Master the fundamentals of nutrition for health and weight management
Become a leading nutrition and weight management coach with this comprehensive AfN and CIMSPA endorsed nutrition coaching course.
The UK's foremost nutrition coaching course for health and weight management
Our Fundamentals of Coaching Nutrition for Health and Weight Management Course is designed to give you a detailed understanding of the evidence-based principles of optimum nutrition.
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Course type:
Online
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Time to qualify:
10-12-weeks
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Entry requirements:
None
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Accreditations:
CIMSPA and AfN endorsed
Course overview: nutrition for health and weight management coach
Become a leading nutrition and weight management coach with our Fundamentals of Nutrition for Health and Weight Management Course.
This industry-leading nutrition coaching course is specifically designed for those who want to master the fundamentals of nutrition coaching so that they can support clients with their health and weight management goals.
Written and developed by a team of nutrition professionals with decades of combined nutrition and coaching experience, this programme will help you to master the cornerstone principles of nutrition so that you can make provide accurate and intelligent nutrition support to clients with confidence and diligence.
In a world where there is so much misinformation and misleading marketing claims around diet, nutrition, supplements and exercise, our fundamentals of nutrition Coaching course cuts through all this noise and equips you with the latest scientific knowledge and understanding to be able to separate fact from fiction based on the science.
Whether you are looking for a nutrition coaching course to support clients with body recomposition, weight loss or a wider-range of positive health benefits associated with a healthy and balanced diet, this course will guide you through the evidence-based principles that will reliably deliver results for most of your client goals. This programme focuses exclusively on nutrition coaching with apparently healthy clients. Working with clients that have more complex or specific health or medical needs would be outside your scope of professional practice.
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Entry requirements
There are no formal entry-requirements for this course, although it goes without saying that you will need an active interest in nutrition and/or exercise. Some experience of prior learning in this area may be advantageous, but it’s certainly not essentially.
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Who is this course for?
This course is for anyone who wants to develop a rich and sound understanding nutrition for health outcomes and/or weight management. This programme will be suitable for exercise professionals looking to improve their knowledge and understanding (e.g., personal trainers) so that they can better tailor their services to clients needing greater support with nutrition. This course is also suited to those looking to start a career in nutrition coaching and who want to develop a sound understanding of the fundamentals before completing a more advanced nutrition coaching course (e.g., Level 4 Certificate in Nutrition Coaching).
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Accreditations
The fundamentals of nutrition for health and weight management is fully endorsed by the Association for Nutrition (AfN) and the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
There are 10 CIMSPA CPD points associated with this course once completed. -
Progression opportunities
Our fundamentals of nutrition coaching course is a fantastic place to start your nutrition coaching career. Once you have completed this programme, you may want to consider taking a more advanced nutrition coaching qualification, like the Active IQ Level 4 Certificate in Nutrition Coaching. You may also want to expand upon your foundational knowledge with more specialist programmes, like our Level 4 Sport and Exercise Nutrition course for example.
There are many different nutrition courses and qualifications nutrition courses and qualifications on the market and they each have varying levels, titles, and areas of focus. It is necessary to highlight here that many of these qualifications are not specifically designed to be nutrition coaching courses and as such, they don’t all provide information or advice on how to develop an effective coaching relationship with clients. They may also limit what you can actually do with that programme once complete in terms of your scope of practice.
Where will Your Nutrition Coaching Course Take You?
Join the tens of thousands of HFE graduates that are now working with and for some of the active leisure industry’s most prominent brands. A significant number of our nutrition coaching course graduates are also self-employed, delivering their coaching services in-person and online around the world.
What you'll learn?
This is one of the most extensive nutrition coaching courses available and is guaranteed to get your career as a professional nutrition coach off on the right footing.
On enrolment, you’ll receive a comprehensive training manual that contains over 350 pages of information rich and visually appealing content. This manual is supplied in both print and digital formats. You’ll also have a series of online training videos where much of the essential information is presented and animated for you, helping to consolidate your learning.
The course is divided into 10 key modules (listed opposite), and each module focuses on different aspects of nutrition as it relates to health and weight management. The course also explores a number of wider issues and influences, such as sleep, supplements, habits, technology, the food environment, goal setting and dietary adherence.
Our Fundamentals of Nutrition Coaching Course contains the following 10 modules:
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Fundamental principles of weight management
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Exploring macronutrients
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Micronutrients for health
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Hydration and fibre
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Food labels and portion control
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Dietary tracking and nutrition flexibility
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Importance of sleep for health and wellbeing
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Health and performance supplements
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Habits and the food environment
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Goal setting and dietary adherence
How you'll be assessed?
Our Fundamentals of Nutrition Coaching for Health and Weight Management course is assessed in two stages; informally throughout the course with informal knowledge checks and with a final online theory assessment.
The informal knowledge checks are designed to ensure that you are developing a deeper understanding of the nutrition coaching course content. These assessments take the form of interactive online knowledge checks, which you complete at the end of each module when you have finished your learning from the training manuals and online videos. You can re-take these assessments as many times as you like.
Once you have completed all of the modules, you’ll be required to complete a final theory assessment. This assessment is also completed online, and it isn’t invigilated, but the questions are written in much more overarching and contextual way, so you’ll need to have developed a broader and more applied understanding of the course content to answer them correctly. There are a total of 68 questions and you’ll be required to answer 51 questions correctly (75%). Again, you can re-take this assessment as many times as you need to without charge.
