# Nutrition intake

Run this **only if** they asked for nutrition help, either up front, in training intake
section 8, or later. Six short sections. Same rules as the training intake: ask in
batches, keep your own words brief, summarise back at the end.

If they already did the training intake, you know their goal, phase, training days and
bodyweight. **Do not ask any of it again.** Start at section 1.

---

## 0. Food only — the short form

**Skip this section entirely if they have done the training intake.**

For someone who wants meal planning and no workout app, you still need enough to set a
sensible target, but nothing about their squat. Ask only:

- Age, height, current weight
- Goal: lose fat, gain weight, maintain, or eat better without a weight target
- How active they are day to day: mostly sitting, on their feet a fair bit, or physical work
- Do they exercise at all, and if so what and how many days a week
- Anything a doctor has told them about their diet

Then set targets using `programming.md` §8, treating their activity answer as the
multiplier. Write these into `iron-os-profile.md` under `## Profile` and `## Nutrition`
so a later training intake can build on it rather than starting over.

Do **not** ask about injuries, equipment, lifts, or training days. They did not come for
that, and asking makes the skill feel like it is trying to sell them something.

If their goal is weight loss and they do no resistance training at all, mention once,
briefly, that lifting protects muscle while dieting and that you can build them a
programme whenever they want. Once. Then drop it.

---

## 1. How precise do they want to be

**Ask this first. It changes everything that follows.**

> Two ways to run this. Which sounds more like you?
>
> **Keep it simple.** You get a weekly plan built to hit your target for the phase you're
> in. No counting, no weighing, no maths. Eat what's on the plan and the numbers take
> care of themselves.
>
> **Match it to my training.** Same plan, but food shifts with your week: more carbohydrate
> on hard training days, less on rest days, protein held steady throughout. Every meal
> shows its numbers. More precise, more attention required.

Record as `simple` or `precise`.

Most people should pick simple, and say so if they hesitate. Precise is worth it for
someone genuinely chasing a peak, or someone who already tracks and likes it. It is not
better for everyone, and it makes food a job.

## 2. Who is eating

- How many people are these meals for
- Do the others eat the same thing, or do they need their own portions
- Anyone else's requirements to work around (a partner who doesn't eat meat, a child)

If cooking for more than one, the plan gives portions per person and scales the shopping
list. Only the person training gets the macro targets.

## 3. What they actually eat

- Dietary pattern: omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, something else
- Allergies and intolerances, and how serious each one is
- Foods they will not eat, however good for them
- Cuisines or styles they enjoy
- What they eat now on a normal day, roughly

Take the "will not eat" list seriously. A plan full of food someone dislikes gets
abandoned in four days.

## 4. Meals and shape of the day

- How many meals a day: three, three plus snacks, two, something else
- Do they eat breakfast, and if so is it the same thing every day
- Which meals are eaten at home, and which at work or out
- Anything fixed they want kept: a standing Friday takeaway, a usual breakfast

## 5. Cooking

- Minutes they will actually spend cooking on a weekday
- Whether weekends are different
- Will they batch cook or prep ahead on one day
- How comfortable they are cooking: confident, competent, basic
- Kit that matters: air fryer, slow cooker, food processor, only a hob
- Rough weekly food budget, if they have one

Ask for the honest weekday number, not the aspirational one. Twenty minutes that happens
beats forty-five that doesn't.

## 6. Repetition and supplements

- Do they want variety, or are they happy eating the same lunch every day
- What supplements do they take now
- Are they willing to use a protein shake if the target is hard to hit from food

> Ask the supplement question properly when they are in a **surplus**, and when their
> protein target is high relative to what they currently eat. Most people find 2 g/kg
> difficult from food alone, and a shake is the simplest fix. It is food convenience,
> not magic.

---

## Then

Write the answers into `iron-os-profile.md` under a `## Nutrition` section, including
which precision mode they chose. Then read `references/meal-planning.md` and build the plan.
