Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Summary
On episode 671 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Kait Richardson, a recovered dieter, registered dietitian, nutritionist, and author of How to Eat Like a Normal Person. After helping thousands of clients in private practice, she is convinced most fad diets, supplements, and weight loss medications waste time, energy, and money, and her mission is to help people quit yo-yo dieting and eat whole, balanced meals instead.
Kait introduces her BNT protocol (balanced, nutritious, timed) and walks through why arbitrary low-calorie targets like 1,200 calories a day are bad advice for almost everyone, since they ignore individual BMR and activity level entirely.
The conversation then moves into her six all-or-nothing dieter archetypes (the food tracker, the perfectionist, the emotional eater, the yo-yo dieter, the binge eater, and the cardio bunny), and into practical tools for meal planning and setting boundaries around food in real-world social and work situations.
Links
- https://katerichardsonrd.com
Key Takeaways
- The BNT protocol: balanced, nutritious, timed. Kait avoids cutting out entire macronutrients, wants clients eating nutritious whole foods roughly 80% of the time, and recommends eating every three to six hours to help control cravings and portions.
- A flat 1,200-calorie target is bad advice for almost everyone. That number ignores basal metabolic rate, activity level, and non-exercise movement (NEAT). Most people need closer to 1,900 to 2,400 calories, and dropping far below that just isn’t sustainable.
- Diet too low for too long and your metabolism adapts against you. Repeated crash dieting teaches the body to slow its BMR further each time, which is why the same calorie target produces worse results with each attempt.
- Most people fall into one of six all-or-nothing eating archetypes. The food tracker, the perfectionist, the emotional eater, the yo-yo dieter, the binge eater, and the cardio bunny (over-exerciser who under-fuels). Most people recognize themselves in more than one at different times.
- Meal planning works only when it’s your own plan. Following someone else’s meal plan usually triggers rebellion. A plan built around foods you actually enjoy is what makes it sustainable.
- Boundaries have to be set and communicated, not just felt. Kait’s rule of thumb: if it’s not a “hell yes,” it’s a polite “hell no.” Scheduling protected time for meals and workouts on your calendar communicates a boundary without a confrontation.
- The 80/20 rule works both ways. Eating nutritious, balanced meals 80% of the time leaves real room for flexibility the other 20%, without guilt and without needing to label any food as forbidden.
- Strength training is non-negotiable, especially for women over 40. Putting tension on the muscle, whether through weights, resistance bands, or bodyweight work, protects bone health and muscle mass that decline faster with age.
- Kait’s three strategies to get and stay well: eat balanced and nutritious foods roughly 80% of the time and leave real room for fun the other 20%; strength train in whatever form you’ll actually stick with, especially as a woman over 40; and build balance across every area of life, not just food and fitness, so health doesn’t come at the cost of everything else.
“I tell people biology always wins.”
Kait Richardson
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 3 – Food Plans Made Easy with RightStyle Living
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 671
Published: 2024-12-03
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): Kait Richardson · Rachel (post-show), recover dieter, registered dietitian, nutritionist, and a wellness junkie, author of How to Eat Like a Normal Person
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)