When I first came across the concept of “personalised weight loss”, my approach towards dietary advice changed and has never been the same. I first became involved in helping clients with their unique weight loss goals because there are so many one-size-fits-all fads out there, many of which cause more harm to someone’s health than you can imagine.
After dedicated research and science-based training, understanding how personalised weight loss works, has given me the opportunity to safely help clients with their health and nutrition goals. The science behind personalised weight loss advice is incredibly extensive and is focused on the individual.
The secret that those of us who keep up to date with the latest science is: When it comes to nutrition, what works for one person, has little to no effect on a second person, and can actually make a third person worse. Promoters of popular diets encounter this scenario at some point: They read something out there and how it was successful in helping people. They put it forward to a client and it works wonderfully, but then when recommending the same protocol to another client, they discover that it fails.
The problem is: many people follow “hear-say” or recommend what worked for them. Most of us can relate to this. It is exactly the same experience of the person wanting to lose weight by trying a friend’s successful weight-loss system, only to find that it causes her to gain weight instead!
Ironically, we find ourselves with extraordinary information overload, with the internet and social media. However, instead of bringing greater clarity, we find deeper confusion. More books, websites than ever before are available on diet and nutrition. Yet, everywhere we look, we find contradictions. One weight loss “expert” says one thing; another “expert” says just the opposite.
Information is at our fingertips, but what does it mean in terms of practical application for an individual? Where’s the framework or the reference point from which sense can be made of from the virtually endless stream of seemingly unrelated, contradictory pieces of information?
It is not possible to offer one single weight loss protocol for everyone. Why? Because everyone’s biochemistry is different. Even between people within the same family and with similar genetics! There is no “universal” diet plan that is right for absolutely everyone. And that’s good news. It means that we need to look at the individual and evaluate what works for them specifically. For that reason, scientific research is moving towards a more individualised approach.
To achieve your weight loss goals, you must give your body the specific foods and nutrients that are inherently necessary to you and your current metabolism, and have a tailored plan that works for (and not against) your body.
As a Certified Clinical Weight Loss Practitioner, I utilise science-based tools to:
- evaluate intake requirements
- pinpoint the unique needs of each individual
- understand their eating psychology
- track their progress
- provide personalised nutritional and lifestyle strategies to support their weight loss journey.