Before we get into macros and meal plans, I want to tell you one thing most coaches skip. And then they shake their heads when clients "can't stick to the diet". It's simple: nutrition is rarely a knowledge problem. It's a behavior problem.
Almost everyone knows they should eat more vegetables and less sugar. But knowing isn't doing. Your job doesn't start with a calorie table. It starts with understanding why a person eats the way they eat.
What you'll take away from this lesson:
Why people eat when they're not physically hungry (so-called hedonic hunger).
How to explain energy balance to a client so they actually get it.
What really drives food choice, and why willpower usually plays almost no part in it.
Your role as a coach: don't break people, build behavior that gives them a sense of success.
Losing, maintaining and gaining weight are all the result of the balance between energy in and energy out.
1) Why we deal with behavior before nutrition
People don't eat only because they're hungry. They eat when they're stressed, at celebrations, out of boredom, because of the people around them, because something smells good, or simply out of habit. This is called hedonic hunger: you eat even though your body doesn't need any energy [1].
In practice (Martin): When a client writes "I just can't hold back in the evening in front of the TV", I don't talk calories with them. I ask about the trigger: evening, tiredness, a flickering screen. And I look at the environment, like an open cupboard with cookies within arm's reach. We put the cookies out of sight, tweak the evening routine a little, and suddenly half of that "weak willpower" is gone. Be Effective :)
2) The foundation of everything: energy balance
However tangled the psychology around food gets, one fact always holds: losing and gaining weight is the result of the balance between how much energy you take in and how much you burn.
CHANGE IN FAT MASS = ENERGY IN − ENERGY OUT
But watch out for one thing. It doesn't mean it's enough to tell a client "eat less, move more". It's true, but as advice it's useless. A bit like telling an unhappy person to be happy. Regulating energy in real life is almost always much more than writing a calorie number on a piece of paper.
In practice (Martin): I tell clients straight: "Your body isn't broken. Right now your equation is just tipped to one side. Let's find out why and level it out in a way you can keep up long term." That takes the guilt off the person and gives them hope. And that's half the battle :)
3) You can't fool the body
Food is a basic biological need. In a sensible deficit, people do great. Push them to an extreme and the consequences follow. Binges, yo-yo dieting, loss of control. Most "diet failures" have little to do with weak willpower. They're the body defending itself against the extreme someone pushed it into.
4) What drives food choice
Biological: hunger (glucose) vs. appetite (smell, appearance); largely unconscious. Protein is the most filling [9,10,11]. Economic: energy-dense food tends to be the cheapest and the least filling; obesity is more common in lower income groups [12,13,14]. Availability: what a person has at hand at work or at home often decides before willpower does. Social: we eat more in a group; the people around us shape even what we eat alone [15,16]. Psychological: stress and emotions drive decisions. Note: clinical eating disorders belong with a specialist, not a coach [17].
In practice (Martin): Before I give anyone a meal plan, I ask about their life. Work, family, budget, sleep, stress, what's in their fridge at home. Without that map, every plan is a shot in the dark. And I can't afford that with my clients.
5) Your role: don't break people, build them
Our industry has one ugly habit. Breaking people and pushing them to extremes. The opposite is what works. Look for and reinforce the behaviors that give your client a sense of success. Small wins build their sense of control. And out of the information chaos they're drowning in, give them a few clear steps they can realistically manage.
"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." - Zig Ziglar
Quiz: check your understanding
Click a question to see the model answer.
1. What is hedonic hunger? answer ▾
Eating without physiological hunger. You eat for pleasure, out of stress, out of habit or because of the environment around you.
2. Why is "eat less, move more" true but bad advice? answer ▾
It doesn't tell the client HOW to do it, and it ignores the behavior, environment and emotions that drive their intake and expenditure.
3. Why does an extreme deficit lead to worse behavior? answer ▾
The body defends itself against the extreme. Binges, loss of control and yo-yo dieting follow. That's physiology, not weak willpower.
4. Name three different factors of food choice. answer ▾
For example biological (hunger and appetite), economic (the price of food), social (the people around you) or psychological (stress).
5. What does "building behavior with a sense of success" mean? answer ▾
Finding and reinforcing small successful steps that help the client build a sense of control. Instead of flooding them with rules they'll fail at anyway.
📌 Practical task: For your next client (or for yourself) write down an environment map (work, family, budget, sleep, stress, what they have at hand). Find one overeating trigger and suggest one change to the environment that weakens it.
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Inspired by: Advanced Coaching Academy, Phil Learney Performance Education Ltd. Original adaptation: Martin Barna.