A fitness coach who transformed her body by changing her approach to food has shared her typical daily diet for staying lean and healthy.
Sophie Allen, 31, from Sydney, alternates between ‘cutting’, ‘bulking’ and ‘maintaining’ the same amount of calories, depending on what her specific goals are at that time.
‘Bulking’ is a period of eating in a strategic calorie surplus to gain muscle mass, while ‘cutting’ is eating in a calorie deficit to lose weight.
‘Maintenance’ is how you eat when you want to stay at the exact weight you are.
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A fitness coach who transformed her body by changing her approach to food has shared her typical daily diet for staying lean and healthy (Sophie Allen pictured now)
Sophie Allen (pictured), 31, from Sydney, alternates between ‘cutting’, ‘bulking’ and ‘maintaining’ the same amount of calories, depending on what her specific goals are
‘I am currently maintaining. I’m eating about 2,000 calories per day and tracking what I eat intermittently,’ Sophie said, adding that she has both a ‘sweet’ and ‘savoury’ breakfast
‘I am currently maintaining. I’m eating about 2,000 calories per day and tracking what I eat intermittently,’ Sophie posted in an Instagram video.
For the 31-year-old, this normally means two decent breakfast options, lunch, a snack in the afternoon and a hearty dinner with plenty of fibre, complex carbohydrates, protein and vegetables to keep her full to the next day.
On this particular occasion, Sophie started with a ‘sweet’ breakfast of oats with berries and cacao nibs.
She followed this with a savoury option of two poached eggs on rice toast with avocado and she’ll often make a coffee at home.
At lunchtime, Sophie has a protein-rich meal.
This time, it was kangaroo sausages with white rice and mixed vegetables including zucchini, tomatoes and carrots.
Around 3pm before a training session, she likes to have a snack of dark chocolate.
‘Dinner is grass-fed steak with greens, mushrooms and lots of potato chips,’ Sophie said.
The 31-year-old is a strong believer in the fact that you don’t have to deprive yourself in order to achieve what you want with your health and fitness goals.
At lunchtime, Sophie has a protein-rich meal of kangaroo sausages, white rice and mixed vegetables, and dinner is steak, greens and chips (pictured)
Sophie admitted that her goal with her weight used to be to be ‘skinny’, and so she would starve herself thinking it would give her what she wanted (pictured before and now)
Sophie admitted that her goal with her weight used to be to be ‘skinny’, and so she would starve herself thinking it would give her what she wanted:
‘All I wanted was to be skinny, to shrink parts of myself that I didn’t love,’ she previously wrote on Instagram.
‘Skinny was “in” when I started my fitness journey… then I decided to blow up the ideas I had around beauty and focus on getting STRONG.’
Sophie said she used to prioritise cardio over strength work, and would eat as little as possible – around 1,400 calories per day – only to ‘binge’ on cheat meals at the weekend.
It took her months of researching why she wasn’t seeing the results she wanted to completely change her thinking and her approach.
‘I was chronically under-eating, under-recovered, spinning my wheels, not progressing, burning through any muscle I gained, building no strength or solid technique… no wonder I wasn’t getting anywhere,’ she said.
‘It took me a while to figure out the style, frequency, type, volume and intensity that I was able to recover from in order to get the best results for my goals.
‘Now, I’ve taken my body through building phases to fuel my sessions to build the muscle I was after.’
She added: ‘I rest hard, I eat plenty, I sleep plenty, I lift plenty and I’ve got plenty of a**.’
Sophie said she used to prioritise cardio over strength, and would eat just 1,400 calories per day – only to ‘binge’ on cheat meals at the weekend (pictured before and now)
Sophie (pictured) trains between three and four times a week, eats 2,000 calories or even slightly more on any given day and follows a flexible dietary approach
Sophie trains between three and four times a week, eats 2,000 calories or even slightly more on any given day and follows a flexible dietary approach.
Flexible dieting is a popular and simple weight loss plan that allows foods that fit within your specific daily macronutrient targets.
This way of eating provides dieters freedom in their food choices, which may help them to keep weight off over time and create a positive and healthy relationship with food.
She said if you want to lose weight, you need to train smart not hard in order to see results.