I'm a nutritionist. And I put on 6kg in six months.

Why am I telling you this? Because I think you need to hear it from someone who should, on paper, have it all figured out.

Here's what actually happened.

The emotional mess that came first

Spring of 2025, I'd just turned 35 and my life as I knew it flipped itself on its head. I was questioning EVERYTHING. Who I was, What was important to me, How I saw the world. I hit rock bottom and honestly it was really hard.

Old me would have ate my feelings, pushed through it and slapped a smile on for the world only to be an anxious riddled mess on the inside.
But this me was crumbling, and New version forming. And this new version of me, she approached this period differently, intuitively.
I paired everything back, stopped doing my nails, only said yes to events I felt safe in and went carnivore.

I stopped tracking my macros. Stopped counting calories. I stepped away from the data and decided to just eat intuitively.

Emotionally, I needed that. It was the right call at the time.

But over those months, the weight crept on. Nothing dramatic. Nothing alarming. I was still sitting comfortably in a healthy range. But I noticed.

And at the start of 2026 I made a decision. I was not going to fight it, restrict it, or panic about it.

I was going to use it.

These 6kg have a purpose

This is the thing I want you to understand before we go any further.

Those 6kg are not just extra weight I am dragging around with me. They are not a mistake or a failure or something to be ashamed of. They have intention. They have a purpose. Every single one of them has been part of a deliberate strategy.

That reframe changed everything for me. And I think it might change something for you too. 
Here's what I've done. 

Step one: Made a plan and gave myself an end date

I set a six month window. January to end of June 2026.

The goal was not to lose the weight. The goal was to use this phase to increase my muscle mass, train hard, get strong, lift my energy levels, and most importantly to eat more. Significantly more. To build my calories up to the point where when I eventually moved into a cut, I would still be eating a generous amount of food and never feel like I was missing out.

Having that end date changed everything. It meant I could commit fully without second guessing myself every single week.

Because here is the truth that gets buried under every quick fix post on social media: changing your body composition takes time. Losing fat, building muscle, improving your energy, none of it happens in four weeks. You need a minimum of three months of consistent effort before you can make a sound judgement on whether something is working. Three months of data gives you something real to work with. Three months of commitment gives your body something to actually respond to.

Without that end date, the wavering would have won. And the wavering was loud.

Step two: Start tracking my macros again

This was non negotiable.

Tracking removes the guesswork entirely. I know exactly how much protein I am hitting. I know my calorie intake to the number. And when symptoms show up, like bloating, unexpected fluctuations, low energy, I have the data right there to cross reference and pivot if I need to.

Data and numbers do not lie. And when your feelings are screaming that nothing is working, the data is what keeps your nervous system calm and your feet on the ground.

This is also the thing that keeps me in control. Because I track my macros I know, at any moment, exactly where I am. I know what has driven the weight up. And I know exactly what levers to pull when I am ready to bring it back down. That is not restriction. That is power.

Step three: Holding myself through the hard part

Here is the part I did not fully account for when I set this plan.

How hard it would be to keep going when I felt heavy. To stick to the plan on the days I did not feel like it. To hold the intention when my brain was questioning everything and asking whether I was even doing the right thing.

There were weeks where I wanted to bail. Where I looked in the mirror and thought, is this actually working?

And that is when I had to treat this whole thing as an experiment. When you frame it as an experiment, you are not attached to a specific result. You are collecting information. You are staying curious instead of catastrophising. You get the results you get, and you use them.

The alternative was to quit and start over. And I have done that enough times to know it does not actually get you anywhere.

Step four: Let the data do the talking

This has been the most grounding part of the whole process.

My weight has stayed largely maintained. But my body composition has completely shifted. You can see it in photos. You can see it in the measurements. The scale is one data point and honestly not the most interesting one.

I'm now eating 1,000 calories a day more than I was this time last year. That means more nutrition, more fuel, more energy, and more raw material for my muscles to grow. When you have more muscle your metabolism runs hotter, your body burns fat more efficiently, and every system inside you works better.

And when I do move into a cut of 300 to 500 calories per day, I will still be eating well over 2,000 calories a day. I will have energy. I will be able to eat out without it being a crisis. I will not be white knuckling my way through a dinner with friends.

Most importantly, I will not be at risk of nutritional deficiency. Because my calories are high, my nutrition is high. And I will not compromise my health for fat loss. That is not on the table for me.

I want to look good. Feel good. Function well. All three. Not one at the expense of the others.

What this comes down to

Knowing your numbers does not mean obsessing over them. It means being in control of your own body. It means you are never at the mercy of a bad week or a bloated morning or a number on the scale that does not tell the full story.

When you understand your data, you can make decisions from a place of confidence instead of panic. You can gain weight with purpose. You can lose it with precision. And you can do both while still living your life.

That is what I want for every single woman I work with.

Ready to power up?

In a few weeks I am opening spots in Power Up, my 12 week program where we work with your numbers, your macros, your protein, and your metabolism to build real strength, real muscle, and real fat loss that lasts.

This is not a diet. It is a strategy.

If you want to be first to know when spots open, drop your name on the waitlist below.

Join the Power Up waitlist

Happy Day! 

Jenna
Functional Nutritionist