Losing weight with the help of a dietitian
Weight loss is sometimes portrayed as being as simple as burning more calories than you eat or following a ‘proven’ formula. However, shedding the extra kilos is more complex than this, and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution.
Losing weight is about much more than what you eat. It involves changing behaviours around your diet and lifestyle. For example, if you use food to cope with stress or boredom, you’ll need to find new ways to deal with these issues. Anyone who’s tried to make or break a habit knows how hard change can be!
This is where getting support from a qualified dietitian can really help. Dietitians are trained to help people with a range of concerns related to diet and nutrition – including weight loss.
Not only can they help by creating a healthy, nutritious eating plan, they can provide support to keep you motivated throughout your weight loss journey. And recent research has shown that enlisting help from a dietitian to change behaviour is helpful for losing weight, improving blood glucose measures and reducing the use of prescription medicines.
The qualified dietitians at Colgan Nutrition are experienced at supporting people to achieve improved health and wellbeing, including weight loss, by delivering tailored advice and eating plans suited to your needs and goals.
Dietitian can help you lose weight by:
- Assessing your current health and nutrition needs
A dietitian will complete an assessment that includes asking you about your medical history, reviewing your current weight, checking results from tests (such as your blood glucose and cholesterol levels), your dietary needs and preferences and your activity levels.
- Setting goals
Armed with this information, they’ll work with you to make achievable goals for weight loss.
- Crafting a weight loss plan
To help you achieve your goals, your dietitian will create a personalised nutrition plan that considers your nutritional and health needs. For example, they’ll think about things like food sensitivities or allergies and personal preferences such as vegetarian or culturally appropriate options.
- Monitoring and support
Successful weight loss involves long lasting changes in the way you think about food and eating. A dietitian can support you with counselling that helps you stick with your program and sustain a healthy weight long term. For example, they can help you find ways to manage different situations, such as parties, eating out, how to say ‘no’ to temptations, and finding healthier alternatives to your favourite snack foods.