Mikki Williden, PhD, Auckland (2026)

30/01/2026

Losing weight is relatively simple compared to keeping it off. And there are SO. MANY. WAYS. to actually lose weight.

Different story when it comes to keeping it off. Data from the National Weight Control Registry of people who lost > 13kg and kept it off for 5y+ have found that there are things they do consistently.

1. They don’t skip breakfast ~78% eat breakfast regularly. Breakfast can anchor appetite regulation, protein intake, and daily structure. Skipping it can backfire later in the day. Even if you’ve lost weight by skipping meals, finding a way to bring it back is a good idea. Start with a protein shake even.

2. They move. A lot. On average: • ~250–300 minutes of moderate activity per week, 12-15k steps a day, a mix or structured and incidental movement. Make this part of who you are, not something that you do.  
3. They monitor their weight Most weigh themselves at least weekly. Not obsessively, but to be able course correct where necessary. Many people fear going on the scales to get proof that they’ve not been acting in alignment with their goals. Early detection beats late correction.

4. They eat a lower-energy-density diet Higher intake of fruit, vegetables, and fibre-rich foods. Lower fat intake on average (~25–30% of energy). Not because fat is “bad,” but because energy density matters long-term.

5. They control their food environment They don’t rely on willpower. They shape what’s available, visible, and convenient at home and work. It is hard to make good decisions if constantly exposed to other options.

6. They keep weekends from becoming a write-off Successful maintainers eat similarly on weekdays and weekends. Consistency beats perfection.

7. They accept that maintenance requires effort Weight maintenance isn’t passive. The ‘diet’ after the diet takes work and they expect to work at it. Therefore aren’t surprised when they have to.

Key takeaway: There are infinite ways to lose weight. Keeping it off is a behavioural skill, not a phase.
Shortcuts to weight loss might sell. But systems work in the long term. And the more you lock these in for fat LOSS, the easier fat loss maintenance is. 
PMID: 11375440, 25926512

28/01/2026

Are you trying to optimise everything at once?

Protein. Fibre. Sleep. Steps.
Gym 3–4x a week.
Stress management.
Hormones. Perimenopause. Life.

Of course you are. We’ve told you these are the pillars of health that you, especially a woman over 40, need to focus on.

But here’s the part that often gets missed, these are skills, not switches.

If you’re trying to optimise habits you haven’t yet learned, it’s no wonder consistency feels hard.

Progress doesn’t come from doing everything perfectly from the get go. It comes from doing a few basics often enough.

So instead of asking:
“Can I do all of this forever?”
Try asking:
“What can I do today?”

Go to bed 20 minutes earlier.
Add protein to the meal you’re already eating.
Stand up and walk around once an hour.
Do ten squats instead of planning the perfect workout.

Optimisation is a long game and consistency is built on one day at a time, so can you start here, and become better at showing up even with these small steps on the daily? Then build from there.

28/01/2026

Had the best convo with Matt Stewart, one of my BFFs that is now out on the Mikkipedia podcast. 🥳

We chat about hamstrings, stress, physical inactivity, rehab for athletes and barely scratch the surface on any of these topics. Matt is an osteopath, certified run coach, endurance athlete who is keen on strength training and thinks about health through an evolutionary lens, which is where a lot of the conversation is grounded.

Link here https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/mikkipedia/id1538311674?i=1000746881003 or in link in link tree 🌳 in bio.

28/01/2026

Foods I don’t recommend when the goal is to increase protein
This isn’t a “bad foods” list. It’s a context list.

When I ask someone to increase protein, I’m usually trying to do one (or more) of these things: • support fat loss • improve satiety • protect or build lean mass • keep calories in check
With that lens, some foods just aren’t very efficient.

Peanut butter, cheese, salami All fine foods. All delicious. But they’re fat-dominant, which means the protein is relatively dilute.
You’d need a lot of them to meaningfully increase protein intake and by then, calories have increased more than we’d ideally like.

Collagen peptides Useful for connective tissue, skin, joints, absolutely. I’m a fan. However it is not a complete, high-quality protein, so it doesn’t meaningfully contribute to muscle protein synthesis.
 Great addition. Not a protein anchor.

So when I’m saying “increase protein,” what I actually mean is: • egg whites • lean meats • fish • eggs • protein powder • cottage cheese • high-protein yoghurt

These deliver more protein per calorie, which is usually the point. (FWIW eggs are fab for protein AND fat), not just protein.

Nothing here is off-limits. But goals matter, as does food choice within those goals.

Protein is a lever and some foods pull it better than others.

25/01/2026

Tell me you know nothing about sports nutrition without telling me you know nothing about sports nutrition.

There’s a lot of yelling about whether we need to be consuming huge quantities of carbs for training and racing in order to perform at your best.

