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This month's Hot Seat features repeat guest Steve Winrow of Winrow Performance, answering nutrition questions from our coaching athletes. Steve is a sports nutritionist with a background in exercise physiology, working with everyone from recreational runners to professional tennis players. He's also one of Nick's current athletes, training for a sub-3 Manchester Marathon.

Topics Covered

Overmarketed Nutrition Trends Steve calls out three: low-carb/keto diets (no benefit for endurance performance — the "godfather" keto study was based on just five athletes), fasting protocols (overstated benefits largely based on rodent studies), and the gut health/probiotics craze (not harmful, but a well-balanced diet does the heavy lifting).

Intermittent Fasting & Autophagy The autophagy argument doesn't hold up. Hard endurance training is already a far stronger stimulus for cell repair than fasting. Withholding fuel post-training just impairs glycogen replenishment and increases inflammation. Fasting can work for calorie control — but it doesn't do anything metabolically "fancy."

Appetite Hormones: Ghrelin & Leptin Ghrelin drives short-term hunger (rises before meals, drops after). Leptin reflects longer-term energy status and sits in fat tissue. Rapid weight loss drops leptin fast, which slows metabolism — one reason weight loss stalls. Protein is the most effective macronutrient for managing satiety. Poor sleep and underfuelling disrupt both hormones.

Key Takeaways

1. There is no benefit to low-carb or keto diets for endurance performance. If you want to run fast, eat carbs.
2. Fasting is fine for calorie control but does nothing special for cell repair or metabolism.
3. Aim for 2g/kg protein per day. Use the 3-2-1 method as a starting point and adjust carbs to training load.
4. Fuel the work required — ~0.8–1g/kg carbs either side of hard sessions.
5. Sleep is your number one recovery tool. Prioritise it ruthlessly.
6. Consistency is the biggest predictor of success. Illness and injury kill consistency. Recovery prevents both.

Guest Details

Steve Winrow — Winrow Performance Instagram: @winrowperformance Weekly newsletter every Monday (February focus: recovery)

Right, that's us done. If that was useful… share it. Stick it in your club WhatsApp, send it to that mate who's always getting injured three weeks before race day. You know the one ;)

If you want to go deeper on any of this, Nick puts out videos every week on YouTube, and the entire team of coaches are sharing helpful tips on their instagram channels... links below. And if you're thinking you actually need a proper plan and someone in your corner… we've got Guided Coaching from 97 quid a month, right up to full one-to-one coaching with the coach of your choice. Either way, maximummileagecoaching.com is where you want to be.

See you on the next one.

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