next weeks blog :)

Also - I am sorry if this post seems messy and all over the place, I genuinely spent like an hour and a half writing it and then accidentally deleted the whole thing and tried to recreate it in 30 mins lol. But oh well, these things happen. I promise the next one will be much better quality.

Thank you so much again and see you next week xx

The best diet that will get you the results you have been looking for

I have felt such a strong urge to write this post in the past few days as I feel I have not been completely honest about my food and diet journey, and what I am currently doing.

I have never ever been satisfied with the way I look - to be honest I don’t think anyone is. Especially in the line of work I have chosen, my body is basically my livelihood. A personal training career has always been my dream career - for as long as I can remember. And for the longest time, it was just that, a dream because I did not think my body fat percentage was low enough to be a PT, or my glutes were not big enough etc etc. There would always be a limiting belief created by myself that was standing in my way. So this stopped me from going after the career path I wanted. As a result of this, I partied too much, never dieted (I ate well, just probably too much, and the wrong food groups at the wrong times - my diet was basically 100% carbs and not much else). But I consistently showed up to the gym, and educated myself on weight training, because I just loved it, and the way it made me feel.

It was not until the beginning of this year, when I started working at a gym whilst looking for full time corporate work in London, that I actually thought - to be honest, I f**ing love it here and I feel like this is where I belong. As soon as I stepped in that gym, I just knew, and there was no turning back for me - I had to be a personal trainer. At this point I was seriously suffering with my skin issues as well, and I decided to really do some research into diets and what to eat to become shredded, that would clear my skin and give me all the energy in the world. Diets are glorified, trendy, and everyone wants to believe there is a quick fix to get them to where they want to be - so when you try and do research into optimal diets for fat loss - these are the first things you will come across. I fell right into this trap, and believed that I needed to be on some crazy restrictive diet to achieve my goals. So I basically tried out Keto on and off for 6 months, truly believing this was the answer to my fat loss conundrum. I am going to be honest, I saw great results very fast, I lost a load of weight in two weeks and my skin cleared up pretty much instantly. But I was f**ing miserable. I hated it, I was awful to be around, slowly my energy started deteriorating, I couldn’t lift as heavy as I usually would, I had no social life (which is depressing for a 22 y-o who has just moved back to London to be close to her friends), and every couple of weeks I would just go full out binge, my stomach was like an empty pit - then I would be back to square one and I would repeat the cycle again. This was really no way to live, and in my opinion, mental health is just as/if not more important than physical health, because if you are not mentally fit - you simply will not get where you want to be physically. Your mind is your most powerful muscle, if it is not keen, you wont do it.

The thing this little diet adventure did teach me however, was the importance of a balanced plate. I saw all those great results in the initial because my body had never really been used to eating a balanced macro plate in its life. So yes, increasing my protein intake and fat intake was great for my skin and my health, because our bodies thrive off this, but restricting carbs in the long run is just not something I can recommend - we need them to function, and we need them to be happy.

So from here, I decided that the carb restricting was just not for me. I then went on to believing that clean eating was THE way to achieve the figure I desired. Yes, clean eating makes you feel bloody great. I had energy again, my lifting significantly improved, I was losing weight, my skin stayed clear, I was fun to be around. But I still was not satisfied with my diet - I found every time I went out for dinner, or on holiday, no rules applied and I would still proceed to binge like crazy to the point where I felt sick. I thought it was because I was eating these unhealthy foods that my body was not used to, but in actual fact, I was honestly just stuffing myself, which ultimately was putting my body under stress.

So this takes me to where I am at now. I am going to be real, I am currently sitting at 20% body fat, which is such a healthy range for an average female. I am still trying to shed a little bit of fat, and it is working! But here is the thing, I am not actively trying, I have a goal in my head (I wont say what it is because that’s my personal goal), its not a dramatic decrease, I am just being mindful about not exceeding a certain amount of calories per day to keep me in a slight deficit that is sustainable and will help me reach my goal, and making sure I am hitting the macros that work for me. I am 99% certain I have PCOS so for me, it is good to save my carbohydrates for around my workouts. But other than that, I am just enjoying my food. I do love eating healthy, my body definitely thrives off this so I would say 80% of my diet is healthy, but if I feel like a glass of wine with my friends, I’m guna have it, if I want a date night, I’ll go for it, if I want to eat Kinder Bueno every day, I will (in moderation). I think the key is to enjoy what you are doing to get yourself to your healthy goal, be excited about it, and be excited about that treat here and there because you bloody deserve it for working hard.

I have honestly never been happier with my body than I am right now, I may not be the leanest Personal Trainer out there, but to me that is not what it is about. I do it because I want to help people, that is my true passion, I want to help people change their lives through what I truly love, and that is exercise and health.

And I believe my physique is attainable because I am the definition of your average girl. Doesn’t have abs, struggles to shift body fat and gain muscle quickly - but I have worked hard, and I have transformed my body, and I am very proud of what I have achieved, and I want to help other girls, in a world of unrealistic instagram goals - feel the same way. I am in no rush, I am just working towards a goal that is achievable for me, without decrementing my mental, social and physical health, but enhancing them.

