The Forever Athletic Podcast

Ian Wood
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Fitness
  • Updated weekly

The go-to podcast for over 30's who want to become high performing everyday athletes who not only dominate in the gym, but also in their careers and personal lives. Learn everything you need to know form the weekly episodes about how to train optimally AND efficiently around busy schedules and high stress lifestyles.

  1. 2 days ago

    Ep212. How to Deal With Cravings.

    🎯 Ready to stop starting again every Monday? Doors to the next Start With 6 intake are open now.Join here: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm talking about the one food, or the one situation, that derails you more than anything else. Nearly everyone's got one, and most advice tells you to just avoid it completely, which tends to backfire into exactly the binge it was trying to prevent. I want to talk properly about how to deal with food cravings, because the answer isn't a ban, it's a plan. I'll walk you through practical ways to keep a trigger food around without it taking over, and why deciding your approach in advance beats relying on willpower every time. Then I'm bringing in a concept called Circles of Control, which pairs with this perfectly. You can't always control whether a trigger food shows up in your week. You can always control your plan for when it does, and that shift changes everything. In This Episode Why banning a trigger food outright usually makes it worse, not betterHow to deal with food cravings with a plan instead of a rulePractical ways to keep a trigger food around without losing control of itWhy pairing a trigger food with protein or fibre changes how much of it you actually wantThe Circles of Control concept, and why it's one of the most useful mindset shifts in this whole programmeWhat's actually within your control versus what isn't, and why that distinction mattersThe one line I want you thinking about next time a craving hits Why This Matters Most advice on how to deal with food cravings comes down to "just don't have it," and for a lot of people that's exactly where things go wrong. When a food is completely off limits, it tends to take up far more space in your head than it deserves, and that often ends in eating far more of it than you would have if it had just been allowed in moderation from the start. A better approach is deciding in advance how a trigger food fits into your week, rather than leaving it to chance and hunger in the moment. Portioning it deliberately, not buying the family size if it's a known problem, pairing it with something more filling rather than eating it alone when you're already starving, all of this makes a real difference without requiring a total ban. This connects directly to Circles of Control. You can't control whether a trigger food turns up this week, a colleague brings biscuits in, someone serves dessert, that's just life. What you can control is your plan for that exact moment, whether you've eaten enough beforehand, whether you've decided your portion ahead of time, and how you respond if you do have more than planned. Spending energy on the bit you can't control gets you nowhere. Spending it on your next decision gets you everywhere. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachingwww.coachianwood.com/startwith6 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. 🎯 Ready to make this the intake that actually sticks?Join Start With 6 now: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

  2. 5 days ago

    Ep211. Why Most People Quit Their Diet and The Basics of Healthy Fats.

    🎯 Ready to stop starting again every Monday? Doors to the next Start With 6 intake are open now.Join here: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm telling you something before it happens instead of after. Week 4 is statistically where most people's motivation dips hardest. If that's you right now, you're not failing, you're exactly on schedule, and I want to explain why that happens and why it doesn't actually matter if the rest of your plan was built properly. Then I'm getting into healthy fats for weight loss, because this is probably the most misunderstood macro out there. Fat got labelled the enemy years ago and a lot of that thinking still hangs around, even though cutting it too low usually backfires. I'll explain what fat actually does in your body, roughly how much you need, and why the problem was never fat itself. If motivation's dipped this week, or you've been avoiding fat thinking it's the smart move, this episode's for you. In This Episode Why week 4 is where motivation typically drops off hardest, and why that's completely normalWhy a plan built on motivation alone was always going to struggle around this pointWhat actually carries you through a week like this insteadHealthy fats for weight loss, and why fat isn't the enemy it's made out to beWhat fat actually does for hormones, fullness and absorbing certain vitaminsWhy cutting fat too low tends to make you hungrier, not leanerWhere fat genuinely becomes a problem, and it's usually not what you think Why This Matters Nobody warns you about week 4. Results have usually slowed from the big initial drop in week 1, the novelty's completely worn off, and real life has fully reasserted itself. If that's hit you this week, it's not a sign anything's gone wrong, it's one of the most predictable points in any plan. This is exactly why a plan built entirely on motivation falls apart here, and why the non-negotiables and the system matter more in week 4 than in any other week. This is also usually the point people start looking for something to tighten up, and fat is often the first thing to go. Healthy fats for weight loss deserve a much fairer hearing than they usually get. Fat plays a real role in hormone production, in how satisfied you feel after a meal, and in absorbing certain vitamins properly. Cutting it right down doesn't accelerate anything, it usually just leaves you hungrier and less satisfied. The actual problem was rarely fat on its own. It's usually fat combined with a lot of carbohydrate in the same food, pastries, fried food, most fast food, which is easy to overeat because of how calorie dense and moreish that combination is. Healthy fats for weight loss, eaten properly, are part of a plan that works, not something to fear. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachingwww.coachianwood.com/startwith6 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. 🎯 Ready to make this the intake that actually sticks?Join Start With 6 now: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

