Something needs to change. I can’t keep living like this. That’s the sentence I’m opening with today, because I know how familiar it can feel - whether it’s about your weight, your fitness, your sleep, your training, or just the way you’ve been living on autopilot. In this episode, I’m sharing what’s been going on behind the scenes for me over the last few months, why I intentionally stepped back from the podcast and social media, and what’s shifted since late November.

At the end of 2025, the life lesson that kept showing up for me on repeat was rest. I could see it, I wrote it down, I even knew what I needed… and then I ignored it. I kept pushing, kept delaying proper time off, and eventually my body forced the issue. I got sick with shingles, and then it didn’t stop there - I had the flu, COVID, then the flu again. These weren’t minor inconveniences. These were full stop moments where I had no choice but to rest, let go, and accept that no one can look after me if I don’t look after myself first.

In the middle of that chaos, something unexpected happened: an opportunity came up to work with a pro cycling team. I’d been craving more in-person connection - the kind you don’t get when you’re always remote - and in a very “timing is funny like that” moment, I found myself back in the pro peloton. I’m now the lead nutritionist for UAE Team ADQ. It’s been exciting, grounding, and honestly a little surreal… and it’s also added a whole new layer of travel, logistics, and constant movement to my schedule.

That’s where I shift into the bigger theme of this episode: how do you create any kind of routine when you don’t have a routine? How do you build consistency when your life is week home, week away, two weeks here, one week there - and everything feels fragmented? I’m talking about this from the perspective of my own fitness right now, because after months of illness, I’m at a low base I haven’t experienced in more than a decade. My brain still thinks I should be able to ride like I used to, but my body is very clearly telling me: this is your capacity today. Start with baby steps.

And that’s the part I want you to take with you - whether your goal is fitness, health, weight, performance, or just feeling more like yourself again. If you keep waiting for the perfect block of time to begin, the gap gets wider. But if you keep taking small steps - even imperfect ones - you stay connected to the version of you you’re trying to rebuild.

I also talk about the role of accountability, because I know myself: cold weather makes me moody, unmotivated, and dramatic about leaving the house. So I need structures that help me get moving anyway - friends, simple check-ins, micro goals, and events that give me that spark of excitement. I share why I signed up for Mallorca 312 as a way to create a forward anchor in my year. I’m not doing it to be race fit. I’m doing it to enjoy the day, feel the buzz, and give myself a reason to keep showing up consistently between now and then.

Finally, I’m sharing what’s coming next - I’m back, I’m excited, and I’ve got some really special interviews planned with athletes I’ve known for years, where we’ll talk honestly about their fueling journeys. And I invite you to send your questions in, because I want this podcast to support you in real life, not just in theory.

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/108

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

n this episode, I explore one of the most powerful yet overlooked parts of performance nutrition: understanding your why. After years of working with cyclists and endurance athletes, I’ve learned that the biggest breakthroughs rarely come from the perfect training plan or the newest gear. They come from learning how to fuel properly, consistently, and intentionally — and understanding the motivation behind your choices.

I share stories from the athletes I work with, including the rider who waited nine days to try one simple piece of homework that ended up transforming his performance within a week. I talk about carb loading, pre-race fueling, simple daily habits, and how taking imperfect action builds confidence far more effectively than waiting for the perfect moment.

I also dive into my own journey with language learning and how it mirrors the mindset shifts needed in nutrition. Whether you want to improve performance, prepare for a big event, support long-term health, or simply feel stronger on the bike, this episode is about finding the internal motivation that keeps you progressing — even when things aren’t perfect.

If you’ve ever struggled to take action, doubted whether a recommendation would actually work, or waited for the right moment to “finally start,” this episode will show you how powerful small daily steps can be.

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/108

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

I’ve seen it so many times — athletes, especially cyclists, pushing themselves hard while running on empty. They think eating less or staying in a calorie deficit will help them get leaner or perform better, but it often does the opposite. Nutrition isn’t just about calories in and calories out; it’s a science and an art.

In this episode, I reflect on how my own experience with illness (hello, shingles!) reminded me of the body’s limits and why recovery, fueling, and balance matter more than restriction. I talk about the real motivators behind behaviour change — how we often don’t act until we’re in pain — and how to start taking action before things break down.

