In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we cover the four nutrient deficiencies we see most commonly across our clients and in clinical practice. We discuss vitamin D, iron, magnesium, and omega-3, including how prevalent they are, why they matter specifically for active individuals, how to test for them properly, and what adequate intake actually looks like beyond standard reference ranges. We also cover how to address each through food first and where supplementation makes sense, including which forms and doses are worth using. As always, we wrap up with what we learned this week.

Whether you are a physique athlete, a recreational lifter, or someone looking to optimise their health and performance through nutrition, this episode is for you.

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Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we take a different approach and walk through what a typical day of eating actually looks like for each of us. We share our current training phase, calorie and macro targets, and how we structure meals around our schedules. We cover topics including fuelling early morning sessions, biasing macros throughout the day to allow flexibility at dinner, adjusting calories between training and rest days, and how autoregulation fits into a sustainable approach to building or maintaining. Whether you are tracking closely or operating with more flexibility, this episode reinforces that evidence-based nutrition can look very different from person to person.

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Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians podcast, we do a full breakdown on fat loss, covering everything from whether you are actually ready to diet through to what to do when progress stalls. We talk through dieting readiness, rate of loss, how aggressive you can afford to be depending on body composition and experience, and why protein targets in a deficit likely need to sit higher than what gets thrown around on social media. The conversation also covers cardio and NEAT as expenditure tools, why daily movement often drops more than people realise during a diet, and what metabolic adaptation actually looks like in practice versus the narrative that gets built online. We also discuss training in a deficit, performance red flags to watch for, and why progress photos, gym performance, and measurements deserve attention alongside the scale.

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Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

Refalo et al. paper:

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/9900/effect_of_dietary_protein_on_fat_free_mass_in.179.aspx 

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In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians podcast, we unpack the role of cheat meals in both bulking and cutting phases, from unstructured high calorie days to strategic diet breaks and refeeds. We discuss why context matters, how the term "cheat meal" can shape your relationship with food, and what the research says about diet breaks for hunger, satisfaction, and adherence during prolonged deficits. The conversation also covers the "superfood" label, we share a few foods we genuinely prioritise and why, including things like extra virgin olive oil, potatoes, dark chocolate, and berries. The episode wraps up as always with what we learned this week!

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we answer three listener questions, starting with how to reduce visceral fat more effectively, including realistic rates of loss, why visceral fat is more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat, and levers beyond a calorie deficit such as aerobic fitness, anti-inflammatory nutrition, sleep, stress, and alcohol. We then break down pre-workout supplements that actually have research support, including clinical dosing, timing, and why most off-the-shelf pre-workouts are generally underdosed. Finally, we discuss post-prep recovery priorities, the order in which the body restores function after a competition diet, realistic rate of gain in the first four to eight weeks, restoring energy availability, and specific considerations for female athletes around menstrual cycle recovery. The episode wraps up as always with what we learned this week!

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.

In this episode of the Bodybuilding Dietitians podcast, we tackle the question of whether a calorie surplus is truly necessary for muscle gain or whether maintenance can be just as productive. We discuss Eric Helms' 2023 study comparing maintenance to moderate and larger surpluses, how training age shifts the equation, and why training performance is the real driver of muscle growth rather than scale weight alone. We also cover whether high-dose antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E can blunt hypertrophy signalling when consumed close to training, what dosages the research actually used, and practical tips for timing supplements. The conversation also takes a lighter turn with yogurt bowl recipes, Ninja Creami tips, and as always, we wrap up with what we learned this week.

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.

In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we unpack how to structure your nutrition without rigid tracking, including the key differences between auto-regulation and intuitive eating, and practical tools like hunger awareness, portion anchoring, and body weight trend monitoring. We also discuss what deserves your attention most during prep versus the off season, covering everything from calorie deficits and training stimulus to sleep, progressive overload, and diet quality. Finally, we dive into whether increasing creatine from 5g to 10g per day offers additional cognitive benefits, what the current research actually shows, and who might benefit most. The episode wraps up as always with what we learned this week.

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

⸻

Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.

In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we unpack how to structure your nutrition without rigid tracking, including the key differences between auto-regulation and intuitive eating, and practical tools like hunger awareness, portion anchoring, and body weight trend monitoring. We also discuss what deserves your attention most during prep versus the off season, covering everything from calorie deficits and training stimulus to sleep, progressive overload, and diet quality. Finally, we dive into whether increasing creatine from 5g to 10g per day offers additional cognitive benefits, what the current research actually shows, and who might benefit most. The episode wraps up as always with what we learned this week.

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

⸻

Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.

In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we work through listener questions across three topics: early morning training nutrition, the interference effect from combining resistance training with other sports, and our current favourite exercises for hypertrophy across every major muscle group.

On fuelling, we cover practical strategies for pre-dawn sessions including hydration, carbohydrate timing, caffeine, and how to structure the night before to set yourself up. We then discuss the realities of balancing lifting with team sports or cardio, how to prioritise when goals compete, and what Damien learned firsthand from juggling football and bodybuilding prep. We wrap up with a full run-through of our go-to movements for lats, back thickness, quads, glutes, hamstrings, chest, abs, delts, biceps, and triceps, including why stimulus-to-fatigue ratio and enjoyment matter more than defaulting to the traditional barbell lifts.

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

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Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.

In this episode of The Bodybuilding Dietitians Podcast, we answer listener questions on dietary diversity, gut health, sleep during dieting, and sodium intake for active individuals.

We explore the concept of aiming for 30 different plant foods per week, why dietary variety may matter for gut health, and how physique athletes can increase food diversity without overcomplicating their nutrition.

We also discuss why sleep often becomes more disrupted during calorie deficits and contest prep, looking at both the physiological drivers and practical strategies that may help minimise disruption.

Finally, we unpack common misconceptions around sodium intake, including how much may be appropriate for active individuals, when higher intakes may be useful, and why consistency often matters more than aggressive restriction.

As always, we wrap up with what we learned this week.

⸻

Links & Resources

Coaching Services – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/enquirenow 

Website – https://www.thebodybuildingdietitians.com/

Instagram

The Bodybuilding Dietitians – https://www.instagram.com/thebodybuildingdietitians/?hl=en

Team TBD – https://www.instagram.com/_teamtbd_/?hl=en

Jack Radford-Smith – https://www.instagram.com/jack.radfordsmith/?hl=en 

Damien Cox – https://www.instagram.com/dietitian_damiencox/?hl=en

Lauren Stevens – https://www.instagram.com/thephysiquedietitian_/?hl=en

⸻

Enjoying the podcast?

Make sure to subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a five-star rating or review, it really helps us grow and reach more listeners.