Coaching & Mindset
Turn 'I Need To Sort My Diet' Into A Plan Your Client Believes In
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Results-Based Nutrition Coach, £750 →
In short: FASTER's Results-Based Nutrition Coach course teaches the TGROW model (Topic, Goal, Reality, Options, Will) for turning a vague client concern like 'I need to sort my diet' into a specific, agreed plan for the week ahead, using open Why-Why and So-So questions to find the real reason a goal matters before agreeing what happens next.
The short version
A client says "I need to sort my diet" and stops there, which leaves a trainer holding a real sentence with nothing specific enough to build a session around. FASTER's Results-Based Nutrition Coach course teaches a structure for exactly that moment: the TGROW model, five stages that turn a general concern into a plan the client agreed to in their own words.
Key Takeaways
- TGROW (Topic, Goal, Reality, Options, Will) moves a client from a vague concern to a specific plan for the week ahead.
- Why-Why and So-So questions dig for the real reason a goal matters, and what happens if nothing changes, using only open questions.
- The plan that comes out of the conversation is worth saving, in PT Manager's programme builder once a course is passed.
Why "sort my diet" isn't a plan
That sentence is a genuine starting point, and it's also nowhere near specific enough to act on. The temptation is to fill the gap for the client with a plan they never asked for. FASTER's coaching module takes the opposite route: five stages that get the client to fill in the specifics, in their own words, before anyone writes anything down.
The five stages
Topic narrows the broad area down so the conversation doesn't end up solving the wrong problem. Goal names what the client wants from this specific conversation. Reality checks what's true right now, with no editing. Options lays out realistic alternatives beyond the first idea that comes to mind. Will, the last stage, is the client committing to what happens next, in their own words rather than a trainer's.
The two questions that do the real work
Layered through every stage are two short question patterns. Why-Why asks for the reason behind the reason: "Why does that matter to you?", then "Why that?" again. So-So asks for the consequence: "So what happens if nothing changes?", then "So how would that affect you?" Both stay open questions the client has to answer in full sentences, never a yes or no to nod through.
Where the plan goes next
A plan a client agreed to in conversation is worth little if it lives only in that conversation. Once a FASTER course is passed, PT Manager's programme builder is where that plan gets saved against the client's own record, so the "Will" stage turns into something a trainer can run session by session instead of a good chat nobody wrote down.
What to do next
Results-Based Nutrition Coach teaches the TGROW model as part of its own coaching system, built by FASTER for £750, alongside the rest of the course on how food is used and which diets earn their reputation and which don't.
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Frequently asked
Is TGROW only useful for nutrition conversations?
No. It's taught as a general coaching structure inside the Results-Based Nutrition Coach course, and it works on any vague client concern, not only food.
What do Why-Why and So-So add to a normal conversation?
Why-Why asks for the deeper reason a goal matters, twice. So-So asks what happens if nothing changes, twice. Both stay open questions, so the client does the thinking rather than agreeing with a trainer.
Does the plan built this way go anywhere afterwards?
Yes. Once a course is passed, PT Manager's programme builder is where an agreed plan like this gets saved against that client rather than left in a notebook.
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