Weight loss isn't about spending 60 minutes on a treadmill watching your will to live fade.

• Lift weights. Do intervals. Walk daily.
• Train to build strength, not just shrink.

Why? More lean muscle = higher metabolism = more calories burned while doing sweet F All.
Walk more, alot more. Don't see exercise as just for weight loss , see it as Health, as a non negotiable,  now get going!

Let’s get one thing straight before we dive in: if you think you can rock up to a 100K + ultra with a packet of bloody hard jubes and a half rotten banana, you’re dreaming e hoa. Running an ultra marathon in New Zealand isn’t just “a big run” — it’s a full-scale war between your legs, your screaming brain and your gut. If you don’t fuel right, you’ll hit the wall harder than that angry fella I saw on Aussie MAFS recently.
So, here’s how you actually feed the beast…… ( the beast being you, kia ora). 

Not keto, not carnivore, not "I only eat activated kale with Himalayan sea salt" bullshit. CARBS.
When you’re 60km deep into some muddy goat trail in the Tararuas or 20 hours deep into your fave Back Yard Ultra and your soul is leaving your body, it’s carbs that’ll keep you moving — not your smug willpower or your Goggins Mantra…...although to be fair at riverhead BYU this year I could have done with someone carrying a boat with the deluge that happened. You should be aiming for about 60–90 grams of carbs per hour during the race. If you're a maniac doing 100-milers, even up to 120g/hr is possible — but practice it before race day unless you want to spend half your ultra fertilising the trail.
Pro Tip: Mix it up — gels, chews, bananas, white bread sammies with jam, and hell, even cold boiled potatoes with a sprinkle of salt. Variety stops your gut from going on strike. And having options helps when you just cant stomach something anymore.

You can have the fanciest gear (with no idea) and legs carved from Kauri, but if your gut folds mid-race, you're screwed.
Training your gut is non-negotiable. Every long run, practice eating and drinking exactly like you would in the race. Start small, add carbs slowly, and build up. Your gut is a muscle; treat it like one.
Golden Rule: Drinking to thirst is the go, but if your really moving often about 500–750ml of fluids per hour, with electrolytes ( see 3 below) helps unless you want to cramp like a stiff legged goat halfway up the Okatiana climb.

​Newsflash: you can sweat buckets during a New Zealand ultra. Whether you’re grinding up mountains or baking alive somewhere on the South Island’s exposed tracks, electrolyte balance can make a difference.
You’re losing sodium, potassium, magnesium, and other tasty minerals. Replacing just water without salts can actually kill you. Seriously. Google "hyponatremia" if you’re feeling spicy.
What to do:

• Use Salt capsules
• Eat Salty food (chips, pretzels, breads with spread)
• Sports drinks with a decent electrolyte balance ( doubles up for easy to consume Carbs too)

If you wait until you feel hungry to refuel, congrats — you're already halfway into the pain cave, population: Just you.
Don't wait, start eating regularly early and stay on top of it.
Set alarms. Stick to a plan “eat every 20-30 minutes” routine even if you feel like a damn superhero. You’re not…..Yet.
Ultras are about managing decline, not avoiding it. Good nutrition just slows the inevitable suffering as much as possible…..but hey…..that's why your doing it , RIGHT!

This should be tattooed on your forehead, maybe it should be my next tat too ( see what I did there)
Somewhere between the pre-race expo full of free samples and your last-minute panic buy of new caffeine gel shots, you’ll be tempted to experiment. DON'T.
Stick to what you trained with. Even a “cool new energy bar” can turn your intestines into a Slip ’n Slide of horror.

