James Sprague was never much of an athlete as a kid. 

He loved sports, but he said he had “a crummy relationship with food,” and at age 12, the now two-time CrossFit Games champion and reigning Fittest Man on Earth was overweight. 

• “I was in the sixth grade, and I weighed 185 pounds at five-foot-two,” Sprague told The Morning Chalk Up. “Food was an escape, and I wanted nothing to do with making healthy choices.”

But then, when he was only a pre-teen, Sprague walked into a CrossFit gym. Around the same time, he had a growth spurt.

• “I went from being short and really chubby to tall and really thin,” he said. 

By the time Sprague competed at his first CrossFit Games as a teenager in 2017, he was 6 feet tall but only 150 pounds. 

• “I probably underate at the time,” said Sprague, who spent two years as a teenager tracking “every piece of food,” as he thought it was “the only way” when it came to fueling for performance. 

In 2019, when Sprague was still a teenager, he met Justin Romaire, owner of Consistency Breeds Growth (CBG) and a nutrition coach.

Romaire and CBG stood for something completely different: A less restrictive, more relaxed approach to nutrition that doesn’t involve a food scale and an app to track macros.

And as much as Sprague believed at the time that he needed to track every gram of carbs, protein, and fat that he consumed, there was something appealing, something less stressful about what Romaire presented to him.

As an impressionable teenager, Sprague let Romaire take him under his wing and teach him the CBG Blueprint approach, a more flexible and intuitive way to approach nutrition.

• “A simplified yet personalized way for people to understand how much, what, and when they need to be eating,” is how Romaire describes the CBG method.

The understanding part was key for the young Sprague, who, thanks to Romaire, began learning to listen to his body when it came to nutrition and ultimately fixed his relationship with food.

• “He taught me how to eat to feel good, and helped me figure out the best foods to help me fuel and recover,” Sprague said, adding that Romaire also taught him a lot about meal timing. 

But the biggest thing Sprague learned from Romaire was how to stop stressing about everything he ate, which began to make a huge difference in his performance.

• “The more stress I can take away, the better I can perform, so simplifying life is always key,” Sprague said. 

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Sprague’s Nutrition in Practice

Though Sprague hasn’t weighed, measured, or tracked macros in years, he estimates he eats between 3,800 and 4,200 calories on an ordinary day.

Breakfast is three slices of sourdough toast with six over-easy eggs, some fruit, and coffee with creatine. After that, he heads to the gym and picks up more quick carbs on the way.

Throughout the day, it’s mostly quick carbs and protein shakes, with smaller portions of foods like chicken and rice. 

Dinner is protein, usually beef or chicken, with rice and some vegetables, “and some hot sauce or cheese” to add flavor. 

Game day nutrition, though, is a bit different: It’s all about getting as many calories as he can. At the recent CrossFit Games, Sprague estimates he consumed almost twice as many calories as usual, mostly carbs.

• “Gels, gummies, dried fruit, real fruit, bread, anything that’s super easy to digest. I’m not so worried about fat and protein. I mostly eat that at the beginning and end of the day,” he said. The rest of the day is just carb loading. 

And, like the rest of us, Sprague has his weaknesses. In his case, it’s nachos, ice cream, and pizza.

• “But you can still fit pizza into your blueprint. And popcorn. A ton of movie theatre popcorn,” he said. 

The Big Picture

In the seven years Sprague has worked with Romaire, the most important thing Romaire has given him is nutritional freedom, which not only improves his performance but also enhances his entire life.

• “I don’t have to think twice about going out for food with my wife or my friends, and I don’t need to be on my phone all the time to log things or stress this and that. I intrinsically know what I have to do to feel good and continue getting stronger and fitter. It just makes life that much easier,” Sprague said.

He continued: “People get caught up with having these perfect nutritional days. I have gotten off track so many times and here’s the thing, …just come right back to it, and it won’t throw you off.”

At least this approach has worked for the six-foot-two, 210-pound Sprague, who is today the two-time CrossFit Games champion and the man everyone will be chasing heading into 2027.

On why he thinks he’s become a threat for the top spot at any competition he’s entered in recent years, Sprague is adamant it comes down to the enjoyment factor. 

• “I love the process, and I love training. I just think I love it more than the other guys, so I don’t get as stressed out. Maybe my cortisol doesn’t get as high,” Sprague said. “I set out to win the CrossFit Games, and I have done it twice, and it has given me freedom. I know where I can be.”

That freedom, both in his approach to training and nutrition, is something Sprague says has grown, at least in part, from the guidance he has received from Romaire over the past seven years. 

• “Justin helped me go from a skinny teenager to the CrossFit Games champion, and I never have to think twice about food or stress about it,” Sprague said. 

He added: “You can do it the other way, the stressful way, but it’s not necessary.”