For many people, sticking to a nutrition plan isn’t about knowing what foods to eat. It’s about having a compelling reason to keep making the right choices when motivation inevitably fades.
That was the message from professional body coach Nathan Payton during an appearance on Brian Shaw’s SHAWSTRENGTH Podcast, where he explained that long-term success with dieting is often determined by something far deeper than meal plans or calorie targets.
According to Payton, understanding an individual’s underlying motivation is one of the first things he looks for as a coach.
“As a coach, if you will, I need to know a client’s why,” he said.
For elite athletes, that purpose is usually easy to identify. Their careers, financial security and competitive ambitions all depend on maintaining peak physical condition, making nutrition an essential part of their profession rather than simply a lifestyle choice.
“So, when it’s a professional athlete, if they’re in the NFL, if they’re a Strongman, whatever the case, their why on the surface is pretty obvious,” Payton explained. “It’s that’s how they’re feeding their family. And there’s a significant amount of money and/or achievements at stake.”
While that motivation may appear unwavering from the outside, Payton believes it can still disappear over time.
“There can easily be times though where an individual who starts out that way, but then somewhere along the way, they lose their why,” he said.
Drawing from his experience working with a range of high-profile clients, Payton explained that a shift in motivation isn’t unique to sport. He has seen the same pattern emerge across different industries where passion can gradually fade despite continued success.
“I’ve seen it where someone kind of somewhat falls out of love, so to speak, with a particular sport that they’re in,” he said.
“I’ve worked with celebrities where I’ve seen them have issues within the movie, musicians and things like that, where the why starts out here, but it makes a drastic shift somewhere along the way.”
According to Payton, this loss of purpose often explains why people suddenly begin struggling with a diet that they previously managed without issue.
Rather than forgetting what healthy choices look like, they lose the internal drive that once made those decisions feel worthwhile.
“And when it gets lost, that’s when I’ll typically see individuals begin to struggle with the diet or they will begin to not understand why they are suddenly challenged by their diet even though they know the choices that they are supposed to make because their why is lost,” he said.
Payton’s perspective suggests that successful nutrition coaching extends beyond simply prescribing food plans. Understanding what motivates an individual – and recognising when that motivation changes – can be just as important as the nutritional advice itself.
For athletes chasing titles, entertainers navigating demanding careers or everyday people pursuing personal health goals, Payton believes the same principle applies. When the reason behind the effort becomes unclear, maintaining discipline becomes significantly more difficult, regardless of how much knowledge someone has about nutrition.
Featured image credit: SHAWSTRENGTH Podcast / YouTube
