Welcome to TG Nutrition!
If you are tired of trying to lose weight and get healthy using unrealistic methods like super restrictive diets, detoxes, or liquid fasts than you have come to the right place!
In America, we do not have a weight loss problem! Most individuals have successfully lost some weight throughout their life. Instead we have a weight maintenance problem. Statistics show that very few individuals can lose weight and actually keep it off over the long term. This is because many people turn to “quick-fixes” and crash-diets to help them lose weight fast. Although you may be happy to see the scale initially go down, these plans are often very unrealistic and the moment you stop them, you regain all of your weight back!
As a Registered Dietitian and Health Coach, I help people to improve their health and lose weight by changing their habits and behaviors. Without focusing on changing your lifestyle, you are unlikely to be successful with losing weight and improving your health.
If you are looking for a “quick-fix”, or to drop 20 pounds in 20 days than this is not the place for you! However, if you finally realize that getting healthy and losing weight will take both time and effort, and that there is no “magic pill”, then perhaps you are ready to Go the Distance with me!
Want to get instant access to my Facebook community exclusively for those looking to lose weight and get healthy? I provide free trainings each and every week. Just click the button below to join.
Going the Distance
The core concept of my coaching program is to “Go the Distance”. You might be wondering what this means. In 1976, Sylvester Stallone starred in the movie “Rocky” where he played an underdog fighter who was given the chance of a lifetime to fight the Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed. The night before the fight, Rocky realizes that no one thinks he can win the fight. In the middle of the night, he cannot sleep and turns to his girlfriend Adrian and says “Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody’s ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.” The next night, Rocky shocks the world by lasting all 15 rounds with Apollo Creed. Although he loses the fight, he proved to himself and the world that he could Go the Distance.
Watching this movie is what motivated me to pursue a career in nutrition and become a Registered Dietitian. I was hesitant to study nutrition because of all the difficult math and science classes, but realized that I must pursue my dreams of helping people lose weight and get healthy even if this meant having to work my butt off! Over the next two years I never studied so hard in my life but I ended up acing the math and science classes and truly saw myself Go the Distance by not giving up and giving it everything I had.
When it comes to losing weight and getting healthy, many people want a “magic pill”. They want to wake up one day feeling and looking better but do not want to put in the hard work! I am here to tell you that losing weight and getting healthy is hard, and keeping it off over the long term is even harder!
In order to succeed in my program, you must have the attitude that Rocky had. You must be willing to Go the Distance with your health and push yourself to be all that you can be. Losing weight, keeping it off and getting healthy can be compared to a boxing match. The first few rounds are easy. You are losing weight every week and are not experiencing much fatigue yet. Since you are consistently losing weight, you feel a great sense of motivation and feel you can do this forever!
The middle rounds can become more difficult. The rapid weight loss you saw the first few weeks has disappeared and now you must learn that this will take both time and patience to lose weight, get healthy and change your behaviors. You may begin to get fatigued and slip-ups are more likely to happen. You could even get knocked down and think about throwing in the towel and giving up altogether. If you want it bad enough, you will get back up and continue to Go the Distance with your health.
The last rounds are where champions are born. This is where you are close to reaching your goals and must push extra hard to have enough stamina to Go the Distance and finish the fight. Most people re-gain weight after losing it so this is where you must really dig deep to finish the fight strong and learn how to maintain your weight loss and newly formed healthy habits for the rest of your life.
If you can make it to the end of the fight, and that bell rings and you are still standing, you have successfully gone the distance with your health. So, what do you think? Are you ready to Go the Distance with me?
TG Nutrition Coaching Principles
My coaching program is based upon the following basic principles which have been proven to help people lose weight and improve their overall health.
1.
Understand that losing weight and keeping it off involves changing your habits and behaviors over the long term. In other words, you will have to make lifestyle changes. Building new habits takes both time and practice so you must be patient with yourself.
2.