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• Dahl makhani the night before doing the Taupo 100km seems like a treat, but with all that nervous energy, lack of toilet access at the start and the conga line of hundreds along a single trail for kms at the start …… its not a treat for the race, trust me! Stick with lower fat and tried and true options the night before your race.
• Manuka honey or Vegemite (and chip) on the humble white bread bun or sammie hits the spot is easy to prep and is kiwi as ow.
• Watch out for weather swings: New Zealand can f**k you up with snow, sunburn, and sideways rain in the same 4 hours. Your fuel, hydration and electrolyte needs can double or halve if the weather turns hellish.
• Water from streams and creeks— treat it if you spot a possum corpse floating past. But honestly take caution, I mean if your in a bind , your in a bind. But take it from someone who got caught out, drank from a stream in the bush and a few weeks later had bad Giardia! Any water way that may pass through farms or livestock , is risky !

New Zealand ultras will humble the f**k out of you if you don’t show them proper respect.
Fuel your body like you’re fuelling that first car you owned with the broken fuel gauge — relentlessly, methodically, and with the good stuff. Blow it, and you’ll be crawling the last 10, 20 or more km to the finish questioning every life choice that brought you here. Actually even if you nail it you'll still be questioning every life choice that got your here. But Chances are you will have got the job done and in a few days time as the toe nails start to fall out and the chafing eases ….. you'll think , when can I do this again !
Go run, go eat, go conquer, go suffer serenely.....Then repeat. 

I have worked in a variety of roles with a focus on managing Blood glucose for People with Type 2 Diabetes. 
I am often asked what is the best diet. I generally do not advocate for any specific diet preferring to take a more tailored individualistic approach.
How ever, Carbohydrates are the main food group to manage. How this is structured can vary depending on what medications are also prescribed to manage it. 
In general though, the approach needs to be managing the amount of Carbohydrates per main meal by limiting the portion size. A good target can be 30-40gm CHO (carbohydrate) per main meal. 
If this then means a decrease in usual meal size. I would suggest increasing Insoluble fibre ( vegetables) and often increasing protein intake ( meat, eggs, tofu, legumes) . By increasing both of these foods groups, the blood glucose is not impacted , there is increased satiety and it can also reduce calorie intake which can be helpful for any weight loss goals. 
I like to encourage a more whole food approach , steering away from processed foods , especially ultra processed foods where possible. 
If there are no diabetes medications used that lower Blood Glucose or risk hypos. Its Ok to have a lower Carbohydrate diet. Most people I see could do with less carbohydrates in their diet and more protein with vegetables. 

The art of the backyard Ultra.  I have personally run a lot of ultra marathons. I had a bit of time off running and training. But this year I have gotten back amongst it. 
I was at the very first backyard ultra in New Zealand. The riverhead BYU. I participated but did not compete. I think it was later that same year I also did the Blue lake 24 hour challenge , completing 100km in a fairly similar style event. 
This year though. I started training again and after a few months had the opportunity to enter and compete in the inaugural Kings BYU in Northland. What a great event. I managed to clock up 100km . Now the nutrition aspect can be a make or break. What will work and what will not. what is the goal and how best to achieve it. There are always so many factors to take into account and, to be honest even the best laid plans can fall to pieces on the day. 
Here's my 5 tips .
1) Stay on top of your nutrition from the start. Its impossible to play catch up in a backyard ultra and one bad loop is all it takes to wreck your plans. So start on your first loop and stick at it. 

2) Keep your nutrition as varied as possible early, as the loops and hours accumulate you will feel less likely to have variety and may completely go off some foods. You will be grateful you started with some choice and it will hopefully delay any flavour fatigue you may get when later you can only stomach a few options and your crew is starting to annoy you .

3) To help with preventing gastro issues keep your choices low fat and low fibre. Carbs are king during the event. Get them in you and regularly.

4) Make sure that you have trialed your choices during your long runs in the lead in. All long runs for the month or so prior should be treated as a dress rehearsal for the real deal. 

5) Have options including liquid options , as the event goes on it becomes harder and harder to stomach food , it can be hard to have enough moisture in your mouth to chew. have easily chewed, moist ( I said it) options , have liquid options. 

