Eating for training when you have never tracked anything

Protein at every meal

Aim for roughly 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Practically, that is a palm-sized portion of meat, fish, eggs, dairy or a plant equivalent at each of three or four meals. Hit that and the rest of your diet has a lot of room to be imperfect.

Decide which direction you are going

Losing fat and gaining muscle quickly at the same time is a beginner's privilege and it does not last long. Pick one direction for eight to twelve weeks: a small deficit for fat loss, a small surplus for size, maintenance if you just want to get stronger and feel better.

Small is the operative word. Half a pound a week in either direction is fast enough, and slow enough that you keep your strength.

Carbs are training fuel

Hard sessions run on carbohydrate. Cutting carbs to near zero and then wondering why your sets feel heavy is the most common self-inflicted training problem there is. Put the bulk of your carbs around the sessions you care about.

• A carb-containing meal two to three hours before training
• Protein and carbs within a few hours afterwards
• Water through the day, not just during the session

The three habits

Protein at every meal. A vegetable or fruit at most meals. Cook more meals than you buy. That is the whole thing — everything past it is optimisation, worth doing only once these are automatic.