Precision Nutrition

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

They just take your money, ask anything you like on here and posters will help you for free.

Agree

They have some decent articles but there's no way in hell I'd pay someone money to tell me what to eat.

I mostly just like their infographics

But I find my personal trainer SUPER helpful in giving me structure and accountability, despite the fact I totally *could* come up with a weights programme on my own.
So I guess nutrition coaching could be similar if you're struggling on your own.

(If nothing else, it might show you what DOESN'T work for you which frankly can be just as useful. I did the Joe Wicks 90 day thing a few years ago, and that was pretty eye opening for me in terms of what I found unsustainable and unpleasant, just as much as showing me a few good things that I've carried forward.)

My understanding is that is it nutrition coaching and fitness coaching...not really telling you to eat this or that, but coaching on proper nutrition and development of healthy habits. Given that many people are not at all well versed in nutritional knowledge, I could see this being a good value...much like taking classes to learn something rather than just winging it and trying to learn on your own. If money isn't an issue, it could be a good way to learn.

Dnarules wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I think it's better to figure out for yourself how to have a good sustainable diet as opposed to having someone else do it for you.

But you actually do it yourself in PN. The thing I have found most useful are the daily lessons (every day but Saturday). In the beginning the lessons centered around determining why and when you overeat. We didn't even get to nutrition until several weeks later. There is a worksheet you can use after a really bad eating day (overeating) that helps you pinpoint what circumstances may have lead it. They do encourage keeping a food log short term at one point to help identify which foods/meals may be working for you, and which do not. They encourage you to add good sources of protein, vegetables, and complex carbs to your meals.

I am not encouraging anyone to spend money on this. I'm just trying to correct what I think are misconceptions. They don't tell you what to eat. They give guidelines.

First, I totally admit that I am kind of biased on this, and I'm not entirely sure where it's coming from.

However, I am not assuming hat they give you a specific meal plan (I did think they probably gave you macros or the like or some structure, and if they are encouraging you to add protein, veg, and complex carbs they are -- and wouldn't someone already know to do that?).

The kinds of things you mention are the things I have worked on on my own, and find important, but in my head -- and again this may not make actual sense -- it seems valuable to figure those things out on one's own (or I should say "on my own") vs. having someone else do it (based on their own preconceptions).

For example, I think structure is important for eating, and figured out that for me eating three meals, not snacking, seems to work. I sort of intuitively realized that eating meals structured around protein, vegetables, and some starch (but that can vary a lot based on calorie goal) plus some healthy fat as accent works well. Someone else telling me how to structure a meal is something I react against, it seems like I wouldn't learn that way but just do it without understanding why it works, the underlying point.

Same with things like seeing how foods work or not -- good advice, but isn't that what one does with MFP, normally? Look at how things go and make changes?

When I first started MFP, I journaled about eating and stopped and I should probably go back to it (it was helpful for a while and I've been struggling with emotional eating again).

For some reason those things seem sensible and good, but as soon as they become someone else telling me what to do it feels like it would be "one size fits all" and substituting someone else's judgment for my own.

Like I said, this may not make sense, as I have no issue with the idea of following a preset strength training program as a starting point or being taught how to structure my own from someone else vs. figuring it all out from the beginning. I really am not sure why the idea of selling "how to plan your diet" seems so wrong to me, except that that basics do strike me as really simple and the rest needs to be personal (IMO) to be workable.

Some do better following plans, probably, whereas other people's plans often make me feel rebellious (even if my own plan is really conventional and similar to standard nutrition advice, heh).

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Dnarules wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I think it's better to figure out for yourself how to have a good sustainable diet as opposed to having someone else do it for you.

But you actually do it yourself in PN. The thing I have found most useful are the daily lessons (every day but Saturday). In the beginning the lessons centered around determining why and when you overeat. We didn't even get to nutrition until several weeks later. There is a worksheet you can use after a really bad eating day (overeating) that helps you pinpoint what circumstances may have lead it. They do encourage keeping a food log short term at one point to help identify which foods/meals may be working for you, and which do not. They encourage you to add good sources of protein, vegetables, and complex carbs to your meals.

I am not encouraging anyone to spend money on this. I'm just trying to correct what I think are misconceptions. They don't tell you what to eat. They give guidelines.

First, I totally admit that I am kind of biased on this, and I'm not entirely sure where it's coming from.

However, I am not assuming hat they give you a specific meal plan (I did think they probably gave you macros or the like or some structure, and if they are encouraging you to add protein, veg, and complex carbs they are -- and wouldn't someone already know to do that?).

The kinds of things you mention are the things I have worked on on my own, and find important, but in my head -- and again this may not make actual sense -- it seems valuable to figure those things out on one's own (or I should say "on my own") vs. having someone else do it (based on their own preconceptions).

