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INTRODUCTION
As personal trainers and coaches most of you are in a position to help people achieve optimal
health through exercise and it makes sense that you need to complement that knowledge
with sound nutrition advice. The trouble with nutrition is that it is often made out to be far
more complex than it needs to be.

The advice in this short ebook is designed to show you how to structure a nutrition program
for your clients in the most practical way possible. Practical for you, but also practical and
realistic for your clients.

We make the assumption that you have at least a basic understanding of nutrition and the
composition of foods. If you aren’t sure, or if there are terms mentioned here that you’re not
completely comfortable with, then we strongly suggest that your nutritional interests would
be better served by looking at a course such as the BTN Foundation Academy (https://btn.
academy/courses/foundation/) as this will help clarify everything and let you move forward in
confidence. Throughout this ebook we are also making the assumption that clients are being
coached from being true beginners, and as such we won’t go in to precise macronutrient re-
quirements – if someone currently has croissants for breakfast and a pie for lunch, you have a
lot more groundwork to do before that becomes a priority and we speak at length about this
in our other courses.

There are a few steps to go through and there are numerous considerations to take into ac-
count which we will cover, but by the end of this ebook you will hopefully have a pretty good
understanding of how to coach your clients through a nutrition program as a starting point.

Notice we keep saying coaching?

This is because most of your clients will have a poor understanding of nutrition and many
may have various mental and emotional issues attached to food. It takes a knowledgeable
but emotive and intuitive coach to help them through this, making it educational but easy to
implement while ensuring it’s flexible enough to fit with their lifestyle and bespoke to their
needs and goals.

Which leads us nicely to our first point… Mindset

P.S. All the research we used for this manual is referenced at the back.

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STEP 1: mindset
SMART goals (1). The first thing you need to get your client doing is thinking about their goals.
This sounds quite simple, but there is more to do here asking them to write down a long-term,
medium-term and short-term goal. This is because most people aren’t entirely sure how to
create a goal that matters to them more than being something that would be “nice to have”.
You need to get them to look deep into themselves and work out their core values.

Values are the reasons behind the goals. For example a client may tell you she wants to lose
10kg, but that 10kg represents a lot more than a number on a scale or a dress size, it’s a con-
sequential target that comes about as a result of a deeper rooted value. Now, if they say they
want to lose 10kg so that they can ride a horse because when they had riding lessons as a child
that was the one time in their life they felt truly happy, you have found a value. Of course this
is overly simplistic and it may take a little time to get to the core of these values; think of it like
peeling back the layers of an onion.

Values are highly emotive and goals that are tied to something emotive is far more mean-
ingful and motivational. This is why it’s often easier working with those already dedicated to
exercise/training because they have very clearly defined goals, meaning that adherence may
come much easier to them (although they usually take some convincing to accept your help if
your approach differs from what they have always done). Once you have a long-term goal you
need to work out a time scale to achieve it and then set smaller incremental goals to tick off
along the way which makes the journey much less daunting.

One of the best ways to do this is to ask the client to take their time and write out the 5 things
that matter more to them than anything else
in their life. Typical examples include family,
income/wealth, travel, health/longevity and
personal relationships. Ensure these are quite
specific, because “happiness” or “fitness” isn’t
all that useful. Once you have these, you can
build your long-term goals around them and
from there the rest falls in to place far easier.

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STEP 2: HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS
Health screening is obviously important, so gather as much history as possible about the cli-
ent’s overall wellbeing. Sleep, stress and time management are three areas that most modern
people struggle with, and it’s no secret that we are typically ‘on the go’ 24/7, leaving very little
time for important relaxation. It’s also critical to find out if there are any constraints to your
practice, so that you can refer on to someone better equipped to help. Once you have done
the usual groundwork the next priority for all your clients is to consume a diet of mostly single
ingredient whole foods (2).

This means unprocessed natural foods including meat, fish, dairy, root veg, wholegrains, veg-
etables and fruit. If their three main meals consist of these kinds of foods then that alone
will hugely improve the health of most of your clients, even those who at first appear to have
more going on.

If you are concerned that there IS an issue you’re not really sure about, finding a good GP
who can do blood work might be an option. Most coaches will come into contact with obese
individuals who are in a world of metabolic hurt and who may suffer from eating addiction
or digestive issues from years of abuse. It can be really useful to know if you’re dealing with
someone who has problems due to being overweight, or if they have remained overweight
because they have problems, two very different things.