Despite what you may have heard, calories are still king when it comes to both losing weight and maintaining your weight loss over the long term. You must learn how to successfully control your calorie intake. Learn to make the majority of your calorie intake come from whole, unprocessed foods.
3.
Learn to eat when you are truly hungry and to stop eating when you are about 80% full.
4.
Pump up the protein! Consuming a higher protein diet (aiming to consume about 30 grams of protein at every meal), can help make it easier to both lose weight and maintain your weight loss over the long term, as protein helps to keep you feeling full.
5.
Fill up on fiber! Consuming a high fiber diet, with an emphasis on achieving an intake of at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day can improve your health and make weight loss that much easier as fiber rich foods fill you up while providing less calories compared to many other foods.
6.
There are no “Good” or “Bad” foods. All foods may be consumed, but you may need to increase or decrease your intake of particular foods depending upon your individual goals.
7.
Instead of relying on willpower to be successful, learn to control your environment. Willpower is a limited resource so the less you have to use it, the easier it will be to lose weight and get healthy.
8.
Learn to self-monitor yourself. This means checking your weight on a consistent basis via the scale (weighing yourself multiple times per week), along with keeping an accurate food diary. These behaviors help to hold you accountable, along with allowing you to view your progress and then make adjustments as needed.
9.
Be as active as you can with the goal being to accumulate a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity per week. When it comes to physical activity, learn to find something you enjoy to do. If you do not enjoy it, you will not stick with it over the long term.
10.
Strive to be consistent and not perfect. Remember that you are human so expect to make mistakes. When you slip up, please forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes. Slip ups can help teach us important lessons so you can improve your behaviors going forward. There is no such thing as failing… only feedback.
Program Commitments
In order to work with me, you must be willing to commit to the following things:
Keeping a detailed food journal each and every day and showing me your food journal each and every week for review. I will only provide support and encouragement and will never judge or criticize you based upon your food choices. Committing to keeping a food journal holds you accountable for your behaviors and helps me to coach you to the best of my ability.
Weighing yourself frequently and not avoiding the scale but confronting it after a difficult day or week.
Increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables with the goal being at least 5 servings per day
Making time to be physically active with the goal being to accumulate at least 150 minutes per week (it doesn’t have to be intense… walking can count!)
Not giving up when thing get difficult (which they will)!
Learning to focus more on your behaviors than the number on the scale.
Be patient with yourself and realizing that changing your habits, losing weight and getting healthy takes time. Rome was not built in one day!
Learning to forgive yourself when you slip up (which you will!), and working on developing a “consistency beats perfection” mindset.
Individual Coaching
My coaching program involves meeting once a week for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. All meetings take place virtually which means you get to see me from the comfort of your own home. I will be your personal health coach and together we will work to change your habits and lifestyle so that you can lose weight, get healthy and Go the Distance!
For a more detailed explanation of my coaching program, please read the Frequently Asked Questions section.
- 12 weekly virtual coaching sessions lasting
approximately 30 to 45 minutes each - Unlimited e-mail support in-between sessions
- Educational handouts and detailed feedback on your food logs
- An e-mail summary of our session along with your specific goals for that week
- Access to my Facebook support group where I provide free trainings each and every week
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is your coaching program?
There is no definitive length to my coaching program. How long someone would need to work with me would depend upon their goals, along with how much weight they wish to lose. My individual coaching program is a 3 month commitment but this does not mean you would be finished after 3 months. If someone wanted to lose 100 pounds, this will likely take longer than 3 months to accomplish. You must also factor in looking to then maintain your weight loss and looking to make these new habits permanent which may take some time as old habits die hard. Most individuals will need to work with me for a minimum of 6 months in order to see significant changes in their health and behaviors which they can maintain over the long term.
Why can’t I just make one appointment?
Although it can be easy to think that you can simply have one appointment with me and then just do everything on your own, you must understand that changing your habits and behaviors takes time. Weekly follow-up appointments are necessary to help provide both the support and accountability you need to stay focused and on track to help support your goals. If you are looking for a one and done meal plan that this is not the program for you.