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​Alot of the time you will hear what nutrients are shown to be lacking when following a plant based or vegetarian diet.
News flash "normal diets " are generally always lacking in nutrients for any given population too and often unhealthy in other ways like highly processed foods.
Don't get me wrong, you can follow a plant based diet full of highly processed foods too, it's not an automatic pass into being a health and well being guru .
No matter what dietary regime you follow for what ever reasons, it can be healthy and meet all your needs if your mindful and informed.
Get advise and take into account your specific needs. Then get after it.
https://www.facebook.com/HamishJohnstoneNutrition/
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OK, so I love Pancakes and I love pizza so I try and incorporate different versions of these into my diet and into my training. So here is a vegan friendly version that does not consist of odd or hard to find ingredients that you can whip together in no time and they are pretty YUM too. Yee har. 
What you need: 
2 cups of plain flour
2 cups of fortified soy milk (cause B vitamins OK, may need more just to get it to a good pancake batter consistency) 
4 very level Tablespoons of baking powder
2 Tablespoons of sugar (carbs for your muscles OK)
2 Tablespoons of oil (what ever you got OK)
A wee bit of salt to taste (1/4 teaspoon) 
1/2 a cup of pea protein ( optional or put some good protein option on ya pancake after)
Whack all the dry stuff in a big bowl, dig a little hole on the middle and put all the liquid stuff in, then mix her up! Heat up a non stick pan , maybe a lil oil before each pancake. If you want to get specific use a 1/2 cup measure for each pancake. Should make about 10 solid sized pancakes and they come in around 25gm carb and 10 gm protein per pancake.
This is a great option straight after training to kick start refueling your muscles glycogen stores and is a great amount of protein to begin that muscle repair and building after a tough session. Alternatively take some for a long training session or to get ready for a training session if you don't want to stomach something heavy, they're low fibre so easy on the gut. 
I make them and save some for the next day! They have passed the kids taste test too.

It was a Sunday and it was time for me to get out and complete my long run. I had been busy at work in New lynn finalising different things for the week ahead. I usually carry everything I need in the back of my ute keeping all my stinky running and training gear very separate from the cab. Today I was running out of time I really wanted my run to be about 30km, so I grabbed all my gear, got changed and sorted out what nutrition I may need to take. Lately it has been pretty cold so I haven't needed much hydration (lower sweat rates) during runs and have been able to get away with not taking much fluid. However I knew for a 30km run I was probably going to need some decent carbohydrate during it, to get the most out of the training......I was a bit unprepared. I found one Gel floating around the cab! Maybe I could get away with this. Time was really running short. So I threw the gel in my pocket and took off from the office. Everything was going great. At about the one hour mark. I started to feel it, I know that feeling, that ebbing of energy, but I was only about 12 km into the run.... I didn't want to use my only gel just yet. Then I thought I could just go into the gas station further up the road to replenish, as a dietitian I would be able to put something together from the servo offerings. Then I remembered I had taken all my bank cards out of my cell phone case so they didn't get sweaty ! DOH. SO I had my gel and continued on. Needless to say I really started to feel the lack of energy by the half marathon mark. I got back to my office with 30k under the belt having consumed one gel. So my next best thing to do now was REALLY make sure I got good Post training recovery nutrition in ASAP. The first 60-90 minutes after exercising is when the body will be most effective at replacing muscle glycogen and facilitating muscle repair through protein uptake. SO I jogged to the supermarket. Now what to get fast?. I am a vegan so it cuts out a lot of handy options I could have grabbed like low fat creamed rice!, a lean meat option from the deli and some bread, 330ml of  flavoured milk.... But I ended up looking at the chocolate soy milk , 500ml of this would give me 44gm Carbohydrate and 15gm protein in liquid form, fantastic. Plus it tastes great. Bonus it would help with rehydrating. Sometimes you cant always be prepared but if you know what you need you can still make do in most situations. Getting that post training nutrtition in means helping to make sure my body is adapting how I need it to and keeping me in good shape going into the next training week. 

