Real Nutrition & Fitness, LLC

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Real Nutrition & Fitness, LLC

Real Nutrition & Fitness, LLC founded by Heidi M. Williams, MPH, RD, CSSD, LD, NSCA-CPT, CPPC, CSMC Louis, Missouri founded by Heidi M. I received a B.S.

Real Nutrition & Fitness, LLC is a small nutrition & fitness consulting business in St. Williams, MPH, RD, LD, NSCA-CPT, CPPC. As a dietitian, I focus on using balanced whole foods to help people meet their optimal health states. I am a firm believer in food's natural ability to prevent and manage many disease states, and I am passionate about educating people on the raw powers of food. I take a h

olistic approach to nutrition and I consider food our best medicine and an important source of enjoyment for the mind, body, and soul. I focus on whole food menu planning, so I can help clients bring more colors into their diet, and transform how and what they eat. I also firmly believe that every individual is unique, so I tailor my nutritional approach to each client's personal goals and comfort level. While many experts in the nutrition field advise patients to cut out particular foods from their diet, I help clients say "yes" to foods instead of "no." I also have a personal passion for the environment so I can guide individuals to eat sustainably and local as well. I take a mindful and supportive approach to food, and I help create an environment where one can improve their health and relationship with food. degree in Nutrition and Fitness and a Master of Public Health from the University of Missouri. If you are interested in my nutrition services, please email me and I can send you along some more detailed information regarding my nutrition consulting sessions. If you do not live in St. Louis, I can do virtual sessions as well.

04/28/2026

Low Energy Availability is a topic that came up with my friends this past weekend and I thought this was the perfect topic to discuss with you.

Low Energy Availability (LEA) basically means there is an imbalance between what one is consuming and one is expending = Calories In < Calories Expended. So there is not enough energy available to do basic human functions.

I think many times people think it can be caused by severely restricting but that is not the case. It could be caused by eating just a little less than what your body needs and over time it can cause negative side effects. Some of the major ones are elevated blood values, difficulty recovering, chronic fatigue, and overall decreased strength and endurance.

If LEA is left untreated it can lead to REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Some side effects include bone loss, increase risk of stress fractures, repeated injury and illness, reduced training capacity, excessive fatigue, the inability to recover and even lead to disruption in one’s menstrual cycle or decreased testosterone.

I am not one to count calories and really do not advise it as a long term solution but this is something that came up among my female ultra running group and I did suggest it can be helpful to see how much you are having by tracking 1-2 days just to get an idea. I do not encourage this to be a habit to commit to long term because many times it can become obsessive. It is nice to have a starting point because many times people have no idea how little they are consuming. A good guideline includes consuming around 45 calories/kg body weight to make sure you have enough energy available, especially as an athlete.

More often than not, I find most of my athletes are under eating. I notice most of them are very good about their intra fuel nutrition but forget about the importance of fueling throughout the day.

If your performance is suffering, your lab values are elevated, you are not recovering or you are chronically fatigued, low energy availability could be to blame. Often times it has nothing to do with not training enough, it’s almost always related to not fueling enough.

04/20/2026

This past weekend I ran 5 hours on Friday & 2 1/2 hours on Saturday. I have completed my peak training leading up to Hellbender 100.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been running ultras for almost 15 years and I attribute my success to finishing my races to training (somewhat properly ;)) and fueling appropriately. There were times I could get by with very minimal training and still get a podium finish because A.) Hardly anyone was signed up for the race and B.) I made sure to eat enough food during all my training cycles, even though some in the past had been pathetic. ;)

I hired a coach last July as a last ditch effort to see if I could actually get better by improving my training - as a sports dietitian I have been fairly solid with fueling. So far I’m feeling really good going into my race, but I’m also a flatlander from the Midwest training for a mountain race so there’s only so much I can do.

Regardless I have been able to hit all my workouts and not skip any of them. I have been recovering well and able to bounce back fairly easily. I attribute this to having enough energy available to run 50-60 miles per week plus strength training.

Yes, fueling before, during and after runs matters but it’s also the day to day nutrition that can affect your performance because if you continue to go into runs and workouts under fueled, it will eventually catch up. This can lead to burn out, inability to recover, loss of menstruation or decreased testosterone, a higher risk of stress fractures, osteoporosis or osteopenia, and just overall fatigue.

To me, this is not worth it and can be an easy fix by setting up a 1:1 nutrition session with a sports dietitian to make sure you are fueling properly for your training runs and possibly your next big race or event. As I have said many times, the lack of a nutrition plan can completely derail your training and lead to potentially injury if not addressed properly. I will say, many athletes are going into their sport and events under fueled - don’t let that be you!

