Client Quote #48: labels

You know what else is also an estimate? Your daily caloric needs from a random online calculator. Heck, even the fancy equations that dietitians use to calculate daily energy needs or protein needs are ultimately estimates. Estimates are guesses which means if I somehow designed a meal plan for a client using tools that offer a best guess for their needs, and if this client noticed they remain hungry or dissatisfied on the meal plan- this means the estimates are wrong, not their body. 

At the end of the day, for example if you found out via a fitness tracking app that you should only need 1200 kcal per day- this is of course a guess. You went ahead and tried to follow this by reading the calories on nutrition labels- there goes another guess. And you noticed you felt hungry, you felt tired, your mood drops, you had stronger cravings for energy foods, you might have even lost weight only to regain them back or sink into more obsessing thoughts about weight loss. All of these signs from your body are clear signals to you that this was not the correct information for you. Your body gets the biggest say in what it needs, not the labels, not the apps. They will never know what you need more than your own body does. Therefore, any recommendations that don't take your bodily signals into account should not be taken seriously.