Meet Riley Macela, Accredited Practising Dietitian
The dietitian who figured out the gym is the easy part.
I spent 18 years in gyms before I went back to study dietetics. Not because the training wasn't working.
Because I kept watching it not be enough.
Why I went back to study dietetics
I started personal training at 18. Over the next 18 years I worked in gyms across Melbourne, ran bootcamps, worked with corporate fitness programs, trained athletes, and owned my own gym.
The whole time, I was watching the same pattern play out. People would train hard, consistently, for months. Some of them were doing everything right. And the results weren't matching the effort.
For a long time I told myself it was the training. More consistency. Better programming. Dial in the recovery.
Then I wrote a nutrition plan for a client. A proper one, I thought. And when I ran it through the software and looked at the actual nutrient breakdown, there was almost no calcium in it. None.
I hadn't even thought about it. I was a trainer. I knew how to train people. But nutrition at a clinical level - the relationship between specific food groups and chronic disease risk, the way micronutrients work together, what a real deficiency looks like and what it does to the body over time - I didn't know enough.
That was the moment. Not a gradual realisation. A specific one.
I went back to university and completed a Masters of Dietetics. Not because I wanted to work in a clinic, but because I wanted to actually understand the thing I'd been telling clients mattered most.
18 years of training. A Masters of Dietetics. And a system built from both.
Most dietitians come from a purely clinical background. They understand the science deeply but they have limited experience of what it actually looks like to try to change your eating while you're tired, busy, training, and dealing with real life.
Most personal trainers understand training very well and nutrition not enough.
I've been on both sides of that gap for a long time.
I've created a 3 phase nutrition framework that gives clients a structured plan and the education to understand and adapt it. Not instructions to follow until the program ends. A system to keep using after it does.
A few things I believe, based on 18 years of actually doing this.
Structure beats motivation every time.
Motivation comes and goes. A clear system doesn't. The people who get consistent results are the ones with a repeatable structure, not the ones who feel most inspired on a given week.
Most people don't need more information. They need less, applied better.
There is more nutrition information available now than at any point in history. It hasn't made people healthier. Knowing what to eat is not the problem. Having a clear, simple system for actually doing it is.
The goal is independence, not reliance on me.
By the end of the program, you should be able to make confident food decisions without me. That is the point of the AMP Method. Teaching the reasoning, not just the plan.
Qualifications and background.
Education
- Masters of DieteticsCharles Darwin University
- Bachelor of Medical Science, Major in NutritionCentral Queensland University
Registration and membership
- Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD)Dietitians Australia
Experience
- 18 years in health and fitness
- Personal training across multiple gyms and fitness environments in Melbourne
- Corporate fitness programs
- Strength and conditioning work with elite athletes and Cairns Taipans
- UBX Gym ownership and management
- Currently based in Cairns, working with clients in person and online
Outside the clinic.
I'm based in Cairns. I still train. I'm genuinely interested in the science behind what I do, which means I read a lot of nutrition research that most people would find deeply boring.
I got into this because I care about people getting real results. That hasn't changed.
Four ways to work with me.
Personalised Nutrition Plan
A personalised meal plan built around your goals, your food and your routine. For motivated people who just need a clear roadmap. Optional monthly reviews.
Learn moreClinical Nutrition Support Package
Three sessions of assessment, education and a tailored plan for a nutrition-related condition or specific health goal.
Learn moreGP and Specialist Dietitian Care
Referred by your GP or specialist? Personalised nutrition care to help manage chronic conditions, with possible Medicare rebates.
Learn moreWhat clients say
about the program.
Not sure where to start?
The free call is 30 minutes. We'll talk through your goals and I'll tell you honestly which option makes the most sense for where you are right now.