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STEP 2: HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS
Most physical issues that arise alongside obesity can be cleared up by an appropriate calorie
intake, weight loss and increase in activity; but some issues may not. “If in doubt refer out”
because there is usually one or two different approaches to help and a ton of different ways
to make things worse. Remember, your job as a coach falls under the Hippocratic Oath: “First,
do no harm”.

Remember, referring doesn’t mean you lose contact with the client. You will more often than
not be involved with the implementation of recommendations handed down by a medical
professional.

If there are no underlying issues and the client’s issues are lifestyle, habit and food relation-
ship related then this is where you can work your magic.

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STEP 3: EDUCATION
As we’ve mentioned already your role in this coaching program is to educate your clients.
Don’t just throw protocols or meal plans at them without providing explanations. In most
cases your clients will not know a protein dense food from a carbohydrate, let alone the differ-
ence between a polyunsaturated fatty acid and a polysaccharide. Simply saying to your client
“you need to eat more protein” isn’t helpful.

Educate them on each macronutrient, what it does and where to find it. Inform them about
healthy options and how and where to buy them to fit their budget and lifestyle. Your clients
will need to know some good cooking tips in most cases, will need food storage advice and
perhaps an example shopping list.

Many also need to be told that you don’t need to buy organic vegetables, that all UK beef is
grass fed for the most part, and that farmed fish isn’t the devil.

Rather than telling them what to eat, educate them around building meals with foods and the
composition of which they are familiar with. Once a client is able and happy to build meals
throughout the day which are in line with their goals and, almost as importantly are enjoya-
ble, then they are more ready for the complexities involved with nutrition such as macronu-
trient counting, meal frequency management and performance nutrition.

It’s also important to make educating the client as stress free as possible. Have empathy, be
patient, and explain things clearly when they are throwing up road blocks. People follow what
they believe to be true, it’s our job to show them a better way, in a kind way, not just present
raw facts. Some people will be very receptive and take on board every change you implement
with enthusiasm, but most won’t and many will be resistant to change. When you face re-
sistance this is when you refer them back to step one, their long term goals. In this case, just
remind them of Einstein’s quote:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different
results.”

This is also where it comes down to specifying your advice to the individual in front of you.
Not everyone will adhere to a strict paleo diet just as most of you probably won’t entertain
a strict vegan diet (and of course neither is strictly necessary in any physiological sense). This
ultimately comes down to teaching principles to people, rather than advocating for systems.

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STEP 3: EDUCATION
All successful diets have the same things in common:

• Appropriate calorie intake, created by counting it on purpose, or limiting something (food

groups, specific food types, macronutrients, times of day)

• Adequate protein intake

• Adequate fibre intake

• Some degree of flexibility

• It’s pleasant to eat, in the opinion of the individual doing it

Your job as a coach is not, therefore, to find a system that meets all of the above criteria
for you and then roll that out to clients. It’s to find a manner of hitting all of the points with
everyone you work with. This is where nutrition becomes bespoke, and bespoke nutrition is
the only kind that is effective long-term.

We hope that has sunk in by now.

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STEP 4: habits
When it comes to making changes the habit system is probably the best approach for those
who are brand new to nutritional management, and/or those with a very poor overall nu-
tritional approach. This system involves making small, incremental positive changes to the
things that clients do every day, rather than honing in on certain things they do wrong on
a less frequent basis (such as weekend overindulgences), or trying to carpet bomb and do
everything at once.

This is another good reason to have a client keep a food diary. Each week you can sit down
and go through their diary and make a single change, and discuss it with them so they under-
stand. In an ideal world you would sit with the client and ask them “what do you think is the
one area that you could change first?” because this gives them a sense of control and auton-
omy – both crucial to motivation.

For example, over the first couple of weeks you might look at getting them to up their water
intake to 3 litres a day while bringing down their coffee to 1-2 cups per day. Week three you
might want them to include a protein source at breakfast. This continues indefinitely until,
months later your improvements have built up into what could be considered a ‘good diet’
and they can start getting more specific after strong basic habits are in place.

For example, you might take them from a beige diet of fast food and snacks, to a wholefood
diet with appropriate protein dosing and an ideal vegetable intake over the course of a few
months. At this point you can then start to get them tracking macros, or using a more flexible
approach, or paying closer attention to workout nutrition and enhancing their recovery.

Make sure that the majority of habits are positive or additive rather than negative. Add more
vegetables rather than cutting out carbohydrate sources. Add a low calorie snack with nutri-
tional value like an apple rather than banning chocolate. Add sleep hygiene practices rather
than cutting out caffeine. These all accomplish the same thing, but adding something is always
more attractive than taking something away from the client’s perspective. At first they may
not have 100% adherence but if the changes are small enough, pretty soon they will be auto-
matic behaviours, like brushing their teeth each morning. Ultimately we are working with a
client over time, collaborating, to make healthy changes that work for them.

