Weight Loss and Nutrition Counseling

Eating well nourishes you and gives you fuel to live a healthy, active life. Virtua nutrition experts can guide you with personalized plans to help you reach your weight loss or health goals.

What’s the best diet to lose weight?

This is a million-dollar question, and the answer is as unique as you are. The best diet to lose weight is one that you enjoy, want to follow, and that helps you reach your goals.

You shouldn’t hate the food you eat or feel your diet is too strict.

Virtua registered dietitians work with you to understand your food preferences, exercise habits, lifestyle, and goals. Together, you’ll create a personalized plan designed specifically for you.

If your plan needs to include fast food or your favorite treat, it will! And we’ll give you real-life recommendations on the healthiest choices at your go-to restaurants.

We can even teach you how to eat a piece of chocolate so you learn to savor and enjoy its decadence without needing to eat a whole candy bar.

How does a healthy diet improve conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, or GI disorders like celiac or Crohn’s disease?

Virtua registered dietitians understand diet’s crucial role in improving serious health conditions.

Depending on your condition, you might need to make dietary changes to feel better, ease symptoms, and avoid serious complications. This could include following a low-salt or low-sugar diet, or avoiding foods that worsen your symptoms.

We teach you how to track your food and symptoms, including how to use easy-to-navigate food-tracking phone apps. Then, we evaluate your diet and help you make adjustments to reduce or avoid triggers.

Our goal is to help you manage your medical condition successfully through diet changes without making you feel restricted or deprived.

Weight-Loss and Nutrition Counseling at Virtua

Virtua registered dietitians are your partners on your weight-loss journey and work one-on-one with you. Our registered dietitians help you make the positive lifestyle changes necessary to live your healthiest life.

Weight-Loss Coaching 

We offer individual weight-loss coaching sessions to help you learn how to lose weight or eat healthier. If you pursue bariatric weight-loss surgery, we support you in making diet, nutrition, and behavior changes to support lifelong success.

At your first appointment, your registered dietitian will get to know you. You’ll talk about your current diet, exercise habits, and personal goals, and discuss what motivates you.

Your visit also includes:

• A personal nutrition assessment
• Body composition and metabolic rate analysis
• Discussion on the benefits of food tracking and how to do it
• Prioritization of your goals and the plan for achieving them

During your follow-up visits, we continue to evaluate your body composition and metabolic rate. We also discuss your successes and struggles.

Since weight loss is a journey, it’s realistic to expect that there will be ups and downs. We support you through your challenges and adjust your plan to help you overcome them. And we celebrate your successes and non-scale victories!

Sports Nutrition

Athletes have different nutritional needs, whether you’re playing competitive soccer or training to run a marathon.

Virtua registered dietitians can help you reach your peak performance. We help you create an eating plan to support your goals, like gaining muscle or improving endurance.

We also help you learn what and when to eat to support your training and active days.

Nutrition Counseling

If you’re managing a chronic condition, we can help you reach your individual nutrition goals and achieve a healthier lifestyle.

You will meet with a registered dietitian who understands your food preferences and health needs. We’ll help you make healthy choices and develop a unique nutrition strategy that fits your lifestyle.

We provide nutrition counseling for a range of medical conditions, including:

• Dysphagia (trouble swallowing)
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Kidney disease
• Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders
• Gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach)
• Crohn's disease
• Celiac disease
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Fatty liver disease
• Food allergies/sensitivities
• Cancer

Diabetes Nutrition Care

If you have diabetes, our specialized experts can help you choose healthy foods to manage and even reverse symptoms. Our diabetes experts are registered dietitians who are also certified diabetes educators.

If you have type 2 diabetes, we teach you about the principles of healthy eating, which include:

• Eating meals and snacks at planned times to keep your blood sugar level stable
• Choosing healthy foods to support a healthy weight and heart
• Consuming foods with nutrients that are beneficial for regulating blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol
• Learning how to make dining out and eating your favorite foods part of your healthy eating plan

If a primary care provider or endocrinologist refers you, we can share your plan and progress and make adjustments as needed.