So 8 weeks ago, I DNF’d the Tarawera 100 miler pulling the pin at 102km. Roughly 18 hours running. I had been training for 10 weeks and hadn't run for the year previous. To make matters worse I possibly was the most disorganised for a run I had been…..like I can be disorganised but it verged on ridiculous for that run. I wont go into it much but what little chance I had of smashing it I undercut with bad prep.
Coming into the ROF I had another 8 weeks training under my belt so was already in a better position. This time I decided I would make sure I did all the little things I often didn’t before a run. So I forced myself to get an earlier night (last race I had less than 4 hours sleep 2 nights in a row). I got to registration earlier in the day dropped in my drop bags (although I did leave my race bib there and had to go back and get it doh! Luckily Ali Squadrun co comander and coach had seen it and gently reminded me that I may need it for my run).
I got to the earlier race briefing and managed to make a vegetarian tiki masala nom for dinner then back at my tent, I organised all my stuff before I jumped in bed and laid it all out like I see other runners do in their pictures ( maybe I am a proper ultra runner when I do that?) . Last race I didn't have much sleep, no breakfast ,couldn't find much needed vaseline and made it to the start line seconds before start after running across a field to get there! 
Morning of: This time my alarm goes off at 3am, I get up, get dressed (wow this being prepared makes things WAY smoother in the morning, must do it again) Jesus this thermal long sleeve top is tight! Feel like I should be a mime doing interpretive dance right now. No time to change it. I probably should have checked that before, ah well. I have some toast and a coffee and walk down to the start ! Feeling incredibly accomplished at being on time and having had breakfast hahaha I am thinking wow what am I capable of with sleep, breakfast and being on time…..its a good day so far and it’s not even 4am! The mighty Chateau is bustling with nervous excitement and has a giant Goat to boot ( I do not think we are allowed to actually boot him). We have a karakia then are told wave one goes first then wave two….I ask they guy next to me what’s this waves business he tells me wave one is fast runners, wave 2 slow runners. I figure I am in the middle, so wait for wave one to end to slip to front of the next…..but its actually just one wave of continuous runners so I jump aboard the train and we are off. This is it, head light on and we are running. 
4AM everything lit by headlamps, the air is crisp and we soon hit single trail with an ebbing pace which I keep telling myself is a good thing because I have a long way to go but I just want to fly. I decide to try do a facebook live stream from my phone so I can enter the competition worth 2Grand where you tag #ROF but I can not figure out how to do it while I am running single track in the dark! Arghhh I will try later. It doesn’t take long to hit the first hut and I’m slowly falling into a rhythm and the trail is starting to thin out. I'm getting a little warm so try to roll up my sleeves to my elbow but this thermal only makes it halfway up my forearms, its sucking my will to live! ahh it will do. I decide to chuck on my play list that I meticulously made the night before the race, to keep me revved up. But my headphones have only one side working and its coming in and out so sounds like I am listening to my favourite band while deaf in one ear and they're performing on the other side of a motorway! Wel...jungle…got...games…..everything…..how….names….to the…..shananana…. I listen to it like that for way to long for any sane person, then my headphones just die, part of me with it, I had the most epic play list ever…..I ponder how many of the songs I can sing and what order I would have listened to them. I am just going to have to entertain myself then.! God damn it that play list was the business too. I start singing (in my head). Even my mind voice needs lessons. Why did my headphones forsake me! Now the suns coming up and the pastel colours over the volcanic terrain is insane! For some reason I think of vanilla and I decide I want a vanilla Gel, they’re in the side pocket of my vest and I keep trying to open the zip , but my hands feel strangely numb….they're not working properly any more…..weird as its not that cold. Whats going on with these hands then. I look down at them. I nearly run straight off the trail in shock! They have doubled in size….generally I have monster banana hands any way, but that Thermal top is so tight all the fluid in my body has pooled in my hands leaving me a lumbering husk of a man with sausage fingers. ! I try to make a fist….its impossible and painful. I pull the thermal down try to stretch the sleeve to let blood flow occur and keep moving, intermittently making fists to check and see if the swellings going down….its not but its not getting worse, I have scissors in my pack and I may have to cut the sleeves off. Will I have to cut my hands and let the fluid seep out to releave the pressure? Its too soon to make that call. I will see how it pans out. I have an ultra to run. Soon I am running along board walks and can see the beautiful cascade falls in the distance, another hut goes by, then the climb up the amazing cascades the beauty of the falls distracts from the quad burning of the climb, then more climbing with less distraction up toward the road and I see a sign that the aid station isn't far written on it “ first leg done, see that wasnt hard was it , just 2 more legs to go “ love the puppet master. It actually has me laughing out loud. Chris Townley is a funny guy. And then I hear a laughing from the road above I look up and I couldn't tell but I think chris was sitting having a laugh at us all reacting to the sign! Gold! I've made the first aid station as I try to reload up my bag with my sausage fingers discreetly without horrifying anyone who may witness the marshmellow man hands fumbling gu gels as quick as he can, its comical, its entertaining me.
