Do you struggle with your clients struggling to follow/stick with a meal plan? 

In this week's Becoming the Ultimate Coach, the Jock (Scott Schutte) and the Doc (Dr. Janine Stichter) discuss whether fitness coaches should give their clients meal plans. 

Trying to get someone who averages ~20 grams of protein each day to increase that to 150grams/day is unrealistic and will all too often lead to failure. 

Instead, you must remember Minimal Effective Dose (discussed all the way back in episode 3). What is the least amount you can change for your clients in order to get them to see results? That may be adding a scoop of collagen protein each day for 2 weeks to bump their protein intake from 20 to 40 grams per day. 

Then slowly add other strategies to incrementally increase their protein to ultimately reach the end goal of around 150grams/day. Going back to last week's episode, the ultimate fitness coach goes beyond nutrition to take personality, lifestyle, and other factors into account when helping their clients set and reach their goals. 

Some clients will thrive with the structure of a meal plan but in most cases, meal plans only add confusion and complicate things. Instead, teach your client to incrementally change their behaviors to the healthier side of the spectrum.