What will I learn?
This is not a cookie-cutter program so certain individuals may need coaching in certain areas more than others. When joining the program, you will explain to me your goals and before every one of our weekly sessions, you will let me know how your week went so I can prepare for that session. We will also discuss a variety of topics which include:
- Focusing on your WHY or your reasons for wanting to lose weight and get healthy. Without a clear understanding of why you wish to improve your health, it will be difficult to stick with it when things get tough.
- Discuss the importance of Environmental Control and how learning to control your environment or surroundings will be critical to help you be successful with losing weight and changing your behaviors and habits.
- Learning strategies and skills to help increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. These foods are healthy, filling and low in calories. I will teach you how to fit in 5 servings per day to help you maximize your health and weight loss.
- Learning skills to help become more physically active with the goal being to accumulate at least 150 minutes in physical activity each and every week. I will teach you some tricks to increase your physical activity along with how to develop a physical activity schedule.
- Learning strategies to help reduce emotional or stress-based eating.
- Learning strategies to help make healthy choices when out to eat, at social events or on vacation.
- Learning to not beat yourself up for any slip-ups and instead to develop a “consistency beats perfection” mindset.
- Learning how to successfully keep a food journal and why food journaling is so important for your long-term success.
- Learning why weighing yourself frequently is critical to help keep you focused and accountable for your actions.
- Learning to focus more on your behaviors than the number on the scale. You are much more than the number on the scale and if you practice the right behaviors often enough, you will see the scale move in the right direction.
- Learning how to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound) goals for yourself each and every week.
- Learning how to me more mindful and intuitive with your eating behaviors.
Where do the Meetings take place?
All the meetings take place virtually using a Telehealth platform. This means you do not have to worry about commuting every week for your appointment. You get to see me in the comfort of your own home.
Do you accept insurance?
I do not accept insurance so the cost of my coaching services will be out of pocket.
How much will the program cost?
Instead of viewing my coaching program as a cost, try and view it as an investment as you are investing money into your own health which will help improve the quality of your life forever!
The investment to join my coaching program will be discussed on our discovery call.
I’m ready to sign up! What do I do?
Great! Please fill out my coaching application form which can be found below. This will help me evaluate if you are a good candidate for my program and if you are, we will schedule a free discovery call where I can learn more about your goals and you can learn more about my program!
About Me
Hi guys, my name is Thomas Gatto Jr. and for the past 10 years, I have worked as a Registered Dietitian in a variety of settings including clinical, private practice and fitness. I have also previously served as an adjunct professor at Long Island University Post.
I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees in nutrition from Long Island University Post and realized early on in my career that my passion was helping people get heathy and transform their life via individual nutrition counseling that focuses on making lifestyle and behavioral changes. I love building relationships with people and seeing their life transform for the better.
I truly believe that anyone can dramatically improve their health by changing their habits regarding what they eat and how much they exercise. Nothing frustrates me more than to see advertisements for the newest diet or exercise fad which promises to be the “magic pill” for weight loss and health. The truth is that there is no “magic pill”. Like so many other things in life, it simply takes hard work, sacrifice, discipline and perseverance to succeed at this.
I counsel people to make positive behavioral changes using motivational interviewing. I will not force you to do anything you do not feel comfortable or wish to do and will respect your right to not be ready or willing to change a particular behavior at that time. I believe that you are the ultimate expert of your own life and although I will provide you with plenty of tips and education to help you improve, you will ultimately have to figure out how to implement these into your daily life.
I promise to be your biggest supporter and cheerleader while trying to lose weight and get healthy but I cannot do the work for you! I am not your savior! I will give you all the tools necessary to succeed. Only you have the power to take the tools I give you and build something great!
I have received a Certificate of Training in Adult Weight Management from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I have also completed the level one dietitian nutrition coaching certification with Tony Stephan.
Contact Me
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about my coaching program and services. Simply fill out the form below and I will make sure to get back to you as soon as possible!