Leg 2: It is running down hill on road for a bit and I am weary of smashing my knees too bad, at 86kg with a few kg in my back pack, I know I am putting a lot of stress on them and I need them good for a bit more yet! I decide this is a good place to try that facebook live business again after a few minutes of bumbling around everything but Facebook live, I give up on it I am feeling like this should be easy and I am just not getting it! I will try later. So I facebook call my wife instead, to say hey, that I love her and that I just finished leg one. Soon enough we turn left into bush and are flying along I find a good rhythm and decide to pull out my poles to conserve my knees and legs as much as possible for the far more runnable 3rd leg. I am looking at my watch and its telling me my pace so far is good enough to get in before dark, yusss, that's the goal I set myself, get in within 14 hours Ring of fire has 3 different ribbons for the mens 72 finish, under 10 hours gold, before dark volcanic red and within 20 hours blue. I came out 6 weeks ago and had a go at the course and it took me 18 and a half hours self supported, but I am sure I can do 14! I've had 4 more weeks training since then, so surely I can do it! Surely! I have a habit of thinking I will do way better than I actually do, but I lOVE the push to try. Plus I always have the back up or contingency goals. This race it was goal 1) Finish before dark. 2) Finish before 20 hour cut off 3) Finish after cut off. Only way not to is be physically pulled from course! In the description of the course this second leg is described as the second hardest. I actually think it is the hardest, not just because we hit it with a solid volcanic half marathon on the legs , but it is soul sapping going through the volcanic valleys, through the desert region. Each valley seems to get bigger and bigger and the will wanes. And each time you get to the top the wind is intense. We are lucky we have great weather, this section will be absolutely brutal with some higher winds and rain. It is through this section that my over all pace slips , making it look a lot tougher to get in before dark. But it is also this section where I seem to pass a lot of people especially in the relentless steep climbs and descents. All that rock hopping on the coast and running up Piha road in training has paid dividends. Finally I see a bus on a road and know that Tukino Aid station is only a few km away!
3rd Leg:
I dont hang about long at the Aid station, load up some more Gu Gels scull back 500ml fluid, fill up both my soft flasks, put on my squad run cap and shades and I'm off my watch says about 9 hrs and 45 minutes. Another down hill from the aid station and I am feeling good, relay runners intermittently fly by. Its relatively flat and the terrain is very runnable and I can see I am pulling my over all pace back in! Yuss I think I can make before dark if I can sustain this for the whole leg…...but anything can happen. Once again I fall into a good rhythm, my hands have finally gone back to they're natural gorilla hand state I can finally start waving at trampers as I pass by without them thinking I have the foams hands on from a League game. Strangely this makes me feel pretty good. I can feel a few niggly blisters going on, my face is feeling a little burnt and wind burnt but my legs overall are holding up. I am running in Hoka oneone speed goat 2’s and they have really helped my legs stay fresh. They have felt amazing on the climbs and great grip and cushion while I smashed rocky descents! I am pretty stoked with their first outing on an ultra for me. Before long I pass the last hut and know its only another 15ish km to go, 15 fast becomes 10 and I have been passed by some speedier 72ker runners, hauling my 86kg plus pack weight means I'm usually not the fastest gazelle in the pack on the flats. I get into feeling a little flat now and start concentraing on how tired my legs , so I pull my glad bag from my pocket, in it is a note I wrote the night before “pain is temporary, glory is forever , MOVE” yusss sir. I move. I catch a glimpse of the chateau its so close but so far and it disappears again. The last few km of any race I have been in is tough,this is no different its like my body knows the end is close so just wants to stop and have a nap, its a constant mental battle. I've slotted in behind another 72ker who is keeping a good pace, I know he doesn't want me to pass and to be honest I don't know if I have it in me. We run together silently. Soon we are told … you've got this 2.5km to go, go get it. Its up lifting and he picks up the pace so do I and I stay with him. More glimpses of the chateau and with less than a km to go a couple of guys see my running buddy pass, then as I approach they say” are you going to run him down ?...I reply man it would seem mean plus I don't think I can. And then I think Come on Hamish lets go , I get an adrenaline kick and I let fly, up past him, finally, onto the road a lil zig zag and I am there running into the finish line to see coach Ali from Squadrun who gives me a big hug and my Volcanic red before dark medal. Officially finishing in 13 hours 18 minutes. Then I get a another hug from Coach Kerry. I am stoked and I am spent. It was an amazing adventure on an epic new Ultra in a place I love. As the adrenaline wears off and fatigue sets in I creep off back to my tent for a curry and coke and to rest my legs.
Note: a roof top tent with ladder access was exciting till the day after the ultra and climbing in and out involved contortions and weight placement very unique on smashed post Ultra legs.
ere to edit.