  3. 10 Sept

    Ep210. PPPs: How to Stay on Track With Your Diet on a Night Out (Plus Post-Workout Recovery Simplified)

    🎯 Ready to stop starting again every Monday? Join the next intake of Start With 6.Join here: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm talking about the situations you already know are coming. A birthday, a night out, a Friday you know is going to be busy and messy. Most advice waits until you're in the moment and then asks you to rely on willpower, which is exactly why it doesn't work. Instead I'm introducing you to what I call a PPP, a Proactive Positive Plan. It's a simple idea, decide your approach to a tricky situation before you're in it, not while you're hungry, social, and a couple of drinks in. I'll walk you through exactly how to build one, using a big night out as the example. Then I'm covering post-workout recovery properly, what actually matters for helping you recover from a session and what's just noise you can ignore, including the so-called anabolic window that gets far more attention than it deserves. In This Episode What a PPP (Proactive Positive Plan) actually is, and why it beats willpower every timeHow to plan for a night out or big event before it happens, not afterWhy decisions made calmly in advance are far easier to stick to than ones made in the momentA simple example of planning food, portions and alcohol ahead of a big SaturdayWhat actually matters for post-workout recovery, and what doesn'tWhy the "anabolic window" is largely a myth, and what to focus on insteadThe one line I want you to remember before your next tricky social situation Why This Matters Nearly everyone can point to the exact moment a plan fell apart. A birthday, a work do, a heavy weekend, and it's rarely a surprise. You usually know it's coming days in advance, yet most advice still tells you to just "be disciplined" once you're there, hungry and three drinks in, which is the worst possible moment to be making considered decisions. This is exactly what a PPP fixes. Deciding roughly what you'll eat, what you'll order, and how you'll handle alcohol while you're calm and thinking clearly removes almost all of the pressure from the moment itself. Discipline in the moment is unreliable. A plan made yesterday is not, and that's really the whole idea behind proactive planning instead of reactive willpower. The same logic applies to post-workout recovery. There's a lot of noise around needing to eat within a strict window after training or hitting exact ratios of protein to carbs immediately. In reality, getting a reasonable amount of protein and carbs in within a few hours of training covers almost everyone's needs, and chasing precise timing beyond that rarely makes a meaningful difference. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachingwww.coachianwood.com/startwith6 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. 🎯 Ready to make this the change that actually sticks?Join Start With 6 now: www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

  4. 7 Sept

    Ep209. Are Carbs Bad for Weight Loss? The Truth, Plus What to Actually Look For in Week 3 of a Diet.

