The Balanced Body Podcast

We commonly hear that you should never drop your calories too low, and for the most part this is good advice. But this rhetoric can keep a specific type of woman stuck. Particularly if you are short and only have a small amount of weight to lose, you may actually need quite a low intake to see results.

This week:

• When dropping your calories really low is actually the right call
• Reframing eating "too much" because you're probably eating exactly the right amount for maintenance
• Why "bad habits" probably aren't actually that bad
• You might just need to have more fun?
• Why fixing your relationship with food might matter more than your calorie target

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena - I offer individual consults and coaching packages.

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

This is like a Q&A style episode, except it's just from my notes app. I'm constantly jotting down misinformation I've seen or heard, things that have come up with clients and great questions from my DMs, so this is a mixed bag of topics, including:

• The least necessary carbohydrate gel
• Why treating your gut might be a very expensive distraction
• Is low fat dairy actually worse for you?
• Your body doesn't actually know you're deliberately fasting
• The worst pre-workout snack
• Is water enough to rehydrate you?
• Don't just rely on one protein source in your meals
• Free calcium calculator click here
• No one cares how you eat
• Does vitamin C stop you getting sick?

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena - I offer individual consults and coaching packages.

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

If you've ever lost weight, gained it back, and wondered what's wrong with you — this episode is for you.

I'm joined by Glenn Mackintosh, a psychologist who specialises in helping people with their relationship with food, their body, and their weight. We talk about why knowing what to eat is rarely the actual problem, and what's really going on when you can't seem to make it stick.

In this episode:

• Why it's not your fault that diets haven't worked
• How to want to change your body and feel okay in it at the same time
• When to see a psychologist vs a dietitian
• Why you might be chasing weight loss when what you actually want is something else entirely
• What to do if you've tried everything and keep ending up back at the start

Glenn's links:

• Weight Management Psychology Clinic
• Transformation Support Community
• Free eBook — The Missing Piece
• Mindset Questionnaire

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

A man stopped me in the supermarket the night before Run for the Kids to warn me about the importance of reading food labels. What he didn't know is that I was deliberately looking for a processed product with added sugar - and it was exactly the right choice for what I needed that day.

In this episode I use my own race day fuelling to talk through pre and post training nutrition, caffeine, fasted exercise, and why what is considered healthy always depends on context.

If you'd like more personalised support with your own training nutrition, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena

If you want a self-led program with more information like this, join the The Balanced Body Reset

I came across a post in a diet program Facebook group recently, which had 74 comments, all from people saying the same thing. They'd paid for a program, felt overwhelmed within the first hour, and just hadn't started. Some had been sitting on it for over a year, lurking in the group, watching everyone else make progress and wondering what was wrong with them.

Sound familiar? Because I think this happens more than we talk about. And I don't think it means you're lazy or unmotivated. I think there's usually something else going on, like perfectionism, fear of failure, waiting for the right time, waiting to feel ready. And the longer you wait, the harder it gets.

In this episode I talk about:

• The stages of change
• Why perfectionism tricks you into doing nothing at all
• The mistake of relying on motivation
• Acknowledging that life will never fully calm down
• How the way you perceive yourself influences your choices

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

Easter is one of those times of year where food is everywhere and it can feel really hard to stay on track without swinging to one extreme or the other. In this episode I'm sharing 12 practical strategies for navigating Easter in a way that supports your goals, without restricting yourself or ending up in that all or nothing spiral.

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

Why You're Not Losing Weight (Even When You're Doing Everything Right)

If you've been eating well, staying consistent, and still not seeing movement on the scales, this episode is for you. I'm walking through the nine most common reasons women hit a weight loss plateau, and what you can actually do about it.

In this episode:

• Why you're probably eating more than you think (and it's not your fault)
• The weekday restriction / weekend blowout cycle that keeps you stuck
• What metabolic adaptation actually means and when it's working against you
• Why the number on the scales can lie (and what to look at instead)
• Three practical options for breaking through a plateau

If you'd like more personalised support with this, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @nutritionbyhelena

If you want a done for you plan without the coaching commitment, come Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset

If fat loss is your goal, you've probably heard you need to be in a calorie deficit, but you might still have questions about how to practically achieve this.

In this episode, I walk you through the exact framework I use with my clients to set up a calorie deficit in a strategic, sustainable way.

We cover:

• What a calorie deficit really means

• How to estimate your maintenance calories

• How big your calorie deficit should be?

• How to set a protein target to support muscle

• How to structure meals and snacks

• How to monitor progress

• Why you need a maintenance plan and exit strategy

If you'd rather not calculate and adjust all of this yourself, the Balanced Body Reset gives you a structure to stick to, support from daily voice notes and a very welcoming community of women with similar goals.

Or if you'd like all of this done for you with personalised guidance every step of the way, please send me a DM on instagram @nutrition.by.helena to discuss 1:1 coaching.

Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset 1:1 coaching: Message me on Instagram @nutrition.by.helena

Before we dive in, here are Laura's contact details:

https://www.scencephysiotherapy.com.au/

@scencephysiotherapy

And a few ways I can support you:

Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset 1:1 coaching: Message me on Instagram @nutrition.by.helena

I'm joined by Laura from Sence Physiotherapy, a women's health physio who specialises in pregnancy and postpartum care - specifically pelvic floor and pelvic health.

If you've ever wondered…

• "Should I see a women's health physio in pregnancy even if I don't have symptoms?"

• "Is leaking after having kids just normal?"

• "How do I return to exercise safely after birth?"

• "Is it too late to improve pelvic floor strength years postpartum?" …this conversation will give you so much clarity.

We cover what the pelvic floor actually is, why prevention matters, and the myths that keep women accepting symptoms they don't need to live with.

Laura is a wealth of knowledge, enjoy! x

Before we dive in, here are a few ways I can support you:

Join the Community: The Balanced Body Reset 1:1 coaching: Message me on Instagram @nutrition.by.helena

...

Today we're unpacking a huge 30-year study exploring what people eat in midlife and whether it predicts "healthy ageing."

Healthy ageing in this study meant:

• Living to at least 70

• Free from 11 major chronic diseases

• Maintaining cognitive, physical and mental function

Fewer than 10% of participants met that criteria.

So what were they eating?

We break down:

• How the study was conducted (and its limitations)

• The dietary patterns analysed (Mediterranean, DASH, plant-based indices and more)

• Which pattern showed the strongest association with healthy ageing

• The foods most consistently linked with better long-term outcomes

• The impact of ultra-processed foods

• Where saturated fats, red meat and sodium fit into the picture

We also talk about why unsaturated fats (including vegetable oils) were positively associated with healthy ageing, which really contrasts with some current social media narratives.

As always, I finish with practical takeaways you can actually apply: hitting your veggie targets, increasing plant diversity, adding nuts and legumes, and reducing reliance on processed meats.

If longevity matters to you, this is a conversation worth listening to.

And if you enjoy the episode, I'd really appreciate a rating or share to help me reach more women and support them to live longer, healthier lives too x

Original study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12092270/#Abs1