04/14/2026

This past weekend I ran 3 days in a row to get ready for Hellbender 100 on May 8th. This is something my coach .coachrunner recommends leading up to a 100 mile race about 4 weeks out. I had 7 Hours Friday, 4 Hours Saturday, & 3 Hours Sunday. I managed to get 60 Miles & 10k Feet of Elevation Gain.

I made sure to fuel before my long run on Friday with a high carb breakfast. My go to is Overnight Oats + a Smoothie. This was about 3 Hours before my run so about 3g CHO/kg Body Weight. Then about an hour before I had a Lemonade that had 1g CHO/kg Body Weight. During all my runs I fueled with Never Second Gels (30g CHO + 200mg Na) and Noogs Chews (38g CHO + 300mg Na). I also drank about 16oz Skratch/Hour (30g Carbs & 600mg Na) & 10-16oz H2O/Hour.

I felt good, minus the fact I left my trail shoes at home (I taught class before) and had to run in my road shoes for 4 hours! Mental Note: Keep trail shoes in your car especially when you live 30-40 min away from the trail!

After my Friday run I had a recovery protein drink in my car I drank on the drive home and came home to veggie pizza and salad for dinner. Fueling was pretty similar for all 3 days except Friday I threw in some more real food options after the halfway point - Watermelon, Chips, Lemonade, Ginger Ale, & PBJ.

Saturday & Sunday was similar pre run fuel and during the run - Skratch, Noogs, & Never Second. I have been running ultras for almost 15 years and I tend to rotate through products often and these are the current ones I am enjoying and what work for me! Saturday post run fuel was leftover pizza and fajitas for dinner. Sunday was leftover fajitas for lunch. I make sure to combine plenty of carbs and protein post-run to start the recovery process so I’m ready to go for the next run!

Overall I was tired but not as tired as I thought I would be. I tend to try and prioritize nutrition always and sleep, but sometimes slows gets ignored being a mom of 3 little kids. Anyway, I felt good for my 3 day training camp and am grateful for my coach for helping me feel confident to get to the start line of Hellbender 100 on May 8th!

04/07/2026

I was talking to some friends earlier today about ultrarunning anniversaries so I of course got curious when I ran my first ultra because I knew it was in April. And sure enough it is 14 years ago, tomorrow. I ran my first 50 mile race 04.07.12 @ American River 50 Mile in Auburn, CA.

Anyway, I recently been thinking that I will be coming up on 15 years next year which is kind of hard to believe and I often wonder why and how I have been able to stay in this sport for so long. I am in now way an elite runner, just a recreational runner, mom of 3 kids and a business owner, so I clearly have a life outside of running. I ran through all 3 of my pregnancies and even raced in the 1st and 2nd trimesters of all 3 of them. The only time I haven’t run in the last 14 years was early on post-partum for all 3 kids. I did have an issue with my glute that kind of got exacerbated after my first pregnancy so that affected my running for a few months, but overall I have never had a long term sustained injury. I attribute it to the following things:

1.) I strength train 4 days per week.
2.) I prioritize fueling before, during and after my runs and my workouts.
3.) I carry around a water bottle with me daily.
4.) I try to get 7-8 hours of sleep if I can.
5.) I also try to have at least 1 rest or recovery day every week.
6.) I include processed foods daily - it helps me meet my caloric needs easily.
7.) I do warm up & cool down for my runs and workouts, especially as I get older.
8.) I run about 55-65 miles per week for my peak weeks training for a 100, outside of that it’s closer to 35-45.
9.) I do not count calories, macros, or weigh my food - I actually never have.
10.) I have a life outside of running. :)

I am not saying that these are the things you should do because we are all unique. All I know is that they have worked for me run 50+ ultras - often times running multiple races per year. Just find what works for you and stick to it, oh, and try not to become obsessive while you are at it. I’m not sure if I will be doing this in another 14-15 years but I don’t want to lose that option.

Photo: Double Chubb 50k

04/05/2026

Honest Review of Brooks Glycerin Flex. I did receive these shoes free from to promote for my class on Friday 4/10 @ 7:15am for our Anniversary. Brooks is coming to the studio to offer a demo of the new Glycerin Flex so they wanted me to test them out and give a review.

To be fully transparent, I have been running in Brooks (specifically road shoes) for over 20 years & my favorite shoe thus far has been the Glycerin model so I might be a little biased. I started out running in the Adrenaline, then switched to the Ghost, and finally the Glycerin about 10 years ago, so it has been by far my favorite shoe.

These shoes fit a little different than the regular glycerin and I was a little hesitant to run in them with how flexible they were but overall they were awesome.

Pros: The shoes had a smooth, natural, and of course very flexible feel. The Glycerin Flex are perfectly cushioned for the type of terrain I run on - usually crushed gravel or woodway treadmills @ shred415stl. The traction and durability were great as well. I took them on a 2 hour run immediately out of the box and they felt great. Overall I felt comfortable & supported on a solid run.