50%
Workbooks
- Multi-choice
- Completed online
- Need 100% to pass
- Unlimited resits
50%
Theory exam:
- Multi-choice
- Completed online
- Scenario-based
- Applied focus
You're in safe hands
Throughout your nutrition studies, you'll have unlimited access to our dedicated team of learner support tutors who will be on hand to answer any technical or course-related questions that you might have. You'll be able to reach our support team via any of the following:
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Email
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Phone
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Video call
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Webinar
FREE bonus meal plans with all enrolments
Included as a free bonus feature of this nutrition coaching course is over 300 healthy meal plans that you can use with your clients to help them plan and prepare healthy meals and snacks. These meal plans are visually appealing and will literally save you weeks of work.
These ready-to-use recipe packs will expand your nutrition coaching potential, allowing you to provide clients with a broad range of healthy meal options that can be adapted to meet their specific needs. The meal plans and recipes that you get with this course include:
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5-ingredient meal plans
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Gluten-free recipe pack
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High-protein power pack
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Creative low-carb recipe pack
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Smoothie recipe pack
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Meat-free vegetarian selection
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Extensive range of vegan recipes
Every meal plan comes with a full shopping list and easy-to-follow instructions on preparation and cooking. What’s more, they are also accompanied with a MyFitnessPal barcode so clients can more accurately and conveniently track their calories and macros if they want to.
Frequently asked questions
We’ve featured below a range of questions that we’re frequently asked about our Fundamentals of Nutrition Coaching Course below. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to our Careers Team who will be more than happy to help.
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How much learning is involved in this course?
This is a detailed and comprehensive programme which explores the scientific principles of nutrition as it related to health and weight management, although other topics are covered also. So there is quite a lot of learning to complete.
We usually recommend that you commit around 1-hour of learning each day and wherever possible, you try to engage in other independent research and consolidation tasks wherever possible. If you don’t have this much time available, then you will simply need to study the content over a longer period of time. Don’t worry, we give you 6-months to complete the course and there are options to extend if you need them.
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How long does this course take to complete?
Most students are able to progress through this programme within 10-12 weeks, completing an average of one module each week. This is based on around 1-hour of learning each day. If you are taking this course in isolation as a single enrolment, you’ll receive 6-months to complete the course, with options to extend at a later date.
It’s important to emphasise that this is a comprehensive learning programme that goes above and beyond much of the nutrition content delivered in other industry qualifications, like the Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training for example. We therefore recommend that you commit to a frequent and regular learning, and that you try not to rush through the course too quickly. It’s better to get the knowledge and understanding, rather than just the certificate!
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How is this nutrition coaching course content delivered?
The technical content of the course is primarily delivered via the training manual, which is available in both a print and digital format. This manual is over 350 pages of technically-rich information that will support your journey to becoming a nutrition coach. The course content is written in an engaging and descriptive style that anyone can understand. It’s also full referenced.
The training manual is supported by explainer videos, which are specifically designed to consolidate your learning and illustrate how the knowledge and understanding you have learned relates to real-world situations. On average, these videos last around 30-minutes, and there is one video per module (10 videos in total).
Finally, each module has an online knowledge check which is designed to assess your understanding before you move on to the next module. Once all of the modules and learning checks are complete, you will then be able to complete the online theory exam (open book) to complete your course.
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Will I be duplicating learning if I am already a personal trainer?
Some of the more basic nutritional information presented in this course is covered in the most level 3 and 4 personal training courses, yes. However, this course is extremely comprehensive and goes above and beyond most of the content delivered in other programmes. There is also a great deal more of time spent exploring the nuances and practical application of nutrition on this course than there is in other industry programmes, including the many myths and misconceptions.
While this programme focuses on the fundamentals of nutrition as they relate to health and weight management, you should not take from this that this is a basic or introductory course. It is far from that! This programme is designed for people wanting to start a career in nutrition coaching – it’s not written for personal trainers or other exercise professionals per se.
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Is this a basic nutrition coaching course?
Absolutely not. This is a comprehensive nutrition coaching course that is designed for people wanting to master the cornerstone principles of nutrition.
Effective nutrition coaching is only possible when the advice that you provide to clients is aligned with what the science says. We have named this course the Fundamentals of Nutrition for Health and Weight Management because the fundamental principles cannot be denied or refuted – they are supported by the science. This is an information-rich programme that will help you to understand how to become an effective nutrition coach.
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What can I do with this course once complete?
Our fundamentals of nutrition coaching course is designed to give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to support clients to improve their health, weight, body composition and or wellbeing, regardless of their age, weight, height, or ethnicity.
Of course, nutrition should be tailored to the individual wherever possible, and more advanced nutrition coaching courses typically explore the many different ways to deliver more bespoke nutrition coaching support to clients. The Active IQ Level 4 Certificate in Nutrition Coaching is a fantastic place to get this knowledge, and this programme would satisfy the entry-requirements for this.
There are many different nutrition courses on the market and they each have varying levels, titles, and areas of focus. It is necessary to highlight here that many of these qualifications are not specifically designed to be nutrition coaching courses and as such, they don’t all provide information or advice on how to develop an effective coaching relationship with clients. They may also limit what you can actually do with that programme once complete in terms of your scope of practice.
***If you don’t have a regulated fitness industry qualification, we do not advise that you complete this programme in isolation unless you are planning on completing the Active IQ Level 4 Certificate in Coaching Nutrition. This is a CPD course designed to upskill exercise professionals, or prepare future nutrition coaches for their L4 studies.***
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