Nutrition

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Nutrition

Questionnaire findings

In planning nutrition program for my client, the first step involved an assessment of her weight, diet, medical condition and program that includes physical activity. The assessments were in form of questionnaires that were presented before anything else was done. There were three assessment forms. The first one was a medical history form that tested for any conditions that might hinder nutrition program as well as current medical activities such as drugs being used. The second one was concerned with her program of activities to assess the level of physical activities. This form also assessed the role played by her lifestyle in relation to her weight. The final form was concerned with the diet she has been taking for the past few months, and when she feels her weight went above normal.

From the results of the assessment forms, the client was a 23-year-old woman, weighing two hundred pounds at six feet tall. Her Body Mass Index, BMI was calculated to 27, which is overweight considering the healthy range is 20-25. In her medical report, assessment concerning chronic diseases, she has never had any problems related to heart, chest, nervous or even with her blood pressure. This is considered healthy. In the past, she has been treated of genitor-urinary problems where she had urinary tract infections two months before our nutrition meeting. The results found that she was not under any medication, whether prescribed or over the counter drugs. The medical report concluded she was healthy for a nutrition program.

Her physical activities show there is limited physical activities in her daily program. She works as a part time receptionists and a part time students, both of which are demanding, she is forced to move around in a car most of the time in a day, and hardly uses the stairs either at work or at school. She only walks short distances. She has never taken any exercise program before. This makes it easy for her to start at the beginner level.

With her diet program, it was found that she has no definite program due to her schedule. The assessment found that she takes her breakfast in a fast food restaurant to save time, and has no definite time for lunch, which forces her back to a restaurant. Most of her breakfast included scrambled eggs, 12 0z skim milk, bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee with cream. She also said she takes regular snacks when she is free, especially during break hours that sometimes even force her to skip proper lunch. During lunch hours, she likes taking a coke, fries and burgers. She said she only cooks in the evening for supper, and mostly takes her supper from nine to ten (o’clock). Her daily diet was found to have a lot of carbohydrates and proteins and a lot of sugar, but very few vegetables and fruits as well fruit juices. She took an estimate of 2200 calories in a day, which was too much for her weight. The assessment found her lifestyle to be a contributor to her weight gain, which she claims started when she took her job and schooling together.

Limiting factors

To every nutritional plan, whether to gain or lose weight there are limiting factors that need to be taken care of. The first limiting factor to reaching a targeted weight is having the will power to take up the plan. Without a client’s will, it will be hard to achieve results. The client must be willing to part with her current diet, especially with snacks and too sugary foods. This might be hard considering they are addictive. She will need to reduce on her carbohydrate consumption and proteins, and add on vegetables. More so, she must be willing to change her schedule to have meals only at designated times of the day, and no meal after 8.00 PM.

The other factor concerns the availability of means to take up the plan. The first means is having the money for healthy foods considering statistics show that healthy foods are more expensive than the processed foods especially with whole meal foods. Availability of healthy foods might also be a problem considering she will have to cook for herself most of the time to stick to a scheduled diet.

Outcome goals

The goal of this plan was to make sure a healthy eating plan as well as schedule designed for the client was achieved. The outcome was supposed to be significant weight reduction in two months after taking up the plan towards her ideal weight, which was discussed in relation to her height. The ideal weight is one she can easily maintain without much effort, and one that will be best for her size. However, nutritional plans do not always go according to plan, and client needed to be informed that she may or may not achieve her goal within the expected time considering factors such as metabolic rate matter. However, this should be no reason to give up and the client should be encouraged to maintain her willingness to continue with the plan.

Behavioral goals were also considered since changing of diet might trigger a change of behaviors and moods. The planner should be taking close observations at the client to ensure the behavior does not change. In case it changes, the planner should change the diet to suit the client better to avoid posing problems to other people around her. The plan should be designed to ensure the client stays healthy and maintains a healthy body trough a healthy diet.

Recording of assessment

After a plan, a follow up plan should also be put in place to ensure all the plan does not end at the client’s visit to the nutritionist. During the fist stages of the nutritional coaching, there is a need for a daily follow up to ensure the client is working towards maintaining the plan. There should be constant monitoring, and anything thing the nutritionist requires to do to ensure the plan is followed should be done. The follow up can be reduced as the client starts adapting to the plan. In order to be sure that the client is not drawing back to her old habit when the planner is not there, having impromptu follow-ups would be highly recommended. The plan should also be changed if there is need, such as if the client is no longer responding to the diet.

Recommended nutrition

From the results of the diet form she filled, it is obvious that she has to cut on her carbohydrates consumption and increase her vegetable intake. She will have to eat larger amount of vegetable in her diet than carbohydrates in all the meals. Her protein intake should be reduced too. In order to lose extremely, which she does not have to, she can have the option to taking up around 1600 calories a day, or 1955 calories in a day to lose normally. This will depend on her targeted ideal weight. During the meals, she should take fruits as well as juices with a little sugar, which does not include any processed drinks including beverages. She will also require eating whole meal foods rich in fibre and avoiding any processed foods and drinks. A definite eating timetable should be observed to get the body used to the schedule. In order to lose weight, the body will require using up the stored fat. This can be done through regular exercises. Depending on her schedule, she can subscribe to a gym for not less than 3 times a week. In addition, she can use the stairs instead of the lift. In case she wants to change her diet, she will have to consult the nutritionist.

Referrals

Referrals to professionals in the different fields related to losing weight such as exercises should be done since a physical instructor is at a better position to know the physical training that would be best for her. Referring her to the right professionals with her assessment forms will help in ensuring the plan put in place is right and fitted for her. This will also build up her confidence with the planner.

A Plateau observation

In case her body at one point gets used to the plan, stops responding in the expected way, and remains stagnant, the plan should be changed. This could mean adjusting the time exercises are taken, change the diet a little as well as timings of meals. This would be highly recommended to avoid losing the client’s will to continue. More so, explaining that this does happen will boost the client’s morale.

Changing goals

In case the plan goes well and she looses more weight above her target during the initial stages, there will have to be a change of plans. Te client could want increase the target, which is normal after reaching the set target. However, this should be discussed with the planner, probably recommend maintaining the rate for some time to be sure it will be steady to avoid frustration when they set higher targets, which they mat not reach.