Cons: They only come in the stealth fit and I prefer the traditional fit that the glycerin comes in - the material tends to rub on my skin as an ankle socks wearing millennial like me. Also, I am not a fan of white shoes because I get them very dirty on my runs, but they do offer a wide variety of colors so that’s an easy fix. Overall I would recommend. 9/10.

If you are interested and testing out a pair for yourself, meet me this Friday at 7:15am for a treadmill & strength class. First class is on me. :)

03/31/2026

Double Chubb 50k. 5hr36min. 1st Place Female. 12th Overall. Chubb Trail. St. Louis, MO.

This is one of my favorite races to run in STL - I think it was my first 50k in STL. The Chubb Trail is the closest trail to my house so as I started running ultras, I spent many hours logging hundreds of miles on this trail. :)

In the last few years, I have been struggling with the fact that I’m getting older & slowing down, especially since I had Nora at 40 years old & my life is very chaotic with trying to juggle life, family, 3 kids, work, strength training & running.

I went into this race with the expectation to hopefully run sub 6 hours, but I also really wasn’t sure because every race I had done the last few years was significantly slower than previous years so I was trying to be realistic. I ran the first loop in 2hr35min. I knew I would slow down but thought sub 5hr30min could be realistic - I also didn’t want to get my hopes up so I settled on sub 5hr45min.

My plan was to drink 20oz skratch per hour and 16oz of water. It was cold to start so I fell behind on skratch early on. After loop 1 I started to feel a little bit nauseous so I drank a little extra skratch I had in my drop bag to settle my stomach. I slowed down a couple miles trying to regroup and got back on track. I rotated between Noogs and a gel (Huma & Never Second) every 30 min. With 8 miles to go the nozzle fell off my bladder and I lost all my water. I ended up filling one of my two bottles with water to get to the finish. I fueled with 90g Carbs, 26oz Fluids & 1000mg Sodium/L per Hour - not quite my goals but close.

10 years ago, I ran 5hr40min on the same course at 33 years old. The fact that I beat that time at 43 years old after 3 pregnancies, I am fairly proud - 2nd Fastest Time too! Of course I know I could have run a little faster given my hiccups, but all in all it was a great day!!

Thanks to the SLUGS Saint Louis Ultrarunners Group for an awesome race! It was fun to see so many trail running friends who either ran, volunteered or came to cheer us on! And to my coach, Bri Boley for helping me feel strong again on race day!

03/24/2026

Your body was never the problem - only your perception. If you want to change your body because you think you will be happier, go right ahead. But at the end of the day, bodies will change - they are meant to! And we have to be able to exist in our body no matter the shape or size.

Sometimes it’s helpful to focus on the basics, even if they are boring - getting enough sleep, managing stress, limiting alcohol intake, not smoking, wearing sunscreen, eating fruits and vegetables, moving daily, & spending time with friends and family. I promise if we start to take care of our bodies, we will feel better.

No more restricting intake to fit into a certain pair of pants or a bathing suit, or dehydrating yourself to see a specific number on the scale. Most of the clients who get to the weight that they thought they wanted to be at had to go to extreme measures to get there - getting low on energy, losing muscle mass, losing friendships, hair falling out, becoming irritable and foggy, losing their menstrual cycle, getting stress fractures, and decreasing bone density.

I don’t know about you but I want to continue to feel good. I would be lying if I said I didn’t care what I looked like but it’s not something I will try to manipulate by going to extremes to get there. At the end of the day, we need to learn to be happy with the person we are, not what we look like. And just be grateful that we get to be here living life in a strong & healthy body.

03/12/2026

Happy Registered Dietitian Day! 20 Years ago I went back to school to become a dietitian. I had no idea it would turn into me running my own private practice for the last 13 years.

I will be honest, it has been harder than I thought, but not for the reasons you might believe. I love working with my clients and it does not get better than one on one counseling - whether for an eating disorder, sports nutrition, both, improving body image, relearning how to eat after years of being sucked into diet culture, or just learning how to have a healthy relationship with food.

Day after day, I realize how strong diet culture is and how many people are sucked into the pressure to be thin. It can be exhausting trying to untangle all the noise out there - for me and my clients! But it is always worth it to get on the other side, whether recovering from an eating disorder or chronic dieting, finally fueling appropriately for your sport, or just nailing your nutrition on race day to get a solid finish!

I love what I do, and if you asked younger Heidi, she thought she was going to be a back up dancer for Tina Turner, but I can confidently say I chose the next best thing for my career!

