When Should You Work With a Dietitian For Weight Loss?

Working with a dietitian, an expert in nutrition, is always a wise choice before attempting weight loss. Weight loss might seem like no big deal and mostly positive, but it's quite stressful on your body and for that reason, it can easily become unhealthy.

Individuals with a history of disordered eating, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, or any related medical condition will benefit the most from meeting a dietitian as they can help you develop a personalized plan, but that won't interfere with and improve any potential health issues.

Further, if you've been trying to lose weight unsuccessfully for a few months, or even weeks, an RD can help work through the root causes and troubleshoot better solutions.

The biggest mistake by far is doing too much at once; significantly cutting portions and calories while ramping up exercise might seem like the best approach for the fastest results, but that often backfires and creates more harm than good long-term.

The other mistake is following a one-size-fits-all plan.

A customized eating plan not only incorporates your unique food preferences, but your specific needs and goals. The way you eat to lose weight is the way you'll need to eat to sustain weight loss results; it's crucial to remember that before starting a one-size-fits-all diet.

Apps can be incredibly useful to further customize a nutrition plan. It all depends on which app you're using and how you're using it. For example, calorie counting apps can teach you about portions and help you plan out your meals better. However, sometimes counting calories can be too tedious and too much information in general, contributing to stress and food noise which makes it hard to trust your body and listen to hunger/fullness cues.

When we recommend apps to clients, I make sure to talk through the purpose of it and the best way to utilize it so that's truly a productive tool and not a triggering one.

It can be very tempting to look for weight loss ideas and diets on the internet. The issue is that there are many misleading messages and problematic approaches available online. It's hard to discern what's safe and accurate on social media from what's snake oil or just meant to capture your attention. The biggest red flag is when influencer's recommend a product through a sponsored ad. Not all sponsored ads are fake, but majority of influencers are only promoting products when they get a paycheck. Other warning signs are the "this is what worked for me" content. Just because someone lost a ton of weight taking medications or with a fasting diet, doesn't mean that's the safest and most successful strategy for you. Also, be wary of someone that states their opinions as facts - the confidence is nice, but too much dogmatism doesn't properly consider the true nuance of nutrition and the fact that people can lost weight through a variety of mechanisms.

Ultimately, working 1:1 with a dietitian is the safest, healthiest and most productive way to find a plan that not only works, but is sustainable. Click link in bio to schedule an insurance-covered consultation.