For example, I think structure is important for eating, and figured out that for me eating three meals, not snacking, seems to work. I sort of intuitively realized that eating meals structured around protein, vegetables, and some starch (but that can vary a lot based on calorie goal) plus some healthy fat as accent works well. Someone else telling me how to structure a meal is something I react against, it seems like I wouldn't learn that way but just do it without understanding why it works, the underlying point.

Same with things like seeing how foods work or not -- good advice, but isn't that what one does with MFP, normally? Look at how things go and make changes?

When I first started MFP, I journaled about eating and stopped and I should probably go back to it (it was helpful for a while and I've been struggling with emotional eating again).

For some reason those things seem sensible and good, but as soon as they become someone else telling me what to do it feels like it would be "one size fits all" and substituting someone else's judgment for my own.

Like I said, this may not make sense, as I have no issue with the idea of following a preset strength training program as a starting point or being taught how to structure my own from someone else vs. figuring it all out from the beginning. I really am not sure why the idea of selling "how to plan your diet" seems so wrong to me, except that that basics do strike me as really simple and the rest needs to be personal (IMO) to be workable.

Some do better following plans, probably, whereas other people's plans often make me feel rebellious (even if my own plan is really conventional and similar to standard nutrition advice, heh).

I feel like you're saying that the fact that this program is helping me means I am a sheep and I don't feel like figuring out myself. Nothing could be further from the truth. I learned a lot in 2012/2013 when I used mfp to lose weight. But I still ended up failing. So I'm trying this program with mfp to help solidify habits. The program has forced me to answer questions I hadn't even considered. I'm still doing the work.

You're in these forums as much as I am, if not more. People struggle and have problems figuring things out all the time.

And this isn't a preset eating plan. I don't know where people are getting that idea.

dym1 wrote: »

If you can afford it, I don't think it would hurt to get some professional guidance for a few months to help get you started or you can just get conflicting advice from random strangers on the internet.

Are Precision Nutrition coaches professional in any sense other than that they get paid? (I.e., do they they training, education, certificates, a professional licensing board that oversees their practices?)

dym1 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

dym1 wrote: »

If you can afford it, I don't think it would hurt to get some professional guidance for a few months to help get you started or you can just get conflicting advice from random strangers on the internet.

Are Precision Nutrition coaches professional in any sense other than that they get paid? (I.e., do they they training, education, certificates, a professional licensing board that oversees their practices?)

There's this wonderful invention called "Google", use it.

dym1 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

dym1 wrote: »

If you can afford it, I don't think it would hurt to get some professional guidance for a few months to help get you started or you can just get conflicting advice from random strangers on the internet.

Are Precision Nutrition coaches professional in any sense other than that they get paid? (I.e., do they they training, education, certificates, a professional licensing board that oversees their practices?)

There's this wonderful invention called "Google", use it.

You're the one who made the claim about "professional guidance." I think it's up to you to offer evidence that the guidance is, in fact, professional.

Dnarules wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Dnarules wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I think it's better to figure out for yourself how to have a good sustainable diet as opposed to having someone else do it for you.

But you actually do it yourself in PN. The thing I have found most useful are the daily lessons (every day but Saturday). In the beginning the lessons centered around determining why and when you overeat. We didn't even get to nutrition until several weeks later. There is a worksheet you can use after a really bad eating day (overeating) that helps you pinpoint what circumstances may have lead it. They do encourage keeping a food log short term at one point to help identify which foods/meals may be working for you, and which do not. They encourage you to add good sources of protein, vegetables, and complex carbs to your meals.

I am not encouraging anyone to spend money on this. I'm just trying to correct what I think are misconceptions. They don't tell you what to eat. They give guidelines.

First, I totally admit that I am kind of biased on this, and I'm not entirely sure where it's coming from.

However, I am not assuming hat they give you a specific meal plan (I did think they probably gave you macros or the like or some structure, and if they are encouraging you to add protein, veg, and complex carbs they are -- and wouldn't someone already know to do that?).

The kinds of things you mention are the things I have worked on on my own, and find important, but in my head -- and again this may not make actual sense -- it seems valuable to figure those things out on one's own (or I should say "on my own") vs. having someone else do it (based on their own preconceptions).

For example, I think structure is important for eating, and figured out that for me eating three meals, not snacking, seems to work. I sort of intuitively realized that eating meals structured around protein, vegetables, and some starch (but that can vary a lot based on calorie goal) plus some healthy fat as accent works well. Someone else telling me how to structure a meal is something I react against, it seems like I wouldn't learn that way but just do it without understanding why it works, the underlying point.

Same with things like seeing how foods work or not -- good advice, but isn't that what one does with MFP, normally? Look at how things go and make changes?

When I first started MFP, I journaled about eating and stopped and I should probably go back to it (it was helpful for a while and I've been struggling with emotional eating again).

For some reason those things seem sensible and good, but as soon as they become someone else telling me what to do it feels like it would be "one size fits all" and substituting someone else's judgment for my own.

