Welcome
Welcome to Flexible Fueling dot com, 2026 edition.
For those who don’t know, my name is Dave and I have been coaching women (and occasionally a man) since around 2010, online and in person at Doherty’s Gym in Brunswick, Reps Gym and Victory Fitness in Latrobe Valley, and more recently out of my private gym at Yanakie, just near Wilson’s Promontory National Park.
I have coached a variety of athletes and enthusiasts, martial artists, personal trainers, fitness instructors, medical professionals, university qualified nutritionists and dietitians, researchers and educators.
And for all of that time I’ve coached Energy Balance based systems, and not any of the fad diets that have come and gone.
IIFYM, Flexible Dieting, Macros, CI/CO… those are all much the same things with different names. I was one of the first doing it, and I believe I was THE first doing with an emphasis on being better fueled for sustainable results, mental health and quality of life, rather than on severe and permanent deficits.
I’m all about workable systems for people who want to ENJOY a passionate interest in training and fitness, not about strict dieting and “accountability”.
So, how does this work?
This is information that should be common knowledge by now, but it’s easy to be confused or mislead by people pushing extreme diets, or just people who aren’t as knowledgeable as they think they are, giving you a flawed and outdated version of the advice.
- Regular meals and snacks
- Enough protein and fibre
- Any reasonable selection of foods, including
- Enough of the nutrient rich choices
(eg: fruit and veg, grains, nuts and legumes, eggs and dairy) - And some of whatever else you’ll enjoy
- Enough of the nutrient rich choices
- In suitable portions to meet but not exceed the required total daily energy intake.
We can employ more convoluted or more simplistic strategies depending on what best suits our neurology as individuals, but that’s really what it all boils down to and that’s all you should really be concerned with.
Do follow any specialist individual dietary advice to manage a medical condition, allergy or tolerence within that context as well, if applicable.
On an individual basis, one selection of foods may make adhering to the above easier than others, but we do not need to do restrictive “clean eating”, paleo, low carb, keto, or other approaches if we don’t find them appealing. We do not need to fear processed or ultra processed foods either.
Most people cannot be expected to simply eat foods they are told are “the good foods” that they don’t happen to like, or abstain from what they are told are the “the bad foods” that they do happen to like. This is unreasonable and unworkable for most people, and especially so if you are on the spectrum with sensorary issues.
What is the “required total daily energy intake” though?
This varies for each individual subject to height, age, gender, and activity level.
We will use my new Metabolism And Macros Calculator to come up with some estimates for you as an individual.
That’s free.
Do not pay anyone else for “macros” or similar.
Most of them will just look up an online calculator or chatgpt and cut n paste whatever answer it gives them, apply no thought to it, and if you have a crap time they’ll tell you “you need to be more accountable”.
Most of the calculators are not good, either.
And chatgpt is worse.
Do not pay anyone else for meal plans, either.
There are no magical foods that will make you ripped and evil foods that keep you fat. And it is unreasonable to expect people to eat foods that they don’t like, and abstain from foods that they do like.
Be aware of Adaptive Thermogenesis.
It is well establised by now that when you attempt to restrict to a severe deficit for too long, the body will respond by conserving energy. This is why people are often on very low caloric intakes without seeing fat loss. So conventional “whatever you are doing now, cut 500 calories to get back into deficit” versions of CI/CO or macros based advice is usually terrible, and this is what most randoms in facebook groups will tell you to do, and most AI models as well.
You need to be working to suitable totals, not restricting to insufficient ones.
And this is free?
Yes.
Because (a) this is information that should be common knowledge by now anyway, except that most people will give you a primitive version of it as described above, and (b) I’m not twisting anyone’s arm to sign up for paid coaching if they’re not really on board with the system.
Use my calculator to estimate your requirements, put the free advice here into practice.
You will soon realise that this is the best advice you’ve ever received from anyone, ever.
Once that happens, spread the word, send a tip, and consider signing up for a coaching package and then we’ll be best friends forever.
Does this work for weight loss?
I hate coaching weight loss because I’d rather that you focus on enjoying regular meals in suitable servings, enjoying productive training, enjoying improvements in performance, improvements in mood, and also appreciating changes in condition and appearance, whether the scales are moving or not.
But if you’re overweight, this is due to NOT hitting regular meals to suitable total intakes, and you would expect to lose weight via beginning to do so. Some people may initially see changes in measurements without as significant a change in weight and must resist the urge to do a knee jerk response back towards insufficent caloric intakes.
If you’re an “I will only start practicing good self care with regular meals and proper nourishment if you promise me [x amount] weight loss in [x amount] of weeks as a guaranteed outcome” person, please go away and come back when you’re ready to act like you’ve got some sense.
But in most cases yes you will see the best and most sustainable results in physical athletic condition by being more optimally fueled, rather than by trying to starve weight off with conventional dieting.
Now jump to my FREE Metabolism and Macros Calculator, put in your stats, and let’s get started!