From elite cyclists preparing for major races like Three Peaks or Ironman to everyday riders wanting to feel strong and energetic, the key is sustainable, realistic nutrition. I share insights into body composition, why eating more can sometimes mean performing better, and how fueling properly can completely transform training outcomes.

Key themes include:

How pain and setbacks motivate us to change

Why fueling is the most overlooked performance enhancer

The truth about deficits, metabolism, and body composition

How under-fueling affects hormones, bone health, and longevity

Building a sustainable nutrition framework for cycling success

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/108

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

What happens to my eating habits, mindset, and relationship with food when I get sick and have to stop exercising? I’ve been unwell for nearly a month and couldn’t tolerate any training—and it reminded me how important it is to have a baseline nutrition framework I can fall back on when life forces a pause. I also ran into a viral clip (possibly AI/fake) of a well-known trainer saying he’d “get fat” if he couldn’t train and that he’d micro-dose GLP-1s to avoid it. Whether that video was real or not, the fear behind it is—especially for cyclists and endurance athletes who quietly rely on training to manage body weight.

In this episode, I share how I navigate time off the bike without spiralling into restriction or panic. I unpack the difference between my baseline “stay-alive” nutrition and the training add-ons (before/during/after), why eating the same tiny number of calories every day backfires, and what changes when training volume drops to zero. I also talk through the myth of “I’ll gain weight instantly if I stop,” the Christmas/winter slump, and why picking a practitioner who truly understands endurance physiology matters. I even share a real example: someone trying to live on 1,400 calories while training 15 hours/week—and why that guarantees hunger, exhaustion, and rebound eating.

Key themes I cover:
I explain how I keep my body composition stable when I’m not training by eating my normal baseline meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus a snack or two) and simply removing the training fuel. I talk about responding to real hunger, recognising the “cookie-monster” appetite that comes from under-fuelling endurance sessions, and how smart fuelling reduces sugar cravings and weekend blow-outs. I also get real about winter, illness and rest: performance nutrition isn’t meant to be rigid—it’s meant to adapt.

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/108

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

I used to wait for the perfect time to start making changes — whether it was improving my nutrition, getting back into strength training, or simply adding more balance to my routine. I told myself I’d start next week, or after a trip, or when life slowed down. But the truth is, the perfect moment never comes.

In this episode, I talk about how that mindset holds us back from real progress. I share my personal journey with strength training — how I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to be sore before big rides, and how that avoidance led to back pain and frustration.

I also explore how this same mindset shows up in nutrition. Many people wait until January to make changes, but I’ve found that starting during the messy, busy months like November can actually set you up for lasting success.

Through my own experience, I’ve learned that progress doesn’t come from perfection — it comes from taking the first imperfect step, then showing up again and again.

Key themes:

Why waiting for the “perfect time” stops progress

How pain and discomfort often become our biggest motivators

Why taking imperfect action builds consistency

How to identify what really drives your goals

Creating change that lasts through everyday life

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/109

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

What happens when you perfectly carb load for a big event… and then it gets cancelled halfway through?

In this episode, I dive into one of the most common fears cyclists face — “Have I eaten too much?” — and explain why one day, or one meal, won’t make you gain fat overnight. Using my own experience in Majorca, I share what happened when I prepped for a 320km ride, only to pull the pin after 100km due to storms and torrential rain.

We explore what happens inside your body when you carb load, why your weight might fluctuate, and how that’s often just water and glycogen — not body fat. I also break down what I actually ate before and during the ride, what I burned, and how the numbers show it’s almost impossible to “overeat” when you’re fuelling properly for performance.

This episode is all about understanding the difference between fuel and fear, and learning how to work with your body instead of against it. Because when you start viewing nutrition as strategy rather than punishment, that’s when you become a truly well-fuelled cyclist.

Key themes:

Why carb loading increases weight (and why that’s a good thing)

The difference between glycogen, water, and body fat

How to mentally handle unexpected race day changes

The role of fuel timing before, during and after training

Why using exercise as punishment never works

The importance of course correction, not restriction

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/109

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

In this episode, I’m joined by Isabella Bertold, a professional cyclist and former world-class sailor, to talk about what happened when she took a test to find out exactly how much carbohydrate her body needed to fuel her cycling - and the results surprised her.