    🚀 Ready to stop starting again every Monday?Ready to lose your first 5kg in just 6 week? https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm covering your halfway point check-in and one of the most misunderstood questions in nutrition. If you're taking your second progress photo this week, I want to talk you through what to actually look for, because photos genuinely don't move in a straight line and comparing today to week 1 can send you down a rabbit hole for no good reason. Then I'm getting into it properly. Are carbs bad for weight loss? Short answer, no, and I'll explain why carbs have ended up with such a bad reputation when the actual evidence doesn't back it up. I'll cover what carbs are genuinely for, why total calories matter far more than which macro they come from, and why the real issue is never the carbs themselves, it's what they're usually paired with. If you've ever cut carbs, felt great for two weeks, then ended up bingeing on bread a month later, this episode explains exactly why that happens. In This Episode What to actually look for at your week 3 progress photo, beyond just comparing it to week 1Why the scale and the mirror both lie a bit day to day, and what's more reliable insteadAre carbs bad for weight loss? What the evidence actually saysWhy low carb diets often look like they're working when it's really just water lossThe real difference between carbs and the ultra-processed food carbs often get blamed forWhy fearing an entire food group tends to backfire laterThe one line I want you to remember next time someone tells you carbs are the enemy Why This Matters Halfway through any plan, it's tempting to judge everything off one photo next to another. Lighting changes, bloating changes, posture changes, and none of it reflects whether progress is actually happening. Energy levels, how your clothes fit, your waist measurement trend and whether you're still consistent with your habits tell you far more at this stage than a side by side photo ever will. This is also usually around the point people start second guessing carbs, especially if progress has slowed slightly from the initial drop in week 1. Are carbs bad for weight loss is one of the most common questions I get asked, and the honest answer is that total calories and consistency matter far more than which macro they come from. When calories and protein are matched, there's no meaningful difference in fat loss between higher and lower carb approaches. What actually causes problems isn't carbohydrate itself, it's the foods carbs usually get paired with. Pastries, fast food, most desserts, these are calorie dense combinations of carbs and fat that are genuinely easy to overeat. Blaming the carbohydrate for that is missing the actual issue, and cutting carbs out completely tends to just set up a binge on them further down the line. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachinghttps://www.coachianwood.com 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. Ready to build a fitness plan you can actually stick to?Ready to lose your first 5kg in just 6 week? ⁠https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6⁠

  5. 3 Sept

    Ep208. What to Eat Before a Workout (And the High/Low Method for Matching Food to Your Day)

    Ready to lose your first 5kg in just 6 weeks? ⁠https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6⁠ Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm covering two things that go hand in hand once you've got your calories and protein sorted. First, why eating the exact same amount every single day doesn't actually make sense, and what to do instead. Second, what to eat before a workout so your sessions don't feel like a slog. I'll walk you through the High/Low method, which is a simple way of matching your food to what your day's actually asking of you. Training day or big social plans, a bit more room. Quiet day at home, a bit less. Same weekly average, none of the stress of eating identically every day. Then I'm getting specific on what to eat before a workout, particularly for longer or harder sessions, because I still see people either turning up not having eaten anything, or eating a full meal far too close to training and feeling awful for it. Simple, practical, nothing that needs a food scale. In This Episode Why eating the same amount every day doesn't actually reflect what your body needsThe High/Low method explained, and how to use it around training days and social plansWhy planning for a big event in advance beats reacting to it afterwardsWhat to eat before a workout, and why timing matters as much as what you chooseThe exact type of carbs that digest quickly enough to actually fuel a sessionWhy fat is the one thing you want to avoid right before you trainThe line I want you to remember next time you're deciding what to eat before a workout Why This Matters A lot of people treat every day as identical when it comes to food, which sounds disciplined but doesn't actually match how your body's being used. A hard training day and a quiet day at home aren't the same, so there's no real reason your intake should be either. The High/Low method just builds that difference in on purpose, rather than either overeating on quiet days or under fuelling on the days you're working hardest. This connects directly to what to eat before a workout, because turning up under fuelled is one of the quickest ways to make a session feel far harder than it needs to. For anything longer or more demanding, getting some simple, easy to digest carbs in roughly an hour before training makes a genuinely noticeable difference to how the session goes. The detail people usually get wrong is reaching for something with a lot of fat in it, thinking it'll sustain them longer. Fat slows digestion, which means it's often still sitting in your stomach when you start moving. What to eat before a workout doesn't need to be complicated. Something simple, something quick to digest, eaten with enough time to actually settle. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachinghttps://www.coachianwood.com 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. Ready to build a fitness plan you can actually stick to?Ready to lose your first 5kg in just 6 weeks? https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