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STEP 5: Portion control
A very overweight person can see immediate changes simply by cutting out sweet snacks
and sugary drinks, but at some point you will have to set about more quantifiable methods.
Portion control is an important consideration, especially where weight loss is concerned.

Simply educating clients about portion sizes alone can have a huge impact on weight man-
agement. What a person perceives as a normal portion size might be significantly larger than
it rightly should be. So, although weighing food is more commonly associated with macro
tracking athletes, having a client weigh and measure food portions for a period of time can be
an extremely effective way of educating them on portion control.

For instance, a serving size given on a typical cereal box is likely to be at least half the size of
what a typical client might actually be having. A person who serves up rice with a meal might
think they are having a single serving but in fact it’s closer to two cups than one. You can use
a number of methods to achieve this and using kitchen utensils is practical and convenient for
most people (i.e. cups, tablespoons etc., or the scales).

Once they know a measured quarter cup of uncooked rice is what they need in a meal for
their goals, then they can portion up their meals accordingly. This then transfers well to their
food diaries. One of the biggest problems with overweight people who track their food is that
they often under report (6) their food intake by as much as 1000 calories.

Another popular method of portion control is using the palm of your hand. i.e. a serving of
meat is around the size of your palm and carbohydrate sources (cooked) are around the same.
Pair these up with a thumb-sized fat portion and two cupped handfuls of vegetables and your
meal is ready! This is handy because in general hand size will vary with height and bone struc-
ture, meaning that those who need more calories will get them.

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STEP 5: Portion control
With vegetables being a heaped handful and fats being a thumb size, getting a client to follow
this guideline could easily lead to impressive results.

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STEP 6: Calories - problems, solutions AND macros
Kilocalories are a measurement of energy, much like millimetres are a measurement of length.
1000 calories = 1 kilo calorie = 1kcal = the energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1kg of
water by 1°C.

But you already knew this didn’t you?

So, is it all about calories in vs. calories out?

Well, technically yes, when you break it down that’s exactly what it’s all about and that is why
there is no such thing as a fattening food, because in theory if the food you eat contains fewer
kcal than your body needs for energy then you’ll be in an energy deficit and you’ll lose weight.

The notion that not all calories are created equal is incorrect. At the risk of arguing semantics
a calorie is a calorie (7) just as a metre is a metre. Certainly the type and quality of the food
that those calories are contained in will differ, just as the surfaces you measure in metres will
vary; is it grass or concrete? However, it’s also very important to realise that we don’t eat cal-
ories, we eat food and an emphasis on nourishing foods is important.

The amount of energy that you personally need is dictated by your height, weight, muscle
mass, sex and genetics – of course this is increased if you are active, too. The amount of ener-
gy to perform all of the functions your body needs to perform is known as your ‘maintenance
intake’ because it maintains your weight. Remember, if you consume fewer kcal than your
maintenance, you are in an energy deficit and your weight goes down, with the opposite be-
ing true if you overeat.

It’s important to remember, however, that this number is not fixed, it’s dynamic because your
body constantly works to maintain an equilibrium known as homeostasis. If you are becoming
dehydrated your body makes you thirsty so you are driven to consume fluids, if you are hot
you sweat and feel the need to cool down, and if you under or overeat? Your body tries to
maintain its weight.

You have what’s known as a set point (this could be better referred to as a settling point, be-
cause it, too is dynamic. If you gain/lose appreciable weight and then maintain this for a while,
your set point moves) which is simply a weight your body ‘likes to be at’. If you consume more
calories than you need, your appetite will reduce, you will fidget more and you’ll heat up,
with a calorie deficit leading to increased hunger, lethargy and body temperature. Of course

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STEP 6: Calories - problems, solutions AND macros
it should be somewhat obvious that the drivers to keep your bodyweight up are a lot stronger
than keeping it down, and we mustn’t ignore the fact that non-homeostatic drivers to eat
related to hyper-palatable foods and emotion-based eating can certainly contribute to weight
gain in spite of what your body otherwise seems to want to do.

With all of that being said, there is no escaping the fact of energy balance. If you eat too much
your body will fight back, but that extra energy will still be stored – as muscle, in glycogen
stores (where extra carbohydrate goes for later use) or in fat cells. Then, if you undereat, re-
gardless of your body’s defences, some of that muscle, glycogen and fat will be broken back
down for use. Note that if you ever join us on the BTN Practical Academy, you will love our
fascinating digestion module, which is a fascinating subject when you get into the details.

