Expert Profile: Leigh Peele

Sure, Leigh Peele looks like a nice person, as long as you're not fat loss trouble. Then she will shoot you!

Being recognized as an expert on the topic of fat loss is no small feat in an industry filled with self-proclaimed weight loss know-it-alls.  Between the popularity of her website blog, her regular contributions to the Fit Cast, and her newly re-released product, The Fat Loss Troubleshoot, respected industry experts are pointing out that Leigh Peele is not just another somebody putting in her two cents. Nope –- she’s The Troubleshooter.

Leigh’s application of the principles goes beyond a simple opinion of what works. She spent many years researching the science behind fat loss and trying the ideas on her own clients. She’s put this combination of research and practical experience together in a simple guide that seeks to eliminate people’s confusion about fat loss.  Leigh’s strategies give people a great place to start and a way to understand why they’re stuck on a plateau or not progressing with their body composition goals.

Though these problems can seem complex, the ways to get unstuck are usually simple. In fact these strategies look much like the Precision Nutrition approach:

• have a solid and consistent training program
• eat the right amount of food for your activity level
• combine protein and vegetables and/or fruits with either mostly healthy fats or starchy carbs
• stick with whole foods, or “one ingredient eating” as the main choices for your meals

When these habits are in place, most often people struggle with fat loss because they are really eating maintenance level calories when they think they are in a deficit. They usually underestimate their intake and overestimate their output — their metabolic rate and activity level. Though using calorie estimators and activity assessments help to get a better picture of what’s happening, as evidenced in this video, Shocking Fat Loss Tip, it’s easy to see how calories can sneak in and add up.

These days, Leigh is doing a little troubleshooting of her own. Because she loves dancing, she generally prefers and needs to maintain a leaner physique but a broken bone and torn ligaments in her foot have kept her off her feet.  Dealing with an injury for the past several months, combined with more sitting and less movement, has left Leigh with a “few more pounds than I’m happy with”.

While she’s waiting to get back on the dance floor, Leigh is focusing on nutrition and fat loss strategies and playing with her body composition to possibly do a physique competition this spring. Here’s a look at how Leigh incorporates the ideas she uses with her clients.

Start your day with what you love

One of the first things Leigh does when she first wakes up is grab her guitar and give it a few strums. Prior to becoming a fat loss guru, Leigh’s main interest and area of study was music. It’s still an important part of her life and although she doesn’t have the time to sit for hours with her music like she used to, the love is still there.

Her other love is coffee. Leigh has never been a sugar-in-her-coffee kind of girl but does normally enjoy it with cream or milk. When she doesn’t have as many calories to play with in a day, such as in the small fat loss phase she’s in now, Leigh will opt for unsweetened almond milk instead. It gives her coffee some thickness with a light fat content but without the added sugars. Perfect.

Whole foods are king

Chicken and potatoes

Leigh typically eats 3-4 solid meals a day, with various snacks or shakes to fill the gaps when needed.  Sticking with a whole food diet versus relying on lots of supplements works well for Leigh because she can easily feel hungry if there isn’t enough “food in her food”.  According to Leigh, this is where a lot of the hunger people tend to mistake as a real need for food comes from: filling up on 2-3 meals of sugary protein shakes or bars doesn’t leave you feeling very satisfied for long.

Leigh is a meat and potatoes kind of girl, so a nice meal of a 5-oz chicken breast with 150 grams of potato and 14 grams of Smart Balance light butter is her idea of post workout heaven.   After her morning training session or an active day, Leigh prefers to do a whole foods meal instead of a shake.  Since her training is relatively light right now, she doesn’t need as much to refuel and this type of meal works well with her goals.

Burger with lettuce "bun" and homemade ketchup

At other meals of the day, particularly at night, protein is a front runner on the menu. Leigh sleeps best with something in her stomach but not with foods that are too heavy or give her too much energy, keeping her awake for hours longer than she needs.  For these meals, a hamburger without the bun and some low carb, homemade ketchup fits the bill.

Even though most of Leigh’s meals are predominantly made up of proteins, veggies and fats, this doesn’t mean she’s “carbophobic”. Leigh does include a variety of carbohydrates but finds that she feels her best with more protein and fat in her diet, and she’s adjusted her intake for her recovery-focused activity level.  She doesn’t deprive herself but simply likes to eat clean most often because she loves good ingredients and well prepared food. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good barbeque sandwich and fries now and again.

“You just have to find the balance in your diet and always have good ingredients be king.  It doesn’t just make you feel better, it tastes better.” Leigh’s tip to balance: keep in enough of the good and you leave a little room for the “not-so-good”.

Supplements do have a place

Though Leigh makes it a priority to meet most of her nutrient needs through whole food nutrition, she recognizes that supplements do have their place.

With an array of allergies and digestive issues, Leigh finds that getting high doses of fat in her diet helps to keep inflammation issues down, and leaves her feeling much better on the whole. Taking a round of supplements twice a day, including 10 capsules of EPA, makes life much easier, and allows her a little room to include foods like her coffee that she normally couldn’t enjoy.

Injured? Train smart and get creative

Recently, Leigh has been challenged with a right bottom half that doesn’t work so well. A fractured talus and two ripped ligaments in her ankle puts more stress on the other muscles and areas of her body that must compensate for the lack of strength and mobility. Leigh’s training right now is focused heavily on tissue work and stretching, mixed with stability training and any other ways she can stay active.

Foam rolling soleus	Tennis ball for plantar fasciitis
Planks with 40 lb weighted vest

More time moving, less time sitting

Much of the activity Leigh builds into her day comes from training and working with people in various places.  When in her home city, she likes to train clients in the park: pushing, throwing, and pulling are most of what everyone needs and it’s easy to get that outside.  With the park a only a few miles away, Leigh just loads up what she needs on her shoulders and hits the road with her bike and iPod.

Sia - Soon We'll Be Found

24" commuter

Aside from the mobility equipment and a heart rate monitor for intense sessions, Leigh finds that her clients get really inspired when she shows up on her bike, hands empty, and says “Ready to train?” When Leigh is doing more specific training instead of just general conditioning or fat loss workouts, she will take the car with her arsenal of tricks and goodies.

Once home for the day or in between clients, Leigh will spend some time on her laptop: writing, answering emails, or providing customer support to the large number of on-line clients and customers.

Leigh tries to keep this to a minimum and be as efficient as possible, not only so she’s not stuck at the computer all day but because she knows that more movement means more food! And Leigh likes food.

She also aims to keep her coffee intake to a minimum: too much coffee is not good for Leigh’s energy or stomach. So when she needs a little afternoon boost of caffeine and sweetness without the calories or stomach issues, she goes for a cup of tea: Lemon Explosion!

Leigh mixes the following ingredients in a cup:

1/2 pack Wylers Light On-The-Go
5 min steep of the Green Tea with Lemon in hot water
Long squeeze of fresh lemon

After this is mixed and sits for a while, Leigh re-heats the cup for a few minutes and is taken away on a delicious tea journey.

All’s well that ends well

With a full day of activity and solid nutrition in place, if Leigh gets a hankering to watch a show or movie, then she’ll make up a bowl of popcorn instead of overdosing on chips. A simple tip that works to add flavour without a lot of extras: Leigh uses Smart Balance Light and then seasons with Lite Salt to add extra flavour and potassium.

At the end of the day, there is only one thing that Leigh turns to without a fail: a cuddle to make her feel better. That is, if he will let her share the bed.

For more of Leigh’s work, check out:

Leigh’s bio | Leigh’s books | Leigh’s blog

With all these incredible resources and strategies along with Leigh’s personal example, we have just one question for bodyfat:

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?