Many of us have been told since we were young that hard work pays off, right?
When you decide to start looking for a nutrition coach or registered dietitian to work with, or if you’ve already hired one and you’re just getting started, the process can feel daunting and overwhelming at times.
It’s kind of like starting a new job or hobby. You know once you get into the groove of things and put the work in, habits will begin to form, and you won’t feel so wobbly on your feet (literally and figuratively).
The first step to ensuring success with personalized nutrition counseling is to get started! Sometimes, that’s the hardest part, so if you’ve made it that far - Bravo! Once you’ve decided to take the leap, there are a few things you should focus on to make sure it’s worth your investment and time.
Our clients at OnPoint Nutrition know that putting in the work is an integral part of their journey with us, and this is why we’ve successfully collaborated with over 3,000 clients to reach their health goals in a sustainable way.
In this article, we’ll list the top ten tips for a successful journey in your nutrition counseling program, straight from our nutrition coaches and registered dietitians!
The Top 10 Ways to Help Guarantee Success When Working With a Nutrition Coach or Registered Dietitian
Putting in the work when it comes to your nutrition goals (or anything in life) can mean so many different things. More often than not, there are a lot of factors that will affect your success rate when working with a nutrition coach or registered dietitian, and some of those factors fall on you as the client.
If you are ready, willing, and able to work hard, there is no doubt you will see the results that you are looking for.
Here are the top 10 ways to help guarantee success, straight from OnPoint Nutrition’s registered dietitians and nutrition coaches:
1. Be Consistent
Consistency is KEY. As I mentioned above, when you start to do things consistently over time, habits will begin to form, and habit-building is one of the cornerstones of success when working on a nutrition goal.
Here are some of the ways to stay consistent when working with your nutrition coach or dietitian:
- Log your meals and snacks daily
- Show up for your appointments
- Be on time for your appointments
- Have consistent goals in mind each week, and make them a priority
Once you grow consistency and start to build these beneficial habits, the sky truly is the limit.
2. Ask Questions
Stay curious, my friends! It is so important that you ask your nutrition coach or dietitian questions when they come up. Asking questions means you want to learn and grow, and that desire for growth is only going to feed your success.
If you are confused about something or need additional information, our team is here to provide the answers and education that will help you reach your goals!
Asking questions projects not only your engagement and excitement but your commitment to yourself and the process as well.
3. Communicate Your Needs
Being open, honest, and transparent with your nutrition coach or dietitian is of the utmost importance; they are not mind-readers! Communicate your needs at all times, and always be forthright with whatever is on your mind so you can work on things together as a team.
Our nutrition coaches and registered dietitians at OnPoint are here for you. You control much of your one-on-one virtual sessions, and it’s important they know where you are at with things so that they can determine the next best steps.
Always maintaining open communication inside and outside your sessions is a crucial part of building trust and consistency over time.
4. Work As a Team
I’ve mentioned in other articles that your nutrition coach or dietitian is not only your coach but your cheerleader as well. Teamwork truly makes the dream work, as they say!
View your nutrition coach or dietitian as your team member throughout the process, working side by side with you, not against you. They are there to help you pick up the pace, help you if you drop the ball, and cheer you on from the sidelines as you take the lead.
All of the tips I’ve listed so far only help you both to grow and evolve as a strong team, ready to take on any challenges and celebrate any victories.
5. Be Open to Change
Being able to adapt, pivot, and be flexible is a huge part of getting you out of your comfort zone and into your GROWTH zone, where most shifts in habits and perspectives start to change for the better.
It’s necessary to be flexible throughout the process and realize that adapting to different circumstances or situations is going to help you to reach your goals faster and build more sustainable habits.
Life can often throw us curveballs. Being adaptable means you’re always ready to expect the unexpected and be open to shifting your mindset, which helps not only when working towards your nutrition goals, but in life overall.
6. Find Opportunities for Growth
Here at OnPoint Nutrition, we don’t believe in the words “failure” or “mistakes”. These things that can be viewed as negative can always take a positive spin. If something throws you off course or you feel like you’re ready to give up, notice how you can use these hiccups as learning experiences.
Sometimes feelings of comfort can signify that our basic needs are being met. It’s easy to fall into the mentality that you’ve messed up and have to start over. This mentality can lead to stagnant patterns without any areas for opportunity, growth, or fulfillment.
Shifting your perspective to see slip-ups as opportunities to grow and persevere in the face of challenges is a key contributing factor to building stronger habits, staying positive, and seeing results.
7. Take it Slow
Slow and steady wins the race! Your journey with personalized nutrition counseling should be viewed as a marathon, not a sprint.
Rushing through goals to get to the end result quicker has been proven to not be a sustainable practice. With slow and mindful efforts, there are more opportunities to build realistic patterns and habits over time.
Many studies have proven that quick-fix “fad” diets are not sustainable for most people in a long-term sense. Creating balance in your diet and maintaining realistic and attainable progress is not only possible, it’s something you can stick with for years to come.
8. Practice Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is all the rage these days, and for good reason. When you feel in control of your thoughts, patterns, and behavior, you are less likely to feel overwhelmed and more likely to feel confident in your choices.
Mindful eating emphasizes trusting your body’s internal hunger cues and breaking down the reasoning behind your eating habits.
Here are some ways to practice mindful eating:
- Remove distractions
- Eat with your dominant hand
- Sit down
- Pause between bites
- Save your favorite food for last
Read more on why mindful eating is important.
9. Celebrate Mini-Victories
Perspective; it’s an important thing to check in with throughout this process! What you might view as a huge milestone might be a small one to someone else. What you see as a small victory might be an enormous hurdle someone else had to jump.
Tracking incremental achievements helps with confidence boosting, goal setting, and a positive mindset. Celebrating the smallest of victories means those victories will stack up over time and you get to look back at ALL of your successes. This is essential for success.
Being excited and hyped up about your smaller accomplishments can lead to feeling more confident to crush those bigger goals.
10. Be Kind to Yourself
This right here is a big one - be kind to yourself. You are the most important priority in this journey, and you won’t get any further in the process by beating yourself up or speaking negatively to yourself.
It is easy for many of us to fall into the trap of ridiculing or bullying ourselves as a way to push ourselves towards success, but this method is never beneficial.
Speaking kindly to yourself and being your hero in your health journey can help with things like mental clarity, sleep, eating behaviors, and your relationship with others, all of which affect how successful the process is for you.
The Bottom Line and What Comes Next
If you’ve made it this far, I hope you can see how impactful it is to utilize these tips in order to help you see long-term success with your nutrition and overall health goals.
Putting this list into play arms you with an inventory of tools at your disposal so that you can have a well-rounded and results-driven experience that will benefit your health for years.
If you are a current client, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful, realistic and beneficial. Remember that your nutrition coach or dietitian is fully committed to helping you live your best life if you are willing and ready to put in the dedication.
If you aren’t yet a client of OnPoint Nutrition, the next step to see how the above list can benefit you and your personal health journey is scheduling your free consultation. A member of our consult team will be ready to ask and answer any questions needed to help you along the process and get you ready for some major health wins!
