The Energy Plan

1. Food is Fuel: Your Body as an Engine

It’s no good looking great if you don’t have the energy to deliver a performance.

Your body is a high-performance vehicle, an engine that runs on fuel. This fuel comes from the food you eat, which is broken down through digestion into usable molecules like glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. These molecules are then converted into ATP, the body's main energy currency, powering everything from cellular maintenance to physical movement and cognitive function.

Energy expenditure has three main avenues. The largest is your resting metabolic rate (RMR), the energy needed for basic functions at rest, accounting for 60-75% of daily output. The thermic effect of food (TEF) uses about 10% for digestion. Physical activity is the most variable component, ranging from fidgeting to intense exercise, and offers the greatest opportunity to increase energy output.

Achieving an energy balance is key. This means matching your fuel intake to your body's daily needs, avoiding chronic deficit (underfuelling) or surplus (overfuelling). Thinking of food as fuel, rather than just calories or something to restrict, allows for a more positive and sustainable approach to managing your body's energy needs for peak performance in all aspects of life.

2. Know Your Fuels: Carbs, Fats, Proteins & Micronutrients

Focus on the fuels (the nutrients) and the calories will look after themselves.

Essential nutrients are the building blocks of your fuel. Macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, protein) are needed in large amounts, while micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) are needed in smaller quantities. Each plays a vital role: carbohydrates for rapid energy, fats for storage and protection, protein for maintenance and repair, and micronutrients for overall function and protection.

Carbohydrates are the body's primary rapid energy source, stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. They are crucial for high-intensity exercise and brain function. Prioritize low-GI (Glycaemic Index) complex carbs for sustained energy release, like oats or wholegrain rice, but understand high-GI carbs can be useful during intense activity. Fibre, a type of carb, is essential for digestion and satiety.

Fats provide concentrated energy and are vital for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins and building cells. Focus on 'green light' unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, oily fish) and reduce 'amber' saturated fats and 'red' trans fats. Protein is critical for building and repairing tissues like muscle, bone, and skin. Aim for adequate daily intake, distributed throughout the day, especially after exercise, using complete protein sources where possible. Micronutrients from varied fruits and vegetables are your primary protection, supporting immunity and overall health.

3. Match Fuel to Demand: The Performance Plate Principle

The demands you place upon your body each and every day are different, and so you must fuel your body differently every day to meet these demands.

Eating the same way every day, regardless of your activity level, is inefficient. The core principle of the Energy Plan is tailoring your food intake to your daily demands, just like elite athletes do. This flexible approach ensures you have the right fuel when you need it and avoid excess when you don't.

Build your performance plate with a simple four-part process. Start with maintenance (protein), the non-negotiable base for every meal. Add fuel (carbohydrates), adjusting the amount based on your day's activity. Include protection (vegetables, fruits, healthy fats) for micronutrients and essential fats. Finally, consider hydration, increasing fluid intake around training.

Three types of performance plates cater to different needs: the Fuelling Plate (equal parts protein, carbs, protection) for training days or sustained energy; the Maintenance Plate (more protein and protection, less carbs) for rest days or fat loss; and the Competition Plate (higher carbs) for pre/post-event fuelling. Snacks should support these plates, providing protein for maintenance or carbs/protein around training, rather than being mindless grazing.

4. Set Your Goal: Define Your 'Why'

It’s vital that the hook is meaningful enough to you.

Starting any plan without a clear goal is like wandering without a map. Simply wanting to "exercise more and eat better" is too vague. Your goal needs to be specific, tangible, and deeply meaningful to you – your personal 'why'. This intrinsic motivation is what will drive you when faced with challenges.

Elite athletes have specific, measurable goals that dictate their training and nutrition. Whether it's a boxer making weight, a footballer maintaining peak fitness, or a sprinter building power, their entire plan aligns with their objective. You should approach your Energy Plan with the same intentionality.

Identify your personal 'why'. Do you want more energy for a demanding job, to be healthier for your family, or to achieve a specific fitness milestone? Once your goal is clear and emotionally resonant, you can align your training and nutrition decisions to support it, making your efforts purposeful and sustainable.