As such, creating a calorie deficit and then maintaining it for days, weeks, or months at a time
leads to fat loss every single time, which is why it’s important to have a means of controlling
calorie intake, and this in turn is why it’s a good idea to have an estimate of your calorie needs
and your calorie intake (a topic we cover indepth using a 4 level system in our BTN Foundation
Academy).

Now this is where it starts to get a little more complex. There are numerous predictive formu-
las we can use to find our supposed calorie requirements but these often throw up different
numbers and even the revie ws seem confused over which is the best (8).

Besides, how do those numbers on that piece of paper know exactly what your metabolism
is doing? Our metabolism is influenced by activity, mood, energy, sleep, environment, food,
illness, and a plethora of other things. If you speak to anyone who works in a lab with athletes
and who has access to an indirect calorimeter they’ll tell you an individual’s total calorie needs
can change by as much as 500kcals or more in either direction on any given day.

So, do we count calories or not?

Obviously lots of athletes and nutritionists do use this method and to good effect, but it’s
not necessary for everyone. If the habit based approach listed above is working, then don’t
change what isn’t broken. If, however, someone would like to take their approach to a higher
level of detail either because they are interested or because it can offer better results, then
this would be the way to go.

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STEP 6: Calories - problems, solutions AND macros
It’s not as simple as plugging some measurements into a calculator, though, because as we
have discussed every available calculation method differs, and there’s no consensus as to
which is the best. More than this, the numbers that calculators provide is nothing more than
an educated estimate – if you’re applying these numbers to individuals there is a lot of wiggle
room that you need to account for. Generally speaking the best way to approach this is to cal-
culate someone’s maintenance calories using a calculator online, or this simple one:

Bodyweight in lbs x 14-16. 14 for females, 15 for active females or inactive males, 16 for active
males.

Then ask your client to eat this much for two weeks and see what happens. Assuming they are
being adherent, you can then look at their weight and see what happened. If, over the course
of the 2 weeks they have eaten 2500kcals per day on average and their weight has gone down
by 2lbs, you know (due to the rough calculation that 1lbs of fat is 3500kcal) that they were
around 500kcals below their needs. This, of course, is just an estimate, too – but it’s a closer
estimate than a generic one and we’re changing things based on results.

Note: If a client is overweight, rather than quite lean and looking to get in better shape, this
approach will likely be too slow. If that is the case, just move on to the next step – it doesn’t
matter if you have an overweight client’s maintenance wrong a little bit, all that matters is that
they are in a deficit, which they will be.

Use a method of recording that your client is able to do easily. This may mean using a food
tracking app, a calculator and some food labels, or a combination of the two. The critical thing
is not the level of detail, necessarily – it’s the accuracy. Work with your client to pick the ap-
proach that works for them. this is what coaching is really all about.

When losing weight, clients would do well to lose 0.5-1.5% of their weight per week, which
will represent a 10-25% calorie reduction (increasing with their degree of overweightness).
For gaining weight, adding around 0.25-0.75% of bodyweight per week is a good place to be,
or around 0.5-1lbs per week.

This goes against the usual ‘drop 500kcal to lose 1lbs per week’ because it’s more specific.
500kcals is a lot for a 130lbs female, but almost nothing to a 130kg male.

Use percentages, not arbitrary numbers.

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STEP 7: Fattening foods and flexible dieting
At a seminar once the host that was presenting said, “it’s better to be 7 out of 10 all the of
time than 10/10 some of the time.” This is 100% true for our clients, however much you try,
they will never do anything you say perfectly.

Designing a nutritional program for someone who wants to lose weight is by definition going
to mean it’s restricti. If this restriction is too severe, however, you greatly increase the likeli-
hood that your client will fail. If you tell someone who clearly loves cake that they can never
eat cake, you have set them up to inevitably fail when the cravings just become too much.
Rather than eliminating things and creating hard and fast rules, advocate minimisation of
foods that are evidently less than ideal, and promote the addition of better options.

Besides, it’s not like that cake couldn’t be fit into an effective nutritional program…

For example, a 2000kcal a day diet that absolutely restricts all ‘junk’ is less likely to encourage
adherence than a 2000kcal a day diet that factors in a glass of wine or a small slice of cake
here and there. The impact on health will be negligible to zero, and the impact on your client’s
mentality towards the process will be profound (all the while improving their social flexibility
too).