Like many endurance athletes, Isabella assumed she was fuelling well enough. But after taking a metabolic fuel test using XO Analytics, she discovered she’d been significantly underestimating her carbohydrate needs. The test revealed she could absorb between 110–128 grams of carbs per hour, far more than the 75 grams she thought was her limit.

We discuss what that means in practice - how she’s adjusted her fuelling strategy, what she’s learned from trialling different products and ratios, and why individual testing can change everything about how you train, race, and recover.

Isabella also talks about her past experience with under-fuelling, her fascination with health tech, and how she now uses tools like Hexis and skinfold tracking to monitor performance and energy balance without obsession.

We dive into the ongoing misconceptions about fuelling in women’s cycling, why proper carbohydrate intake is crucial for performance, and how a data-driven approach can replace guesswork and fear with confidence and strength on the bike.

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/108

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

In this episode, I’m joined by GB track and road rider Kate Richardson, who shares how learning to fuel properly has transformed her performance and her enjoyment of racing. Kate recently won the National Elite Women’s Crit Race in the UK, just months after we started working together, and her progress has been nothing short of inspiring.

Kate opens up about the confusion she felt around nutrition before seeking support—being overwhelmed by conflicting advice online and within the sport, unsure how to balance performance goals with health, and wrestling with the taboo that still exists around food and body composition in cycling. Together, we discuss how small but strategic changes have helped her train harder, recover faster, and race with more confidence.

From simple swaps like choosing Rice Krispies over oats before a stage race, to understanding how carb-loading really works, Kate explains how she’s learned to fuel smarter, not harder. We dive into her “lightbulb moments” around on-bike fuelling, the importance of planning ahead, and why food is never “good” or “bad”—it’s always context specific.

Kate also reflects on how her choices have had a ripple effect within her team, inspiring younger riders to fuel more and perform better. Her story is a brilliant reminder that eating enough is not just about surviving training—it’s about thriving in sport and life.

Key themes:

How positive change in one athlete influences a whole team

BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/107

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

In this episode, I sit down with two-time Olympic windsurfer and sports psychology graduate Ted Huang to explore one of my favourite topics: behaviour change and mindset. Ted and I recently met on a cycling trip in Italy, and our conversations quickly turned to performance, fuelling, and how psychology underpins so much of what we do in sport and life.

Ted shares his fascinating journey from discovering windsurfing as a teenager, to competing at the Olympic level, and later transitioning into road cycling. He explains how running professional cycling teams and studying organisational behaviour helped him see that athletic performance isn’t just about physical strength- it’s also about headspace, coping mechanisms, and mindset under pressure.

We dive into why so many athletes still struggle with fuelling properly, the fears that hold them back, and the ripple effect that positive changes can have beyond sport. From overcoming the “I don’t need it” mentality, to learning to fuel training better, to understanding how curiosity and self-awareness drive behaviour change - this conversation covers the mental and physical strategies that help athletes (and everyday people) feel and perform at their best.

Whether you’re an elite competitor, a keen weekend rider, or someone curious about how psychology and nutrition intersect, you’ll take away practical insights on how to eat, think, and approach training more effectively - without fear, guilt, or restriction.

Key themes:

Why mindset is the missing link in performance

The role of self-awareness in lasting behaviour change

Fuelling strategies for endurance cycling and multi-day events

Fear, food, and why restriction rarely works

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/106 

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475

In this conversation, I talk about the complexities of weight management and how fluctuations are often linked to things like water retention, hormonal changes, and dietary habits. I encourage you to look at weight as data rather than something to panic over, and I highlight the importance of building sustainable practices instead of chasing quick fixes. I also touch on the psychological side of how we perceive weight and why maintaining a healthy relationship with food and body image matters so much.

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BECOME A FUELLED CYCLIST

🧰 Get your free Nutrition Assessment: https://www.gemmasampson.com/ceacq

⛽️ Join The Fuelled Team: https://www.gemmasampson.com/join 

CONNECT WITH GEMMA

🌐 Website: https://www.gemmasampson.com

🎥 Youtube: www.youtube.com/@drgemmasampson 

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/drgemmasampson

🎤 Podcast: https://www.gemmasampson.com/podcast/105

🚴 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5723475