5. Plan Your Energy: Daily & Weekly Structure

The weekly planner brings everything together to deal with the week ahead as part of your Energy Plan.

Structure your nutrition around your week's demands using daily planners. These microcycles, typically weekly, integrate your training schedule, work commitments, and social life. By planning ahead, you ensure your fuel intake aligns with your energy expenditure, optimizing performance and recovery.

Three main daily structures exist: the Medium Day (two fuelling meals, one maintenance meal, two snacks) for single training sessions or general fitness; the Low Day (one fuelling meal, two maintenance meals, two maintenance snacks) for rest days, fat loss, or travel; and the High Day (three fuelling meals, two-three fuelling snacks) for double training days or increasing muscle mass/weight.

The weekly check-in is the glue that binds your plan. Dedicate time each week to reflect on the past week's successes and challenges, using your monitoring data. Then, plan the week ahead, scheduling your training, meals, and shopping to proactively manage potential roadblocks and ensure consistency with your goals.

6. Build Winning Habits: Master Your Environment

You need to make it as easy as possible to make the right decisions for your Energy Plan.

Your environment significantly influences your choices. To succeed with your Energy Plan, proactively manage your surroundings at home, work, and even when travelling. Remove temptations, make healthy options easily accessible, and create visual cues that support your goals.

Establish winning behaviours at home. Stock your kitchen with the right ingredients, use smaller plates to manage portions, and minimize distractions like screens during meals to eat more mindfully. Get significant others on board; their support can be crucial, turning individual effort into a team approach.

Navigate the workplace and social settings strategically. Pack your lunch and snacks to avoid impulsive unhealthy choices. Treat lunch and training sessions as non-negotiable appointments in your calendar. When eating out, apply performance plate principles to menu choices and don't be afraid to ask questions or customize orders. Have a plan B for when things don't go perfectly, allowing for flexibility without derailing your overall progress.

7. Monitor What Matters: Beyond the Scales

Just because you can measure everything doesn’t mean that you should.

Effective monitoring provides feedback on your progress, but focusing solely on weight can be misleading. Weight fluctuates due to hydration, glycogen stores, and waste. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a blunt tool that doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle. Instead, focus on more meaningful indicators.

Assess body composition through waist measurements and how your clothes fit. These offer practical insights into changes in body fat and muscle mass. Aim for consistency in measurement methods (e.g., same time of day, same tape measure) for reliable tracking.

Prioritize subjective wellness tracking. Regularly rate your mood, energy levels, sleep quality, appetite, and soreness. This self-reported data is highly effective in understanding how your body is responding to your training and nutrition plan, often providing more valuable insights than objective metrics alone. Use a weekly check-in to review these trends and adjust your plan accordingly.

8. Recharge Effectively: Prioritize Sleep

No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation.

Sleep is a cornerstone of recovery and performance, vital for both physical and cognitive function. While often undervalued in the busy modern world, sufficient quality sleep is essential for muscle repair, memory consolidation, decision-making, and overall energy levels. Aim for a minimum of seven hours per night.

Sleep deprivation negatively impacts your Energy Plan, particularly fat loss. It disrupts hunger hormones (increasing ghrelin, decreasing leptin), increases cravings for high-calorie foods, impairs decision-making, slows metabolism, and reduces energy expenditure. Fighting your body by consistently undersleeping makes achieving your goals significantly harder.

Implement good sleep hygiene practices. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule, ensure your bedroom is dark and cool, avoid screens before bed, and limit caffeine and alcohol intake in the evening. Consider nutritional aids like protein before bed to support overnight muscle repair or foods containing tryptophan or melatonin, but prioritize the fundamentals of sleep hygiene and overall nutrition first.

9. Boost Your Defences: Nutrition for Immunity

Nothing derails your Energy Plan quite like a bout of illness.

Maintaining a robust immune system is crucial for consistent progress. Illness, particularly upper-respiratory infections, can halt training, disrupt routines, and impact performance in all areas of life. While exercise generally boosts immunity, intense or prolonged training can create a temporary "open window" of increased susceptibility.