  6. 31 Aug

    Ep207. How Much Protein for Weight Loss (And Why the Scale Lies to You in Week 2 of a Diet)

    🚀 Ready to stop starting again every Monday?Join the Start With 6 Challenge: https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm tackling two things that tend to show up together around week 2 of any fat loss plan. First, the scale doing something weird. Stalling, jumping up, going the wrong way for no obvious reason. Second, this is usually about the point people start looking for the next lever to pull, and the one most people underuse is protein. I'll explain why the scale misbehaves in week 2 and why it's got nothing to do with the plan not working. Then I'm getting into how much protein for weight loss you actually need, because this is the one change that does more for hunger and results than almost anything else on your plate. I'll give you a practical range, how to hit it without turning every meal into a calculation, and why this matters just as much for a busy parent as it does for someone in a gym five days a week. If you've ever been "good all week" and still felt starving by mid afternoon, this one's for you. In This Episode Why the scale can stall, jump or move the wrong way in week 2, and why none of it means the plan isn't workingThe difference between a single reading and a trend, and why only one of them actually mattersHow much protein for weight loss you genuinely need, in real terms not just a formulaWhy protein does more for fullness and appetite than any other macroWhy protein protects muscle while you're eating less, so more of what you lose is fatA simple way to hit your protein target without weighing every mealThe real reason a lot of "mindless" eating later in the day comes down to protein, not willpower Why This Matters Week 2 is where a lot of people quietly start doubting the plan, usually because the scale hasn't behaved the way they expected it to. Water retention, sodium, hormones, harder training sessions than usual, all of it can move the number on the scale without any of it meaning fat loss has stopped. Reacting to one reading instead of the trend is one of the easiest ways to talk yourself out of something that's actually working fine. This is also usually the point where protein becomes worth a proper conversation. Getting protein right isn't about turning into someone who lives at the gym. It's the difference between feeling satisfied after a meal and feeling starving by mid afternoon, reaching for whatever's easiest, or finishing food off someone else's plate because you genuinely needed it. How much protein for weight loss you need isn't complicated once you know the rough range for your size. What actually changes things is building it into meals consistently, not just after a workout, so you're not relying on willpower to get through the rest of the day. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachinghttps://www.coachianwood.com 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. Ready to build a fitness plan you can actually stick to?Read to start you fat loss journey with 6 weeks of focussed coaching? https://www.coachianwood.com⁠/startwith6

  7. 27 Aug

    Ep206. Simple Meal Planning For Weight Loss Without Overthinking. Introducing the 3-1 Method.

