YOU CAN'T OUT-TRAIN YOUR DIET
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Ashley Damaj
3 Minute Read
Are you training like an athlete but frustrated at your progress? It may be time to rethink your nutrition.
“I work so hard but am not seeing the results I want.” So begins almost every consultation I have with my prospective clients at Mothership, my holistic coaching company based in Miami. Women are frustrated that the “diet” lessons they’ve grown up with are not serving them, despite their efforts in the gym.
“There’s so much noise out there about what’s healthy and what’s not healthy,” says Chelsea Law, a consulting director, who came to me with that very same issue in March 2025. Her body fat is now at 14 percent. “There are tons of holistically healthy foods that won’t get you to your physical goals, either.”
I’ve been there. Prior to launching Mothership in 2019, every day would go something like this: Wake up. Go to Barry’s Bootcamp. See how long I can wait to eat. Work a corporate job. Run on my lunch break. Come home. Parent. Pass out. Repeat.
I was stuck in this cycle for so long in a desperate quest for a ‘good body.’ I grew up on diets of yore: Atkins, Weight Watchers, the egg diet, cabbage soup nonsense, and the moral language that comes with it: ‘Cheat meals. Guilt-free snacks. Being good. Falling off the wagon.’ The food is not the problem. The shame and miseducation is.
Since becoming a nutritionist, a professional bodybuilder and a certified behaviour analyst, I now understand more than anything that our daily choices truly impact our results. Here’s the thing I’ve realized, which no-one wants to hear: you can not out train your diet. That fact is as true as the sky is blue. It does not matter if you are training like an athlete four, five, or six times a week. Training is simply the stimulus. Nutrition is what moves the needle.
“Don’t ghost your own progress by not eating enough.”
Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about going to the gym and then eating pizza every night. Too often, women undereat, or they focus on their macros but forget to track the calories in their four daily lattes. Often, they simply aren’t getting enough protein. Your muscles need protein to pop.
Women have been taught to chase thin, not fit, so we lack the knowledge about how to eat to create an athletic physique or counterbalance training. We were taught calories in versus calories out, but truthfully, it’s not so straightforward. Body composition is what matters the most, especially as we age. So if you keep crushing your workouts, but you are living on caffeine and whatever is convenient to grab between meetings, your body lacks the resources to adapt. You are requesting it builds muscle, recovers, and leans out through your workouts, but then your body’s request for protein, carbs, minerals and calories goes unanswered. Don’t ghost your own progress by not answering its ask.
A low weight was once seen as a sign of dietary success—a validation for minimal digesting. It’s a narrative that’s coming back amid the rise in GLP-1s. But when the number on the scale is low, your body is rarely set up for health and longevity. The reality? Low muscle. Low strength. Higher visceral and subcutaneous fat. Often low energy. Often high stress. Often high cardio volume. Often low protein. Sometimes all of the above, dressed up in a matching activewear set clutching and a “lean” smoothie from Erewhon.
“It’s not about eating less, but eating more of what fuels you and aligns you to your goals,” says Annie Romano, 43, who discovered this truth after coming to me with a wish for body recomposition. Since working together, she has dropped her body fat by 6 percent, averaging 25-26 percent, and she has lost more than 20 pounds.
It’s important to realize that while you cannot out train your diet, you also do not need a perfect diet. The solution is a supportive strategy that feels realistic for your life. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Many of my clients come to me saying they want to “lose weight”. If they were better informed, they would instead say: “My goal is to maximize skeletal muscle and bone density, keeping body fat percentage healthy enough to maintain hormone balance, but low enough to feel confident in a bikini.”
That is the grown woman's goal. It’s the goal of the grandma who plays with her grandchildren. Stronger, steadier, more resilient. A body that can carry you through motherhood, stress, sleep disruption, perimenopause, a career, and a life you actually want to live. Forget longevity even, I want healthspan. And, I want it for you, too.
I’ve created a go-to resource for Danimás. Designed to give us greater autonomy and visibility over our dietary patterns, from undereating to mindless grazing, it pinpoints common reflex behaviours and offers solutions. It shows that self-awareness and nutrition really go hand-in-hand.
When you eat in a way that supports your body, that is where joy is found.
Ashley Damaj is a certified nutritionist, a professional bodybuilder, and a behavioral analyst. She is also the founder of Mothership Wellness, a holistic coaching company.
mothershipwellnessinc.com
