TORONTO, Canada—November 7, 2019—Precision Nutrition, an industry leader in healthy eating and lifestyle coaching, released its special report “2020 Nutrition, Fitness, and Health Trends & Insights,” which identifies the areas of Emotional and Stress Eating, Lack of Planning, and Cravings as the top three nutrition challenges for individuals seeking to transform their health. For the first time ever, Precision Nutrition did not see Weight Loss in the top three goals for health-conscious consumers, taking a backseat to the categories of Look and Feel Better, Stay Consistent, and Maintain Results.

During the last decade, Precision Nutrition has helped more than 100,000 people make healthy eating and lifestyle changes. The company has also trained over 70,000 industry professionals through their professional certification programs. As a result, Precision Nutrition stands alone as the only organization that coaches real clients directly and also educates health and fitness professionals. This allows the company to combine unique insights from both—for advanced nutrition and lifestyle solutions that help people achieve lasting results.

To gain a better understanding of where people need the most help, Precision Nutrition begins its client coaching program by asking individuals to answer a robust intake questionnaire. The “2020 Nutrition, Fitness, and Health Trends & Insights” special report was formulated from data points from thousands of incoming annual clients to reveal the biggest obstacles between most people and their health and fitness goals in the coming year.

“This eye-opening report helps Precision Nutrition understand the biggest obstacles standing between our clients and their health and fitness goals in the coming year,” said Brian St. Pierre, M.S., R.D., Precision Nutrition’s director of performance nutrition. “In our 2020 programs, Precision Nutrition will continue leveraging our unique insights, professional coaching experience and the latest nutrition and behavior-change science to provide an ever-evolving program that dramatically transforms lives through healthy eating and lifestyle changes.”

The “2020 Nutrition, Fitness, and Health Trends & Insights” report highlights include:

  • Biggest Nutrition Challenge—Emotional and Stress eating is the number one nutrition challenge for women—reported by more than 70%—and the challenge is trending that way for men. “This behavior is often triggered by a person’s environment and past experiences, which is why quick-fix diets are often long-term fails,” said St. Pierre. “Lasting change is about behavior. If you can identify where your behavior needs to change, you can practice and ingrain new habits to replace the old ones.”
  • Health and Fitness Priorities—Weight loss has become a greater priority for men than adding muscle during the past five years. However, both men and women reported their ‘health and fitness priorities’ to be 1) Look and Feel Better, 2) Maintain Results and 3) Be Consistent, with Lose Weight not breaking the top three.

    “Ultimately, people want to learn how to change and make it last,” said St. Pierre. “And often, there’s a more profound purpose driving the people who achieve amazing transformations. Left to their own devices, most folks might never even realize the real reason they want to change. But learning how to verbalize their why can allow them to tap into a powerful source of motivation.”
  • Barriers to Exercise—When asked to identify their top exercise challenges, the leading three answers for both men and women included: Demands of Daily Life, Time Management and Motivation. “The top barriers to exercise are consistent year over year and will not likely change anytime soon,” said St. Pierre. “That’s why Precision Nutrition encourages clients to forget the ‘ideal’ workout and meal plan and make small changes, a little at a time, and keep going. Go for progress over perfection.”
  • Healthy Eating Habits—Advice such as eat more fruits and vegetables and boost protein intake has been promoted by many top diet experts for the last two decades. However, over the last five years, the message has not been received.
    • There’s an increase in the percentage of women (+22%) and men (+26%) who either eat no fruits and vegetables or only eat them at one meal per day.
    • A large percentage of women (33%) and men (49%) aren’t getting even close to the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.
    • There’s an increase in the percentage of women (+24%) and men (+27%) who either don’t consume a palm-size portion of protein at any meal or only eat a palm-sized portion at one meal per day.
  • Alcohol Intake—Perhaps related to the behavior that leads to stress and emotional eating, Precision Nutrition identified a statistically significant uptick in alcohol consumption during the last five years. “We all understand that alcohol can be a temporary stress coping mechanism. While a daily drink can help you unwind, it’s important not to become over-reliant on it,” added St. Pierre.

About the 2020 Nutrition, Fitness, and Health Trends & Insights Report

The 2020 Precision Nutrition report aggregates key findings and solutions—from nearly 15,000 clients over five years. Plus, it provides links to our best articles on relevant topics with the opportunity to contact Precision Nutrition’s expert team of coaches—including Ph.D.s, registered dieticians, nutritionists, and exercise scientists—for additional strategies, tips, and how-to advice. To download the report, visit the Precision Nutrition report webpage.

About Precision Nutrition

Precision Nutrition offers a sustainable, practice-based approach to losing fat, building strength, and getting healthy. As a global leader in providing health and fitness professionals the education, tools, and coaching they need, more than 70,000 coaches in 120 countries use the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification—along with ProCoach, the company’s proprietary coaching software—to improve client results, increase operational efficiency, and drive business growth. Precision Nutrition offers the only nutrition certification endorsed by CrossFit, the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

In addition, Precision Nutrition Coaching for Men and Women is a personalized, evidence-based program, which has been validated in multiple peer-reviewed studies, and helped over 100,000 people improve their nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle. For more information, visit the Precision Nutrition website.

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Media Contact

Elizabeth Mars, Primavera Group for Precision Nutrition, Elizabeth.Mars@precisionnutrition.com