4 Simple Nutrition Tips (Plus 1 Bonus) to Fuel Your Training

4 Simple Nutrition Tips (Plus 1 Bonus) to Fuel Your Training

At Wilmington Strength, we believe training and nutrition go hand-in-hand. You can’t out-train poor fueling, and you don’t need a complicated plan to perform at a high level.

The truth is, most athletes and adults alike make nutrition harder than it needs to be. They chase the next “secret” diet, or overanalyze every macro until they get stuck doing nothing at all.

Our approach? Keep it simple. Focus on habits you can actually sustain. These are the four nutrition principles we teach every athlete and member — whether you’re training for speed, strength, or fat loss — plus one bonus habit that ties it all together.

1️⃣ Focus on Real Food

The foundation of any effective nutrition plan is real food — things that come from the ground, trees, or animals, not factories.

When you eat minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, and whole grains, you get more nutrients per calorie. That means more vitamins, minerals, and fiber that help your body recover and perform.

Real food also fills you up naturally. Compare a bag of chips to a chicken breast and sweet potato — same calories, totally different effect on your hunger and energy.

If you want to improve your training results, start by swapping out processed snacks for whole foods 80–90% of the time. It doesn’t have to be perfect — just better, more often.

Coach Tip: A good rule of thumb — if your great-grandparents wouldn’t recognize it as food, it’s probably not your best fuel source.

2️⃣ Prioritize Protein

If we could give one universal piece of nutrition advice, it would be this: eat more protein.

Most athletes (and adults) are under-eating it by a lot. Protein is responsible for repairing muscle tissue after training, building lean mass, and keeping your metabolism high.

It’s also the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it keeps you fuller for longer and helps control cravings — especially late at night.

A good daily target for most active individuals is 0.8–1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If that feels high, start small: add a quality protein source to every meal (chicken, beef, eggs, fish, or a shake).

Over time, this one change will have a bigger impact on your body composition than any supplement or “quick fix.”

Coach Tip: Aim for at least 25–35 grams of protein per meal. If you’re hungry two hours later, you probably didn’t get enough.

3️⃣ Track Body Composition — Not Just Weight

The scale can lie.

When you’re training consistently, it’s common for your weight to stay the same even as your body fat drops and your muscle mass increases. That’s why we don’t just track weight — we track body composition.

At Wilmington Strength, we use the InBody system to measure weight, muscle mass, and body fat every 2–4 weeks. This gives us objective data to guide nutrition adjustments.

For example:

• If your muscle mass is climbing but your weight is stable, you’re likely adding lean tissue — great progress.
  
  
• If your body fat is trending up, we might fine-tune calories or timing.
  
  
• If your performance dips, we’ll look at whether you’re under-fueling or under-recovering.
  
  

Without data, you’re guessing. With data, you can make smart changes that actually move the needle.

Coach Tip: Consistency beats intensity. A few data points over time tell a better story than one random weigh-in.

4️⃣ Stay Hydrated

This one’s simple — but most people still miss it.

Water supports nearly every function your body performs: digestion, energy production, temperature regulation, and muscle contractions. Even a 2% drop in hydration can reduce strength, speed, and endurance.

A good starting point is half your body weight in ounces per day, plus extra if you’re sweating heavily. (Example: a 180-lb athlete should aim for ~90 oz daily.)

Spread it out — don’t try to “catch up” at the end of the day. Add electrolytes if you’re training in heat or doing long sessions.

Coach Tip: Keep a water bottle with you everywhere — and drink before you feel thirsty. Thirst means you’re already playing catch-up.

🔁 Bonus Tip: Write It Down

Tracking what you eat for even one week can be a game changer.

A study from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found that people who kept daily food journals lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t. The National Weight Control Registry also found that consistent food tracking was one of the top habits among people who successfully lost and maintained weight.

Why? Because awareness changes behavior. When you write things down, you notice patterns — like skipping breakfast, under-eating protein, or relying on snacks to fill gaps.

Once you see it, you can fix it.

You don’t need to track forever. Even one or two “audit weeks” each month can help keep your habits in check and show us where to make small tweaks that add up.

Coach Tip: Use your notes app, a basic spreadsheet, or MyFitnessPal. The best system is the one you’ll actually use.

Final Thoughts

Nutrition doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be consistent.

Start with these four simple habits — real food, more protein, smart tracking, and hydration — and add journaling as your awareness tool. Over time, these small steps will fuel better recovery, stronger training, and leaner, more durable performance.

If you want help building a plan that fits your training schedule and goals, we can help.

💬 Book at Wilmington Strength, and we’ll show you how to dial in your fueling strategy to match your performance goals — whether that’s gaining lean muscle, improving power, or getting faster on the field.

To your success,

Coach Matt & the Wilmington Strength Team

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