    🚀 Ready to stop starting again every Monday?Join the Start With 6 Challenge: https://www.coachianwood.com⁠/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm talking about why most meal planning advice sets you up to fail before you've even started. It tells you to plan every meal, every day, down to the last detail, and most people burn out trying to do that by Wednesday. So instead I want to walk you through something simpler, which is what I call the 3-1 method. It's genuinely one of the most useful bits of simple meal planning for weight loss I teach, and the idea is this. You keep three meals a day fairly consistent, usually breakfast, a snack and lunch, and you leave one meal open, usually dinner. That's it. No spreadsheets, no meal prep Sundays, no trying to control every bite. I'll explain why this actually works better than a full meal plan, what to do with that one flexible meal so it doesn't turn into a free-for-all, and why this only works if your training and your food are treated as one thing, not two separate plans running against each other. In This Episode Why trying to plan every single meal is exactly what makes most people give up by midweekThe 3-1 method explained, and why it only asks you to be consistent where consistency is actually realisticWhy mornings are the easiest part of your day to control, and evenings almost never areWhat to actually do with your one flexible meal so it stays flexible, not chaoticThe hand portioning method, and why it beats weighing everything for that flexible mealWhy nutrition and training need to be built as one system, not two separate plansThe one line I want you to remember next time one meal doesn't go to plan Why This Matters Most meal planning advice assumes you've got an empty, predictable week to work with. Nobody has that. You've got work, you've got other people to feed, you've got days that go sideways with zero warning. A meal plan that demands total control over every meal was never built to survive contact with an actual Tuesday. That's the whole point of simple meal planning for weight loss done properly. It doesn't ask you to be perfect everywhere. It asks you to be consistent where it's genuinely easy, which for most people is breakfast, a snack and lunch, and it leaves the hardest part of the day, dinner, deliberately flexible. This matters because the all or nothing trap usually starts with one meal going differently to plan. If your whole day was meant to be rigid, that one meal feels like a failure and the rest of the day often goes with it. If only one meal was ever meant to flex, it's just Tuesday, and you carry on exactly as planned. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachinghttps://www.coachianwood.com 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. Ready to build a nutrition plan you can actually stick to?Join the Start With 6 Challenge: https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

  8. 24 Aug

    Ep205. What to Expect From Week 1 of a Diet, and the ONLY Number That Matters.

    🚀 Ready to stop starting again every Monday?Join the Start With 6 Challenge: https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6 Episode Summary In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I'm talking about the thing nobody tells you in week 1 of a fat loss plan. It feels easy. You're motivated, you're organised, the scale's probably already moved. That's not you finally cracking the code. That's just novelty doing its job, and it fades. So instead of riding on motivation, I want to give you something that actually lasts, which is understanding your calorie range for weight loss properly. Most plans hand you one fixed number and expect you to hit it every single day, which just isn't how real life works. I explain why a range beats a target, how to actually use one week to week, and why a big Saturday and a quiet Tuesday can average out to exactly the same result as being "perfect" all week, without the stress that comes with it. If you've ever felt brilliant in week 1 and then wondered where it all went by week 3, this one's for you. In This Episode Why week 1 always feels deceptively easy, and what's actually happening behind that feelingThe exact point in most plans where motivation runs out (and why that's not a personal failing)Why a fixed calorie number sets you up to fail the moment life gets in the wayHow a calorie range for weight loss actually works, using a real exampleWhy averaging across the week matters more than nailing one number every dayThe one line I want you to remember before you even open a tracking appHow this changes the way you think about a "bad" day Why This Matters Nearly every diet that's ever failed you probably started the exact same way this episode does. Brilliant first week. Then it quietly falls apart somewhere around week two or three, and most people blame themselves for that, when really it was the structure that was never built to survive real life in the first place. A calorie range for weight loss fixes the actual problem, not the symptom. It's not a looser version of tracking, it's a smarter one. It assumes you'll have a hungrier day, a busier day, a day you just fancy a bit more food, and it builds that in from the start instead of punishing you for it after the fact. This matters most for anyone who's noticed they're either "all in" or "why bother" with no middle ground. A range gives you that middle ground. It's the difference between a plan that survives one bad Tuesday and one that doesn't. Resources & Links 🌐 Coachinghttps://www.coachianwood.com 📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coachianwood About The Forever Athletic Podcast The Forever Athletic Podcast is for busy adults who are tired of starting over every Monday. If you want practical advice on fat loss, strength training, nutrition and building sustainable habits without fad diets, fitness misinformation or all-or-nothing thinking, you're in the right place. New episodes are released regularly to help you build a healthier, stronger body that fits around real life. Ready to build a nutrition plan you can actually stick to?Join the presale for the Start With 6 Challenge today: https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6

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The go-to podcast for over 30's who want to become high performing everyday athletes who not only dominate in the gym, but also in their careers and personal lives. Learn everything you need to know form the weekly episodes about how to train optimally AND efficiently around busy schedules and high stress lifestyles.

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