We have grown a lot since the launch of our first intake and the improvements just keep on coming. We have just closed off on our second EMPOWER programme and we are taken aback from some of the feedback from our members after a comprehensive 12 weeks. 

“Love it, great knowledge. Have a proper awareness of food and cooking and what I need to fuel. Really enjoyed it. If you’re disciplined and implement it 100% gives you knowledge. I can now cook!”  – Gerard

• How can we build better habits?
• Staying on track while going through busy periods
• How do we measure progress?
• Staying accountable – Checking In
• Become EMPOWERED!

Building Strong Habits

A key point we aim to drive home within the EMPOWER programme and daveynutrition as a whole, is that it is about building strong habits to allow for a life of good health and high performance. Alongside building good habits we have a strong focus on developing your nutritional knowledge which is slowly built each week. Here’s what Caoimhe had to say about it…

“I really enjoyed the program, I found we got a lot of information but in nice digestible amounts allowing it to sink in. I really enjoyed the weekly zoom talks.”

It is not a ‘meal plan’ or a quick fix, short term transformation. We provide you with all the tools and guidance to allow you to progress on your own journey along with the individual support from a dedicated nutritionist. Whether you’re looking to develop a healthy relationship with food or aiming to stay consistent with your progress, the EMPOWER programme offers just that. Have a look at what Ciara had to say…

 “I feel my relationship with food has definitely improved. Thanks so much for all of the help so far and the seminars – finding them brilliant and really motivational if I ever hit a mid week slump!”

Staying on Track

For results to come, consistent action has to happen. And that’s exactly what our previous members have demonstrated. Here’s what Katie had to say about her experience…

“Really enjoyed the programme. The information from the pdfs, webinars and support from Emma allowed me to get a good understanding of the elements I need to implement to get the most of my training. Would definitely recommend it to others and will continue to apply what I learned in the future.”

Measuring Progress 

We have worked hard to come up with a system that encourages progression in multiple areas of overall health and performance. For example, while some of our members’ primary goal may have been fat loss, we aim to take the focus away from fat loss alone, to allow for a greater perspective on the benefits of taking action on health promoting behaviours. While fat loss then comes as a bi product of those actions and not the only marker of ‘success’ or ‘failure’. 

Check out what Louise had to say on her EMPOWER fat loss journey…

“I’ve lost half a stone. Found the chat with Gemma last week helpful as I’ve been a bit stuck weight wise for the past couple of weeks as I haven’t lost anything further. But Gemma’s talk was very helpful with thinking about how I approach this during a busy time personally !”

Your goal throughout the programme may even change and your focus placed on other areas of health & performance, just like Ciaras…

“My mindset around food has completely changed. My goal at the beginning was to lose weight and this has changed my understanding of how to fuel correctly for my workouts and runs.”

Maybe you’re looking to improve your performance. However, performance within your sport is a lot more than just getting things right on the day of your game/event. It’s everything you do outside of it that accumulates to your performance on the day. Maria had fantastic success in the Cork marathon feeling well fueled and is now focusing on the next steps of her performance…

“Ran Cork half marathon at the weekend – did much better than anticipated, due to fuelling correctly – as learned on the course but now need to put emphasis on recovery post race.”

We have worked hard to come up with a system that encourages progression in multiple areas of overall health and performance. For example, while some of our members’ primary goal may have been fat loss, we aim to take the focus away from fat loss alone, to allow for a greater perspective on the benefits of taking action on health promoting behaviours. While fat loss then comes as a bi product of those actions and not the only marker of ‘success’ or ‘failure’. 

Checking In

Every second week of the programme we had a short check in, which each of our members were encouraged to complete. This went through the daveynutrition pillars of health & performance; Meal Planning, Food Quality Choices, Hydration, Sleep Quality, Fruit & Veg Intake, Energy Levels, Health & Performance & Food Relationship. 

Our members are then provided with an overall score that highlights their performance for that period. This regular reflection component is truly powerful to highlight an area that may need a little more attention and also provides an opportunity to place intent on actions to follow with a marker of focus for the week ahead. 

Ciaran, one of our high performers in the EMPOWER programme displayed some fantastic results and checked in at each time point. We can see from the table below that Ciarans overall score went from a 7 to an 8 over the course of the programme. What we really look at is not just the before and after results, but rather just how consistent Ciaran was throughout the programme with those pillars. 

What is really noticeable after the data was compiled and analysed over the 12 weeks is how, even though some areas had dipping points, our members worked well to take action again and move forward, regardless of the inevitable dips in either overall performance or specific areas, such as sleep or energy levels. With regular reflection and having a greater perspective, we can see how progress is rarely linear. Rather, what really matters is that we must keep moving forward with intent to achieve results.

Let’s take a look at 3 areas of Ciarans overall performance:

We can see Ciaran had a dip in the quality of his food choices and less quality sleep during week 8 while also feeling a reduction in his overall health & performance that week. What we then see in the following weeks is that all 3 of these areas start to increase again and Ciaran is back to his high performing self. 

We plan to push things even further for our next EMPOWER programme with some great new features based on feedback from our previous members. We want to encourage our members to reach their full potential and become a high performer. 

Our 12 week EMPOWER Programme includes:

– Full access to the davenutrition website for this period of time and a discount following the 12 weeks should you wish to become a member of the website. This includes access to articles, recipes, meal plans and community support groups.
– Baseline nutrition assessment so we can understand your needs and goals
– 3 x consultations with a dedicated nutritionist (one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end of the program)
– an individual nutrition PDF with your calorie & macronutrient goals.
– a recommended meal plan which you can edit and customise to suit you and your lifestyle
– Full support from your nutritionist throughout the program in addition to weekly check ins.
– Empower workshops for members only which focus on a range of nutrition topics. This takes place online and are recorded incase you cannot make a live session
– Weekly educational nutrition emails which focus on topics related to your goal (eg; building muscle, performance, fat loss or health).

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of,  sign up for the next intake beginning on the 16th January Here