Finally, the myth that some foods are more fattening than others.has

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STEP 7: Fattening foods and flexible dieting
For years, it was said that high fat foods are fattening. They are indeed associated with weight
gain but this is simply because they are energy dense. One gram of fatty acids contains 9 kcal
and only has a TEF (9) ratio of 2%, and they are no more filling, gram for gram, than compara-
tively low energy carbohydrates and protein. If you eat high fat foods and don’t consume too
much energy because of it, however, there is no weight gain caused.

These days we’re told to avoid carbohydrates because they cause an increase in insulin
secretion. The good news is that, as above, outside of a calorie surplus this won’t cause fat
gain (and that’s not to mention the fact that the process of storing carbohydrates as fat is in-
credibly inefficient in humans).

We’re also told that protein containing foods can make us fat, can damage our kidneys or can
cause heart disease. Once more for the record, outside of a calorie surplus or a hugely un-
balanced diet this is not the case (something we cover extensively in the Practical Academy).

Also, many carbohydrate dense foods are often a source of fibre which aids weight loss and
has many health benefits (10). Where-as protein has a high thermic effect and a potentially
beneficial influence on metabolism (11).

Sure, certain foods spike insulin more than others in the short term, but over the day these
processes should balance each other out. It’s also worth noting that many foods contain a
complex concoction of nutrients. Take nuts, for instance, which are considered a fat source
but also contain soluble fibre and some protein so their effect on metabolism is complicated.

Likewise, foods which are low in nutrient density and high in refined sugars and added fat
often lead to overeating because they are calorie dense while sending all of the non home-
ostatic drivers to eat mentioned above into overdrive. In other words you can make a jam
doughnut fit your macros but the urge to polish off the rest of the bag could either result in a
loss of self control (and the weight gain, guilt and ‘I give up’-ness associated), or it could sim-
ply lead to a really unpleasant evening of resisting.

Flexible dieting allows someone to eat the foods that will enable the greatest degree of adher-
ence. This may mean they have the doughnut, it may mean they don’t.

People – not systems. This is true coaching.

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WRAPPING UP the 7 steps
As a whole, when it comes to nutrition, let’s keep things simple.

• Have your client set their goals based on values and emotional attachments, this may
need some direction from you to extract their true goals

• Screen your clients for health issues, address these issues as a priority and refer out if
something is out of your remit

• Educate your clients about nutrition and the composition of foods and encourage single
ingredient whole foods for optimal health

• Implement single incremental habitual changes to increase long-term adherence

• Educate your client on portion sizes and find a tracking system that works. Food diaries
are essential

• Not everyone will count calories but, for those who can, create a system that gives you the
most accurate data possible and don’t rely on predictive equations

• There is no such thing as a fattening food and making a diet as flexible as possible is less
likely to fail, but ensure 80-90% of diet is from single ingredient whole foods.

Hopefully this has given you a better understanding of nutrition programming and how to
practically apply your coaching system to your clients. If you want to learn more, then keep
reading our emails, there is lots more we can educate you on and help you become the best
coach possible (our blog also has a ton of nutrition and coaching topics to read).

Ben Coomber and Tom Bainbridge

For more information on our AfN and REPS Certified BTN Foundation Academy, a course you
can take anytime, anywhere via a mobile app with an accompanying textbook and 24/7 tutor
support, visit https://btn.academy/courses/foundation/

To learn with us over 12 months and become a qualified nutrition coach join us on The BTN
Practical Academy which is taught online by specialist coaches. Look to join us in May and
November by visiting https://btn.academy/courses/practical/

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REFERENCES
1. http://www.hr.virginia.edu/uploads/documents/media/Writing_SMART_Goals.pdf
2. http://www.webmd.com/diet/the-benefits-of-healthy-whole-foods
3. http://www.pnas.org/content/101/44/15718.full.pdf gut obesity
4. http://www.allergyuk.org/food-intolerance/identifying-your-food-intolerances
5. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/41.full.pdf+html high protein
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7594141 reporting
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/ calorie is a calorie
8. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/4/959.full.pdf+html reporting dutch
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_dynamic_action TEF
10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11838888 post prandial
11. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/3/439.long fibre

BIOS OF THE AUHORS

Ben Coomber (CISSN) is the creator of the BTN Academy. He has the UK’s
#1 rated health and fitness podcast and has consulted with Sky TV, O2 and
Twinnings Tea. Ben has been teaching nutrition for 11 years, 6 of them
teaching other coaches to be the best they can be.

Tom Bainbridge (CISSN) is the lead tutor and researcher at the BTN
Academy, supporting studnets every step of the way as they navigate
their nutrition journey with us. He loves sipping tea, lifting heavy weights
and reading research.

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