In the past few blog posts I have talked about tips for setting up training programs for clients, which is obviously the main priority of online training and the Trainerize website. What about the other large aspect to reaching fitness goals – nutritional intake?

nutrition is key

Are you providing your online training clients with nutritional coaching (within your knowledge/certifications) to supplement their training programs and help them reach their goals?

No you don’t necessarily have to have a complete meal plan written out for each and every client; however, the majority of clients need quite a bit of guidance. I have had a lot of clients say “oh don’t worry I eat really healthy so I’m fine in that area”; however, when I asked them to keep a food diary for two days we soon realized they were lacking many macro and micronutrients and not at all eating properly to support their training goals.

Just as much as you want your clients to be accountable for completing their workouts by tracking them in their Trainerize calendar, you should have your clients accountable for what they put in their mouth too. There are many ways to do this without taking up a whole bunch of your own time analyzing food diary’s for every client every day.

Here is a great way to Keep your Online Clients Accountable for their food Intake:

Have them create a profile on one of the many nutrition tracking app’s that are available (myFitnessPal, LoseIt!, SparkPeople, etc.) and track their food each day either on the web or via smartphone. The great thing about most of these app’s is that your clients can save you as a friend, which will allow you to check their food diary simply by logging into the app on your computer or smartphone. In using this strategy, your client is aware that you can go into their profile at any time to make sure they are tracking their food and also check out if they are hitting the macronutrient / caloric goals you set out for them.

This is also a great way to motivate client’s because they can then look into your own food diary each day and watch how you are tracking your intake, meeting your macronutrient goals, and they can get some different meal or snack ideas.

Another great thing about these nutrition app’s is that they allow you to create another forum for all of your client’s to connect with each other by suggesting they all be “friends”. That way through the app’s timeline they can see what your other client’s are eating and they can possibly answer each other’s questions; therefore, taking less of your time 😉

Accountability Tip:

Once and a while go into your client’s food diary and shoot them a congratulatory message (or a kick in the butt message if needed) to let them know they are being checked on, hopefully keeping motivational levels high.

Remember the more motivated you keep your online clients, the more likely they are going to get results, the more likely they are going to remain long term clients, and the more likely they are going to refer you to their friends and family!