Nutrition plays a key role in supporting immunity. Ensure your Energy Plan prevents nutrient deficiencies, especially in micronutrients like vitamins A, D, E, B6, B12, iron, and zinc. Fuel adequately around training, particularly with carbohydrates before hard sessions and protein/carbs for recovery, as underfuelling can depress immune function.

Include immunity-boosting foods and consider strategic supplementation. Probiotics can support gut health, a key part of the immune system. Zinc may help reduce cold duration if taken early. Antioxidants like Vitamin C and polyphenols (found in colourful fruits and vegetables) protect cells and reduce inflammation. Prioritize a food-first approach, focusing on a wide variety of colourful fruits and vegetables daily, and use supplements only when evidence-backed and necessary.

10. Travel Smart: Stay On Plan Away From Home

how to arrive at your destination and be on form so that you can deliver a great performance.

Travel, whether for performance (work, competition) or pleasure, can disrupt your Energy Plan. Long journeys cause fatigue, sitting for extended periods impacts metabolism, and crossing time zones leads to jet lag, affecting sleep, mood, and appetite. Planning is essential to mitigate these effects.

For performance travel, prioritize arriving ready to deliver. Adjust your sleep schedule towards the destination time zone before departure if possible. On the day, include light physical activity before travelling and eat a planned meal. During travel, stay hydrated, move frequently, and manage your food intake, often treating it as a low day unless fuelling for an immediate event.

Mitigate jet lag by strategically managing light exposure upon arrival. Seek daylight when you need to be awake and avoid it when you need to sleep. Embrace morning caffeine if you use it. For both performance and pleasure travel, pack essential snacks and supplements, research food options at your destination, and maintain basic activity levels (walking, swimming) to minimize negative impacts on your body composition and fitness.

11. Supplements Strategically: Evidence Over Hype

there are very few supplements that actually work.

The supplement industry is vast and often unregulated, filled with products making bold claims with little scientific backing. Many supplements are ineffective, a waste of money, and some can even pose health risks or interfere with training adaptations. Approach supplementation with caution and a critical eye.

Supplements should only be considered after the "big rocks" of your Energy Plan are firmly in place: adequate fuelling, proper recovery, and no nutrient deficiencies from whole foods. Supplements are pebbles and sand compared to the foundational rocks of consistent training and a well-structured diet.

Use a decision-making process for any supplement. Ask: Is it effective (based on high-quality evidence like systematic reviews)? Is it safe (check for third-party testing like Informed-Sport)? Could I get this from my diet? Only proceed if the answers support its use for your specific goal. Focus on categories with strong evidence like sports foods (for convenience/timing), certain micronutrients (to correct deficiencies or support immunity in specific scenarios), and a few performance aids (like creatine or beta-alanine) under expert guidance.

12. Age Actively: Adapt Your Plan for Life

you’re never too old to start.

Ageing brings physiological changes from your thirties onwards, including reduced aerobic fitness, resting metabolism, muscle mass (sarcopenia), and bone density. These changes can lead to weight gain, increased risk of chronic diseases, and reduced quality of life if not addressed. However, these effects are not inevitable.

Combat age-related decline through consistent exercise and tailored nutrition. Resistance training is crucial to maintain muscle mass and strength, counteracting sarcopenia and keeping your metabolism higher. Aim for at least two sessions per week targeting major muscle groups. Combine this with weight-bearing aerobic exercise for cardiovascular and bone health.

Adapt your nutrition to match your changing metabolism and needs. As your resting metabolism slows, you generally need less fuel, particularly carbohydrates, on less active days. Prioritize protein intake, increasing the recommended daily amount to support muscle maintenance and combat anabolic resistance. Ensure a high intake of micronutrients from a wide variety of colourful fruits and vegetables to protect against chronic diseases and support bone health (calcium and vitamin D). It's never too late to make these changes and significantly improve your health and energy as you age.

Last updated: May 8, 2025