, I think the Some of you may know that earlier in the year I decided to enter an Ultra Marathon. Not just Any Ultra, The Hillary. I chose The Hillary because over the preceding years I had tramped different parts of it at different times, because I started surfing along the coast line that it trails, because I basically live on it , because I felt drawn to do this one. Because I got brought up in the area that it traverses. I'm not sure whether its a good idea to, not actually be a runner and, not really have run for 3 years at all and enter a 80km Trail run with 14 weeks to train , but I did. I really didn't have much of a clue about training for it. I had run a very bad and flat marathon 3 years earlier and then stopped running having supposedly ticked that off the bucket list, I had entered the Auckland half marathon to help raise funds for diabetes in Nov 2015 but I actually only trained for that for 2 weeks. And hurt my knee during the event, but when I saw The Hillary Advertised I knew ! The time was NOW! Bad knee, no training and 14 weeks to figure it out! I like the sounds of that and so I started . I found a plan on line to follow that seemed pretty good and told myself my number one rule in training for this would be “make it to the start Line” . So many times I have heard or seen people talk about training for an endurance event but never make it to the start line because they don't listen to there body and push it to hard to soon. My training plan was pretty simple 3 runs in the week Tuesday through to Thursday basically 14km, 8km, 14km . Monday and Friday were rest days and I was suppose to do 2 long runs in the weekend and slowly build them up till a peaked a few weeks before the event .
Its assumed that you are running 50-80km a week before you start this plan. Obviously I wasn't. So I did what I could and built into it, having a bung knee made sure it was impossible to run too much and my first two weeks I managed 32 km total by Sunday, I truly believe the sore knee saved me from over doing it . The following week I managed to up it to 69km. My knee had stopped aching by then. This is where I needed to start to figure out , Nutrition and Hydration . How was I going to do it. How was I going to manage the long runs (20-40km) and how was I going to make sure I was fuelled enough for the event it self. The first thing I decided to figure out was my hydration. My next blog will discuss this!