The RP Diet Coach app, developed by RP Strength, is designed to help users achieve their fitness goals through personalized diet planning and macro tracking. Marketed as a tool to transform your body by Registered Dietitians and PhDs, the app promises to help users look and perform their best by tailoring meal plans to individual schedules and progress. While many users have found the app beneficial, it's important to consider its features, pros, cons, and who it's best suited for.
Key Features of the RP Diet Coach App
The RP Diet Coach app offers a range of features aimed at simplifying and optimizing the dieting process:
- Personalized Macro Tracking: The app provides customized macro breakdowns based on individual body composition and fitness goals, such as fat loss, muscle gain, or weight maintenance.
- Meal Planning & Timing: It recommends meal plans and timing strategies designed to maximize weight loss, reduce hunger, and preserve muscle mass. The app tells you exactly what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat.
- Dietary Filters: The app accommodates various dietary preferences and restrictions, including Dairy-Free, Vegetarian, Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, and Low FODMAP.
- Smart Meal Scheduling: The app adapts to different schedules, including night shifts and intermittent fasting routines.
- Automated Shopping Lists: The app generates shopping lists based on selected food choices, simplifying meal preparation.
- Weekly Diet Adjustments: Based on progress and goals, the app recommends weekly adjustments to the diet and macro plan. Every week, users review their weight loss progress, and the app suggests an updated meal and macro plan for the following week.
- Extensive Food Database: The app boasts a food database of over 750,000 foods, which is continuously updated.
- Barcode Scanner & Restaurant Search: Users can scan barcodes to quickly log foods or search for restaurant options.
- HealthKit Integration: Seamless syncing of weigh-in data from other apps or smart scales is possible through HealthKit integration.
Getting Started with RP Diet Coach
To begin using the RP Diet Coach app:
- Enter Your Information: Input your personal details and select your primary fitness goal (fat loss, weight loss, muscle gain, or weight maintenance).
- Choose Your Meals: Select meals and foods from the app's database. The app then calculates the appropriate portion sizes and timing.
- Review Weekly Progress: Monitor your weight loss progress each week. The app will recommend adjustments to your meal and macro plan based on this progress.
- Achieve Your Goals: Follow the app's guidance to reach your diet and weight loss objectives.
Pros of the RP Diet Coach App
Many users have praised the RP Diet Coach app for its effectiveness and user-friendly design:
- Accountability: The app helps users stay accountable by providing a structured diet plan and tracking progress.
- Focus on Key Elements: It prioritizes essential aspects of dieting, such as macro tracking and meal timing.
- Well-Designed Interface: The app features a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate.
- Weekly Adjustments: The app adjusts weekly based on user input and average weight, ensuring continuous progress. Guesswork is eliminated as diet instructions become automated.
- Customization: Users can define their own recipes, meals, and add foods to the database, offering a degree of personalization.
- Flexibility: Features like the barcode scanner and restaurant search provide flexibility, making it easier to adhere to the diet while eating out or during holidays.
- Successful Weight Management: Some users have found the app helpful in maintaining weight during the holidays and achieving weight loss goals. As one user shared, "With the help of the app, I was able to successfully maintain my weight through the holidays while still enjoying good food/drinks with friends and family."
- Eliminates Guesswork: The app automates diet instructions, telling users what and how much to eat, adjusting quantities weekly based on weigh-ins.
- Comprehensive Planning: It allows users to cycle between fat loss, maintenance, and muscle-building phases.
Cons and Limitations of the RP Diet Coach App
Despite its many benefits, the RP Diet Coach app has some drawbacks:
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
- Requires Macro Knowledge: The app assumes users have a basic understanding of counting macros. Those unfamiliar with this concept may find it challenging to use effectively, recommending a simpler option for those users.
- Limited Meal Flexibility: Some users find the app lacks flexibility in terms of the number of meals and their timing, catering more towards users with structured schedules.
- Inflexible Macro Adjustments: The app may not offer enough flexibility for adjusting macros on training versus rest days, which can be problematic for some users.
- Rigidity: The app's rigidity can make it difficult to make adjustments or enter accurate data, which may lead to user frustration.
- Meal Adjustments: Users report difficulty balancing macros, not being able to exceed macros for a meal, and limitations on increasing protein macros. Portion sizes are pre-decided, and any adjustments require balancing from other meals, which affects tracking accuracy.
- Scheduling Issues: The app has limitations in scheduling meals, especially during busy times or on days when training schedules change.
- Extreme Macro Adjustments: Weekly macro adjustments can be drastic. As one user noted, "the changes from week to week can be too extreme," requiring users to take recommendations "with a grain of salt."
- No Preview of New Macros: The app does not show the new macro targets before the user confirms the changes, which can lead to unexpected and potentially unsuitable dietary shifts.
- Not a Food Tracker: The app is designed as a digital diet coach for planning, not tracking. If a user exceeds their macros, they can mark the meal as "over macros," but the app isn't designed for detailed tracking.
- Potential for Weight Gain: Some users have reported initial weight gain due to the app's initial recommendations, requiring adjustments in subsequent weeks.
Addressing User Feedback: Planned Improvements
RP Strength is actively addressing user feedback to improve the app. Planned updates aim to provide more flexibility and address issues related to macro adjustments and meal planning. The company encourages users to continue providing feedback to help refine the app's features.
Who is the RP Diet Coach App For?
The RP Diet Coach app is best suited for individuals who:
- Have a basic understanding of macro counting.
- Are committed to following a structured diet plan.
- Seek a data-driven approach to weight loss or muscle gain.
- Appreciate the convenience of automated meal planning and shopping lists.
- Are looking for an app to guide them through fat loss, maintenance, or muscle-building phases.
However, it may not be the best choice for individuals who:
- Are new to dieting and macro tracking.
- Require a high degree of flexibility in their meal planning.
- Prefer to track individual meals rather than plan ahead.
- Have highly variable schedules or dietary needs.
A Note on Health and Safety
It is important to remember that RP Strength is not a healthcare company. While the RP Diet Coach app is designed based on certain health parameters, individual needs vary. Users should consult with their healthcare provider before starting any significant weight modification program.
Subscription and Pricing
The RP Diet Coach app offers both monthly and annual subscription options. Subscriptions provide full access to the app and all its features. Billing and charges are processed through the user's iTunes account and auto-renew based on the chosen subscription term. Users can disable auto-renewal in their iTunes account settings.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP