Worth paying for nutrition plan?

clafairy1984

Debating whether to fork out the money for my gym to put together a nutrition plan for me. Not sure whether it's worth the money, or whether this will be much different from what I already try to do? After some advice

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

Not worth it, IMO.

Some people do well with a structured, step-by-step program that tells them what, when, and how much to eat, so it's really up to how you operate.

That said, it is not at all necessary, and simply counting calories on MFP will be sufficient if you're looking to lose weight.

I don't like being told what to do, so eating what I want within my goals is perfect for me.

annacole94

http://vinccitsui.com/blog/2016/11/no-meal-plan/

My friend is a registered dietitian and posted that. Meal plans don't really work long term, because eating is so many decisions and you're bound to need to make them. If you do it, it will be a kick-start, temporary thing. It's not necessary for most people.

Chef_Barbell

Nah.

cwolfman13

I had a meal plan made up for me once...it was basically X for breakfast, Y for lunch, and Z for dinner and A, B, or C for snacks...following it exactly would have been really boring so ultimately I had to swap stuff out for variety...as a template it ended up being basically what I was already doing.

kommodevaran

The crucial part about a meal plan isn't to set it up, but to follow it. It can be hard enough sometimes to follow your own plan. Imagine following someone else's plan

Pay to let someone else tell you what to eat and not eat... Not that we haven't done that before

HardcoreP0rk

What about this new app, Lean Machine nutrition? Anyone tried it? http://www.leanmachinenutrition.com/

ahoy_m8

Thanks for asking the question. I've wondered about what is easier for most people getting started:

a) a set plan to follow without having to think about it but that might be stuff they don't normally buy or know how to prepare (i.e. more effort, less thought); or
b) guidelines flexible enough to allow making small adjustments to what someone is doing already (less effort, more thoughtful)

My suspicion is that the more-flexible-small-adjustments is easier to stick with long term, but maybe that's because that works for me. I'm curious what's easiest for others. OP, how would you respond if the plan they gave you had stuff that you don't particularly like eating, or you don't like preparing, or isn't available at your regular store? Would you consider it an adventure and have fun doing something new? Or would you consider it a hassle?

extra_medium

kommodevaran wrote: »

The crucial part about a meal plan isn't to set it up, but to follow it. It can be hard enough sometimes to follow your own plan. Imagine following someone else's plan

Pay to let someone else tell you what to eat and not eat... Not that we haven't done that before

For some it actually works better to have a plan someone else laid out for them. I'd probably just look for a plan online and pretend my trainer handed it to me though rather than pay for it. S/He probably gives the same plan to everyone anyways.

GrinnyMae

I actually think it can be a good help for someone who isn't an experienced cook and doesn't have a lot of food knowledge. Like someone else mentioned, you can follow it for a little bit to see how it fits your needs. And it'll give you a template to work with in the future with whatever changes that work for you.

My husband doesn't cook much. If I challenged him to come up with a week of well balanced meals and snacks, I doubt he'd be able to do so. For someone like that, it would be a definite help.