This week, during a TikTok binge I was shown a couple of videos of different women describing exactly what they ate in a typical day, one of them was titled, ‘what I eat in a day to stay slim’ and the other was, ‘what a fat girl eats in a day’. As someone who has made content like this in the past and regularly consumes this content, it made me wonder whether these posts are actually helpful?

I know I have been guilty of looking at a celebrity diet and exercise plan and comparing my own habits to it, maybe even trying it out in the hope of looking like that celebrity. This completely discounts the importance of eating and exercising for yourself - once we adopt another person’s habits in the hope of looking like them, we are essentially saying that our own body isn’t good enough and needs to change.

Even if we all ate and moved in the exact same way, we would all still look different, this is down to genetics and our social circumstances. The likelihood of me suddenly looking like a supermodel are zero - so why would I try to eat like one? By all means, if you choose to take steps to improve your health then that is wonderful but you should find a qualified professional who is able to build a plan for you, and your needs only.

There are plenty of general ‘ on size fits all’ diet plans out there encouraging people to eat the same food and macros in the hope of achieving fat loss but this doesn’t take into account that we all need different amounts of energy - every person is different. I would never program my varying clients the same workouts, so why the same food?

I know that some days I just feel ravenous (normally at certain points in my cycle) and other days I’m not hungry at all. Some days you might have done a particularly heavy weights session and need some extra energy. You might not feel hungry if you feel stressed out at work. There are a multitude of reasons why our energy requirements change - give yourself the space to allow for this. For me, it can create anxiety if I ignore my internal cues and rely on an external plan to set my calories.

So, if you find yourself comparing your food intake to someone online, your family, your friends or even your partner then stop. Focus only on yourself. Focus on what you want to eat, enjoy eating it and notice how you feel afterwards. As long as your food is nourishing you, satisfying your hunger and bringing enjoyment then that is enough.