Like I said, this may not make sense, as I have no issue with the idea of following a preset strength training program as a starting point or being taught how to structure my own from someone else vs. figuring it all out from the beginning. I really am not sure why the idea of selling "how to plan your diet" seems so wrong to me, except that that basics do strike me as really simple and the rest needs to be personal (IMO) to be workable.

Some do better following plans, probably, whereas other people's plans often make me feel rebellious (even if my own plan is really conventional and similar to standard nutrition advice, heh).

I feel like you're saying that the fact that this program is helping me means I am a sheep and I don't feel like figuring out myself.

That was not my intention.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I learned a lot in 2012/2013 when I used mfp to lose weight. But I still ended up failing. So I'm trying this program with mfp to help solidify habits. The program has forced me to answer questions I hadn't even considered. I'm still doing the work.

You're in these forums as much as I am, if not more. People struggle and have problems figuring things out all the time.

And this isn't a preset eating plan. I don't know where people are getting that idea.

Again, I did not say it was a preset eating plan, so I don't know why you keep saying it's not. If it's more about habits and not nutrition, I can see how that might be useful, and I do think people find different things helpful. My impression from some coach who posted here and their information I've seen that it was more about how to choose food (without using MFP) -- basically a kind of glorified "fill half your plate with veg, eat protein, use your hand and thumb and so on to judge portions and if you are X size you want Y portion" kind of thing (which I would not call a preset eating plan).

I get angry about people charging for dieting advice, basically, and usually they have their own "one right way" to do it -- which does not mean a preset meal plan. I've seen stuff from PN that suggested that counting calories doesn't work and exaggerates how important the inaccuracies are, for example, that led me to put them in that category and I am inherently skeptical about dieting advice to pay for (other than a dietitian for someone who needed that kind of help). I really DON'T think this makes me so unusual or way out, as others suggested; I think seeing what we do at MFP it's a good starting place, to be skeptical of those who try to sell dieting services as necessary or providing some huge advantage (I don't mean you, I don't think you are selling anything).

That said, I don't think calorie counting is the one right way for everyone, let alone long term, and generally don't count at maintenance myself. I admitted that my reaction that paying for "how to eat" (or whatever you want to call it -- I don't think that means a preset diet plan, again) advice was inconsistent with the fact I think paying for other things (including workout help) is totally normal, and that I've even recommended to some that they go to a dietitian. I am interested (although you don't have to go into, obviously) in what you think you get from PN that you wouldn't get on your own, since I think if someone knows how to structure a sensible diet and that sustaining it is about things like habits that it's not really about "figuring things out" as in academic stuff someone could teach you. But goodness knows I don't have everything figured out -- indeed, it's the "how to structure a diet" stuff I think is easy and commonly known already, and yet there are all kinds of services paying to tell you what to eat (and again, I don't mean a preset meal plan), when usually actually doing it is the issue. My prior post (with the one right after it) was SUPPOSED to be a hey, maybe I am being too hasty here kind of thing, as well as identifying the things I didn't quite get, it was hardly an argument or a claim that I was right -- discussion, not argument. I'm genuinely trying to understand what one would learn from it that makes it worthwhile. (I'm also not meaning to derail -- this actually is the question that OP would presumably want to know about also, no?)

AnvilHead wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

...I get angry about people charging for dieting advice, basically, and usually they have their own "one right way" to do it -- which does not mean a preset meal plan. I've seen stuff from PN that suggested that counting calories doesn't work and exaggerates how important the inaccuracies are, for example, that led me to put them in that category and I am inherently skeptical about dieting advice to pay for (other than a dietitian for someone who needed that kind of help). I really DON'T think this makes me so unusual or way out, as others suggested; I think seeing what we do at MFP it's a good starting place, to be skeptical of those who try to sell dieting services as necessary or providing some huge advantage (I don't mean you, I don't think you are selling anything)...

I saw the exact same kind of stuff from PN and that was what turned me off to them. I've read a lot of their stuff in the past that was pretty solid, but I think they jumped the shark at some point and started getting off base and too esoteric. I now can't shake a feeling that they're at least somewhat shady/woo-ey because of their CICO denial stuff.

I know back in the early days (like 2014) timeframe, I enjoyed their stuff. Now, I think they are trying to be too trendy and staying away from the science a bit.

But ultimately, it's really all about finding the right coach. Hell, if I had the money, I would hire SideSteel in a heart beat. It's not that I don't have the knowledge to achieve my goals, but having that additional accountability and someone more knowledgeable to run ideas off of, would be highly beneficial.

And in all fairness, the people I have coach have done it for a variety of reason; 1. busy jobs, 2. busy families, 3. didn't want to spend the time to learn everything, 4. etc...

And let's also consider the fact that many of us spend years sorting through all the junk and refining our own plans, that some people just don't want to go through those struggles. Hell, as knowledgeable as I am, I still deal with struggles, which is why I still don't have a 6 pack like I have been striving for.