A new review from Noakes, Prins and colleagues make the case that the mechanisms with which we fuel performance have been misunderstood and that perhaps we don’t need heroic amounts of carbohydrates to offset performance decrements that occur during training and racing. For what it’s worth, most age groupers I work with don’t need to hit these huge numbers and do well with less. Elite athletes? I do think there is something about an elite that makes them as good as they are beyond just nutrition. And they’d probably be successful anyway.

At any rate, the options provided here might be fine for walking leisurely, but if you’re doing anything with intensity, dates and grapes are high fructose and there’s a bit of fibre too - both of these can cause gastrointestinal distress (fructose is individual). The banana might be fine on a bike, I know a few athletes love that. But if moving via foot at pace, fruit is not a good option.

The review here https://academic.oup.com/edrv/advance-article/doi/10.1210/endrev/bnaf038/8432248

Everyone is different as to what they tolerate, and I have a lot of athletes who come to me wanting to ‘just eat real food’ while training. However it’s just difficult with the jostling of the gut if pushing it hard. So using sports nutrition products is a good option. I like gels and cubes, and honey 🍯 , the latter which is pretty close to real food. Cliff bars, sandwiches (white bread), low fat crackers (if not too dry), rice balls are lower fibre which can be good when intensity is low and better than fruit IMO. Especially dried fruit in high quantities.

25/01/2026

Nothing screams health like a matcha donut 🍩

24/01/2026

This isn’t about never fuelling.

It’s about periodising fuelling the same way you periodise training.

Not every run needs carbs from minute one.
Some sessions are an opportunity to teach your body to rely more on fat, before you layer fuel back in when intensity or duration demands it.

Over time, this improves metabolic flexibility.
You become less dependent on constant glucose intake, more resilient during long sessions, and more confident of avoiding GI distress 💩 during training and racing.

What I see often is athletes taking carbs every long run, starting 20–30 minutes in, never allowing the body to upregulate fat oxidation. There isn’t a problem with gel tolerance… until there is. For many the gut can’t keep up with the fuel going in. And then blood sugar can be a bit of a rollercoaster later in the day.

For age-group athletes especially, a simple field test matters: Can you run for a couple of hours at an easy pace using mostly your own fuel stores?

If the answer is no, then this is useful information, and a starting point. Start extending the time with which to begin to take on board carbs and take on a little less. Do this early in your training cycle as you’re building base fitness.

Fuel for the work required. 💪🏼

23/01/2026

I had the pleasure of chatting to Kelsey on the podcast out this week about her evolution in the health and fitness space. Her story is a super common one which makes her (and her messaging) so relatable. ❤️

A fun and practical conversation- link here or in link tree 🌳 in bio https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/mikkipedia/id1538311674?i=1000745912644

22/01/2026

I like this product for my vegetarian clients and members, as it has almost 3.5g leucine per serve. Leucine is the amino acid that is needed to initiate muscle protein synthesis - the repair and building of muscle tissue.

As we age, we need more of the leucine at one time to maximise this response. Younger people may only need 2-2.5g, but older people lose the sensitivity to the amino acids and require a more robust amount. Maybe 3-3.5g.

But we don’t just need leucine. We need all amino acids, so this amino complex fits that bill as well.

Protein-rich food is the primary place to get your amino acids, obviously. However vegetarian sources of protein don’t have the same amino acid profile of animal based sources and are lower in leucine, so adding in something like this alongside meals is like an insurance policy.

I like this also as it’s coloured with beetroot, and flavoured with stevia.

This is also a good accompaniment to a meal for anyone with a lower protein appetite, such as older people who generally don’t eat as much but require a decent amount of protein in a meal.

You’d get a similar amount of leucine in food from 170g cooked steak or chicken breast. Dairy has the highest content, whey protein particularly FYI

Not an ad, as I am not sponsored and I paid for this. But sort of an ad because I like this product

22/01/2026

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post that said ‘maybe you need to eat less.’ Today I want to talk about eating more - at meals.

More structure. More intention. More food where it actually counts.
When you eat properly at breakfast, lunch, and dinner real meals, not tiny little portions of food, a few things happen:

• Your appetite becomes more stable and predictable • Hunger is still there (it should be, in a calorie deficit), but it’s tolerable • You stop relying on willpower at 3pm • You’re far less likely to raid the pantry after work or after dinner

This is very different from tiny breakfasts, light lunches, and hoping discipline carries you through the afternoon. (It usually doesn’t and not because you don’t want it enough, but literally you’re fighting against your physiology at this point.)

Eating more at meals means: – more protein – more fibre from vegetables and fruit – more volume on the plate – more time spent actually eating (chewing, swallowing, letting your brain catch up with your stomach)

For this reason, smaller portions don’t automatically lead to weight loss. They often lead to more hunger, more thoughts around food, and more feelings of deprivation.

And deprivation is rarely sustainable.
 Eating more isn’t about eating more calories. It’s about eating enough, earlier, and with structure.

Mikki Williden, PhD

30/01/2026

28/01/2026

28/01/2026

28/01/2026

25/01/2026

25/01/2026

24/01/2026

23/01/2026

22/01/2026

22/01/2026

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