How Much Does an Online Dietitian Cost?

You want proper help with how you eat, and before you book anything you want to know what it will cost. Fair enough. So how much does an online dietitian cost? It depends on how much of my time you need and for how long, and I would rather show you my real prices than make you hunt for them.

Below I explain what pushes the price of dietitian support up or down, then set out every option I offer, what it includes and who it suits. If you are still unsure at the end, the 15-minute call is free.

What affects the price of an online dietitian?

I am not going to quote you market averages. Prices vary a lot between countries and between practices, and any single number would mislead you. What I can tell you is what you are paying for, because that part is the same everywhere.

• Time with the dietitian. One conversation costs less than months of check-ins, and most of the gap between options comes down to this.
• Follow-up. Advice is the easy part. Coming back to see what happened when you tried it, and adjusting, is where change tends to stick. More follow-up means a higher price.
• Work done outside the call. Reading your questionnaire, going through your food photos and writing up recommendations all take time, even though you never see it happen.
• How personal it is. A plan written from your answers and your actual meals takes longer to produce than a generic handout. It is also far more useful.
• Training. A registered dietitian has clinical training and can work with medical conditions as well as general eating habits.

That last point is worth checking before you pay anyone. If you are not sure what the title means in practice, I wrote a short piece on the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist.

How much do my online dietitian services cost?

Everything is online, so it works wherever you live. Prices are in US dollars and you pay through Stripe before anything is booked or delivered. Your bank may add a currency conversion fee if you pay in another currency.

Which option is right for me?

Start from your problem, not the price. If you have one specific question, such as whether your diet is covering the basics or what to change first for your cholesterol, the 1 Session is usually enough. You fill in a questionnaire, we talk for 45 minutes, and I send you written recommendations to work from.

If you are managing a condition, or you know from experience that you drift once nobody is checking in, 3 Sessions gives you that follow-up. It costs $400 rather than the $450 three single sessions would come to.

Weight loss is where follow-up matters most. For a lot of people, losing the weight is not the hard part. Keeping it off is, and that is why the 3 Month Weight Loss Programme runs for three months with weekly check-ins and ends with a maintenance plan. If you want to know what a sensible rate looks like, read what realistic weight loss in 3 months looks like before you decide.

And if money is tight right now, the Nutrition Guide at $25 is a real starting point. You send me your goals, your health history and photos of what you eat, and I write a guide around your food. There are no sessions with it, so you put it into practice on your own.

You can compare every option side by side on my nutrition counselling page.

Is seeing a dietitian worth the money?

Honest answer: it depends on what you have already spent. If you are reading this, there is a fair chance you have paid for apps, plans, shakes or programmes that worked for a few weeks and then stopped. Each one felt cheap at the time. Added together, they can cost more than proper help would have.

What you get from a dietitian is advice built around your health history and the way you live. That is the part generic plans cannot give you, and it is usually why they stop working. I wrote more about why diets fail if you want the longer version.

It is not worth it if you are expecting someone to do the work for you. I can tell you what to change and help you keep going. You still do the changing.

Is an online dietitian covered by insurance?

Whether an insurer or employer will cover online dietitian support depends on your policy and where you live, and I cannot check that for you from here. Payment goes through Stripe, so there is a record of what you paid. If you need specific paperwork for a claim, ask me on the free call before you pay, so you know what you will get.

What if I am nervous about being judged?

A lot of people put off booking because they expect a lecture about what is in their fridge. That is not how I work. A first session is a conversation about what is going on and what you want to change, and you can read what to expect from your first dietitian session if that helps.