A last note I want to put here before I will stop rambling on I promise is please do not compare yourself to what you see online. These teeny girls you see on Instagram are literally less than 1% of the population, they are not genetically normal, or they are putting themselves at risk to look like that. If you think of how many people you see face to face on a daily basis that look like that, the answer is probably less than a couple per week. Strive to be the best version of you, not someone else <3

Reasons why you should have a Personal Trainer

I am going to dive into some points to do with why I think it is so important to have a Personal Trainer if you are serious about reaching your fitness goals. Now, I am not saying this because I just got certified and I want you to hire me (but hire me! I am fab I promise ;)). I am saying this because I am talking from experience.

When I was training myself way back when, yes I saw little changes here and there, but never big differences that you would expect to see. It is only really within the last six months that I have seen phenomenal changes above and beyond what I tried to do for myself in two and a half/3 years, due to the fact that I decided to invest in Personal Training. I gained so much knowledge it was crazy, it just simplified things for me in terms that I could grasp, understand, and it was just great to have someone create a workout programme for me that I knew was right, I didn’t have to worry about not seeing results because the programme was tailored to what I wanted to achieve. See the pics I have posted below, there is no more than 2 years between the photos, and trust me when I say the changes were mostly within this year, I just don’t have many pics sadly (please always take progress pics, your weight fluctuates, your figure will not).

Nutrition wise, a trainer is so valuable here, they can work out your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) for maintenance, therefore they can plan your macros towards a deficit, a surplus or maintaining. I mean, anyone can figure these numbers out, however it isn’t usually something we would think about doing. I never did - and in actual fact, it is the foundation of your training. You cant build a brick house without bricks, look at it this way. Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand, which is something that kind of needs to be drilled into you by a professional in the field, because as much as we know this, we don’t want to believe it until we are really told by someone. My nutrition was not on point until this year, and this is when my changes sped up. Coupled with the right type of weight training for my goals you will be unstoppable seriouslyyy. This brings me onto what a trainer can do for you exercise wise.

A lot of the time, I am sure you just get inspo for your workouts from Instagram or Youtube, you know the videos where they tell you “this will grow your booty” or “six pack abs”. I too have fallen into this trap - now I am a big advocate of any kind of exercise is good exercise, as long as you are moving your body. And these videos are great if you are just starting out and need a little bit of extra confidence to push yourself into the weight area - this is what I used them for, I went by Youtube vids for years, and they actually helped me find my passion for weightlifting. However, they are only usually what I like to call on the surface videos. They do not explain the reasonings behind the reps and sets that they do, or the type of exercise, what it does and how it works. It is important to know this. If you are really serious about changing your body, you need a proper programme that is completely tailored to you and your specific goals. A lot of the time, what you see online are also just accessory exercises, these will do absolutely nothing for you if you do not start off with a basic strength foundation that is gained from your compound exercises, getting all of the muscles fired up.

There is also the element of cost when it comes to training. But to be honest, if you are serious about making a change in your life - you will invest in yourself and find a way. Say a trainer costs 70 pounds for an hour, maybe sacrifice a mid week dinner and drinks (which will easily come to 70 quid if you live in London). There are also other options, some trainers offer group sessions. Maybe you and a friend have the same goals, so try group training, this usually is the same price, but split in half between you and a friend e.g. instead of 70 you will pay 35 pounds each. But I cant speak for all trainers, you will have to speak to them about what they can offer you to help you financially. As I said, if you are serious, there are always options, and you will find a way.

Lastly, so many of us just have no idea where to start when it comes to weight training, muscle growth and fat loss. We also lack confidence when it comes to getting into the gym. A trainer can be your guide, and teach you everything you need to know, to give you that confidence to go off and do it on your own.

Taking all of this into account - and I know I said I was not going to #shamelesslyplug myself - but I want to give you amazing guys that read my blog the opportunity to have a FREE consultation and session with me. Starting from October, based in the Fulham area. So please hit me up! You can email me on hello@tashlankester.com, get in touch via insta, or the blog, or, if you are a friend, just message me girl I’m here to help. Any type of training you would like! We can have a sit down & chat over coffee, and then do any kind of session you desire, whether it be weights, outdoors etc, I am also available for a FaceTime consultation if you are not in London, I have got you covered. If this is the little kick you needed to start your fitness journey - it’s a sign! Don’t let it slip away. I will only be holding this offer open for October so get in quickkkk. Just a way of saying thanks so much for reading my blog I really appreciate it <3 <3 <3.

ALSO - stay tuned for my Sunday blog. It will be a daily routine vlog and everything that I do on a normal day-to-day. E.g. work, fitness, food, social etc etc. It will be a good one. I will also be posting it from SYDNEY. I am off to Australia for my graduation so make sure to follow my Instagram to see what I will be getting up to. I am so so excited. Will be a beautiful time filled with family, friends, laughter and all of the food and drink - because you can’t not when you are on holiday. And oh my goodness is it needed.

Thanks so much for reading, and please share with your friends and loved ones if you think they could benefit from a read.