Nutritionist in Edinburgh
Nutrition coaching for body composition and performance, built into your training rather than sold as a separate plan.
Apply NowCallan Headrick is a nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach based in Leith, Edinburgh, with 14 years of experience. Nutrition coaching is included in every Lean Bodies programme rather than charged separately: in-person from £50 a session, or online at £120 a month. He is not a registered dietitian, so anything clinical is referred on.
Most people looking for a nutritionist in Edinburgh want one of two quite different things. Either they want help changing their body composition, which is coaching. Or they want help managing a diagnosed medical condition, which is clinical dietetics. Those need different professionals, and being clear about which is which saves everyone time.
This page is about the first one.
Nutritionist or dietitian? The honest answer
The titles get used loosely and the distinction genuinely matters, so here it is plainly.
"Dietitian" is a protected title in the UK. Registered dietitians are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council and are the only nutrition professionals qualified to work with diagnosed medical conditions in a clinical setting.
"Nutritionist" is not a protected title. That is exactly why you should ask any nutritionist what their actual background is rather than taking the word at face value. Callan's is 14 years of applied practice in body composition and sports performance, working with everyone from complete beginners to competitive combat athletes, alongside a Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training and CIMSPA registration.
What that means for you. If your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, better energy, or eating to support how you train, that is squarely what this is. If you need a therapeutic diet for a diagnosed condition, help managing diabetes or IBS, support with disordered eating, or advice that interacts with medication, that belongs with a registered dietitian or your GP, and you will be told so rather than coached through it.
That boundary is not a limitation on the work. It is what makes the rest of it worth trusting.
What nutrition coaching actually involves
Not a meal plan. Meal plans are the thing people expect and the thing that reliably fails, because they assume a week that never quite happens.
An intake target built from what you actually eat
Starting with a real picture of a normal week, weekend included, rather than an idealised one. Calculators produce estimates with meaningful error, so the number is a starting position that gets corrected, not a verdict.
Protein set deliberately
The single change with the best return for most people arriving at coaching. It protects muscle while you are losing fat, and it is the most filling of the three macronutrients per calorie, which makes the whole plan easier to stick to.
Structure that fits your schedule
Built around shift patterns, commuting, family meals, eating out and how much cooking you will realistically do. Two or three repeatable meals you can make without thinking, so decision fatigue is not part of the plan.
No banned foods
What changes is frequency and portion. The meals you care about get planned into the week deliberately rather than treated as failures afterwards. Plans built on prohibition fail at the first social event.
Weekly review and adjustment
Weight trend, measurements, training performance, hunger, sleep and energy get looked at together each week, and one variable changes at a time for a stated reason. This is the part you cannot get from a downloaded plan, and it is the actual service.
A plan for finishing
Coming out of a deficit needs to be deliberate rather than just stopping. Handled badly, this is where a good three months gets undone in three weeks.
There is a fuller explanation of the reasoning in what a nutritionist actually does for fat loss.
Why nutrition is not sold separately here
Plenty of coaches sell nutrition as an add-on package, sometimes for more than the training. Lean Bodies includes it, for a practical reason rather than a generous one: the two constantly interfere with each other, and splitting them means nobody is managing the interaction.
A large deficit changes what your training should look like. Chasing personal bests while eating in a significant shortfall is a good way to get injured and a poor way to progress. It works the other way too: adding hard conditioning on top of an already aggressive deficit mostly increases hunger and fatigue without accelerating anything.
When one person writes both sides, those decisions get made together. When your programme comes from one source and your diet from another, the two quietly work against each other and you get blamed for the result.
Who this is for
- People who have lost weight and regained it repeatedly. Usually the fix is a less aggressive approach paired with training, not more discipline.
- People who train but eat without a plan, and cannot work out why their body composition is not shifting.
- Combat athletes managing weight for competition, where the cut has to happen without costing strength or leaving you empty on the day.
- Shift workers and people with unpredictable schedules, where the constraint is fitting nutrition into a week that will not hold still.
- People who want to understand the reasoning rather than be handed rules to follow.
Where it is not the right fit: therapeutic diets for diagnosed conditions, disordered eating, anything requiring medical diagnosis, or advice that interacts with medication. Those go to your GP or a registered dietitian.
What it costs
Nutrition coaching is part of every Lean Bodies programme, not a separate purchase. There is no additional charge for it.
In-Person, Edinburgh
£50 single session
£180 for 4, £320 for 8
Nutrition included
Online Coaching
£120 a month
Rolling, no minimum term
Nutrition included
Full breakdown on the personal training prices page.
Common questions
Is Callan a registered dietitian?
No. He is a nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach with 14 years of applied experience in body composition and performance. Dietitian is a protected title in the UK, regulated by the HCPC. Anything clinical, including therapeutic diets for diagnosed conditions and support with disordered eating, is referred to a registered dietitian or your GP.
Can I get nutrition coaching without training coaching?
Nutrition is currently built into the training programmes rather than sold on its own, because the two are planned together and each changes what the other should look like. If you are specifically after nutrition support alone, get in touch and Callan will tell you honestly whether he can help or whether you would be better served elsewhere.
Will I have to count calories forever?
No. Tracking is a tool for learning portion sizes and what your food actually contains, not a permanent condition. Most people track closely for a period, then move to tracking protein only, then to eating in a structure they understand without logging it.
Do you write meal plans?
Not fixed ones. Rigid meal plans fail the first time real life interferes. What you get is a structure and targets built around your schedule and the food you already eat, which is more flexible and far more likely to survive a bad week.
Will I need supplements?
Nothing is required. Supplements are the smallest lever available and only worth discussing once intake, protein, training and sleep are consistent. If something is genuinely worth taking for your situation you will be told why, and if it is not, you will be told that too.
Where are you based?
Hanuman Muay Thai, 70 Jane Street, Edinburgh EH6 5HG, in Leith. Online coaching is available anywhere in the UK and internationally.
Start with a plan that fits your week
Applications are reviewed personally within 24 hours. Client numbers are kept deliberately small, so places are not always available immediately.
Apply NowOr read more about fat loss coaching, personal training in Edinburgh, or Callan's background and credentials.