I cannot thank my clients enough for putting their trust in me to help them along their journey, whatever that may be, because I know I absolutely would not be here without all of them, and the support of all my friends and family. And for those of you following along on my social media, liking, commenting, and sharing, I appreciate you just helping me get my message across. So this is your reminder to thank your favorite RD today. 😉

03/09/2026

It was 80 degrees F here in St. Louis on Friday & I had a 4 hour long run planned. I was so grateful I had spent 10 days in Costa Rica a week prior to the very hot day because I actually felt ok on Friday - I was running and/or hiking twice per day in Costa Rica in 90 degrees F so I was feeling more prepared than some of my other friends that day.

I will be honest, I am not very good about my nutrition and my hydration protocol during the winter months because I often times get too cold and do not prioritize it, especially this year when we had many days in the negatives leading to frozen gels and fluids!

But summer, I do significantly better because I know I’m a salty sweater and am aware of how much being dehydrated can affect my performance, and getting behind just a little bit can ruin your training run or even your race.

On Friday I consumed 16oz water, 20oz skratch with 2 scoops = 800mg Sodium & 40g Carbs, 1 Noog Pouch = 300mg Sodium & 38g Carbs, and 1 Never Second Gel = 200mg Sodium & 30g Carbs every single hour. This brought me to 1300mg Sodium & 108g Carbs per hour and I felt great all things considered with the 1st hot day of the season.

I have 2 x 100 mile races this year - 1 in May and 1 in October so I will be doing a lot of training in the warm spring and summer months here in St. Louis. If you also have a big race this spring, summer or fall, then perhaps this is your sign to stop winging your nutrition plan and set up a session with me. I promise you, it will be worth it! One of the main reasons people DNF races is because of their nutrition plan, or lack thereof, but you will not be one of those people this year!

Please email me: Heidi.m.Williams@gmail.com, check out my website: www.realnutritionandfitness.com or send me a message here so we can set something up!

03/05/2026

Skinny is trending once again. Just when I think we are moving forward, we are taking two steps backward. And I am not talking about just being thin, I am talking about being emaciated. As a dietitian it is important for me to not comment on other’s bodies but it’s also important for me to point out that not everyone is naturally thin and people often go to extreme measures to get to that place of thinness. Honestly it makes me very sad. I hope that my daughters do not grow up and feel the pressure to be emaciated or feel like their bodies are not good enough.

I have had a few clients in my office this this week saying they don’t feel like their are an athlete because of their shape, even though they are all amazing athletes doing thing most people would never be able to. You don’t have to fit into any sort of mold, and you certainly don’t need to starve yourself to get there. Otherwise you won’t have the energy to be the bada** athlete you are!

This is just your reminder to say f**k the toxic skinny culture. I certainly have and I hope you can join me. I cannot stress it enough - there are way more important things than the size of your body. And plus, think of how much energy you would have to spend trying to shrink your body instead of just enjoying life.

Workout:
Air Dyne Bike @ 5 x 30 Sec Pushes
1k Ski Erg
Battle Rope Waves @ 8 x 20 Sec Pushes

03/04/2026

La Carrera Chirripo 34K. 02.21.26. San Gerardo de Rivas, Costa Rica. 6hr55min. 7400’ Elevation.

I ran this race in 2012 when I was 29 years old, and had a very lofty goal to beat my time of 5hr15min. That absolutely did not happen. :)

It poured on Friday up near the mountain so I should have expected for it to be muddy - well it absolutely was. I had 4 hours to get to the top and I made it in 3hr50min. 40 min slower than the last time I ran. I kept thinking that I am definitely a more experienced ultarunner so I should be able to beat my time. Well I was 29 and didn’t have kids and I am realizing these goals of trying to compare myself to a person that doesn’t exist anymore are ridiculous. I just need to keep reminding myself that I continue to show up regardless of how I place.

In saying that, it is very humbling for me to admit that I was last place female. :) This is a race that I wanted to do to see if I could I do it again, which I did. All I know is that the Ticas are insanely strong runners and a white woman from the flat Midwest US has no business trying to keep up with them. The first place female was a 26 year old woman who birthed 4 children and hasn’t bought new shoes in over 3 years - so yeah, that’s who I was up against!

Anyway, the trail was muddy!! So muddy. At one point I stepped into some very deep mud and my shoe got suctioned off. I struggled to get my footing. I was slow getting to the top - climbed 7000 feet over 10 miles so that’s to be expected for a flat lander like me. Then on the way down it poured and with 500 people on the trails they were in bad shape by the time I got to them - I was in the back of the pack because regardless of how hard I train, the locals are just so much stronger. But I was sliding down the mountain toward the end, probably fell no less than 10 times, and they were hard falls! But I finally made it to the finish after all that!

I fueled with water, skratch, noogs, and guava gels at the aid station. All in all it was a very tough race. I’m not sure I’ll do it again but I’m happy I got myself out there and out of my comfort zone and became a little fish in the big sea.

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