Pros and Cons of Working as a Dietician

advantages and disadvantages of being a dietician

You think about becoming a dietician but want to get additional information on salaries, work-life balance, educational requirements, job satisfaction, future outlook and much more?

Great! This article is exactly for you since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a dietician in the following chapters.

Table of Contents

Dietician Job Profile

Job DescriptionDieticians counsel clients on nutrition and advise them on how to lose weight and how to eat healthier in general.
Salary$67,000 per year on average, most dieticians make between $52,000 and $78,000 per year.
Job SecurityDieticians have decent job security since many people are obese and need advice in this regard.
Job SatisfactionWorking as a dietician can be great if you love to work with people and really want to make their lives better.
Work-Life BalanceDieticians have decent work-life balance since they don’t have to work on weekends and rarely work in the late evening.
Physically / Mentally Demanding?Working as a dietician can be mentally demanding.
Future OutlookSince an increasing number of people suffer from being overweight, nutritionists have a decent future outlook and will likely be in high demand for many years to come.
RequirementsDieticians need at least a bachelor’s degree in nutrition or a related field in most states to start working in this field.

Advantages of Being a Dietician

  1. Dieticians can make decent money
  2. Most dieticians don’t have to worry about old-age poverty
  3. You can afford nice things for your family
  4. Nutritionists don’t have to work on weekends
  5. Dieticians don’t have to work many extra hours
  6. You will come home from work relatively early
  7. Nutritionists have great work-life balance
  8. Dieticians can work indoors
  9. You don’t have to work in a hard physical manner
  10. You can make an important impact on the lives of many people
  11. You can avoid working in a classical office job
  12. Dieticians can learn a lot for their own life
  13. Dieticians have a decent social standing
  14. Nutritionists have decent job security
  15. Positive future outlook for dieticians
  16. You can work self-employed as a dietician
  17. You can build a strong personal brand
  18. You can leverage social media channels
  19. You can build a strong network of people
  20. Dieticians don’t have to deal with lots of stress at work
  21. You work in a pretty safe environment

Dieticians can make decent money

One upside to working as a dietician is that you can make pretty decent money from what you are doing and can make more than the average person out there while many other people like singers often barely make enough to survive and often need to work a second job.

Most dieticians don’t have to worry about old-age poverty

Since you will make pretty good money, you can also save and invest enough money for retirement and don’t have to deal with old-age poverty in the same manner as people working in a fast food restaurant and often only get paid pretty poor money so that they are not able to set anything aside at all.

You can afford nice things for your family

Thanks to your good salary, you will also have a rather easy time providing for your family as a dietician and while you will be able to afford some nice things for your kids, many other people out there will not have this luxury and may even struggle to afford a basic living.

Nutritionists don’t have to work on weekends

Another advantage of being a nutritionist is that you also don’t have to work on weekends and holidays and will therefore have more than enough time to make nice trips with your loved ones or just to reload your batteries.

Dieticians don’t have to work many extra hours

Not only will you have free weekends, but you will also not have to work many extra hours as a dietician and this can be great since you will have enough time to see your kids grow up and also for you to relax so that you will be in a pretty good mood.

You will come home from work relatively early

Since you will not have to work many extra hours, you will also come home from work relatively early most of the time and will therefore have enough opportunities to meet up with your favorite people after work as a nutritionist.

Nutritionists have great work-life balance

In general, thanks to free weekends and holidays and since you don’t have to work at nighttime, you will have pretty decent work-life balance while people working in investment banking or many other fields may secretly envy you in this regard.

Dieticians can work indoors

You also have the privilege of working indoors as a dietician while many other people have to work outdoors during times of bad weather and may love to change places with you.

You don’t have to work in a hard physical manner

Another benefit of becoming a dietician is that you also don’t have to work in a hard physical manner.

Instead, you will do most of your work with your brain and also use a computer to make your workday more efficient.

Thus, while scaffolders and many other people have to ruin their spine in the long run, you will not have to deal with these issues as a nutritionist.

You can make an important impact on the lives of many people

As a nutritionist, you will also be able to make a pretty important impact on the lives of many people since you can show them how to lose weight and by losing weight, your patients can experience a real boost in quality of life and may be really thankful for your support.

You can avoid working in a classical office job

While you will use modern technologies, you will still not have to work in a classical office environment where you often just sit behind a computer screen for your entire workday and your work as a nutritionist will just be much more interactive.

Dieticians can learn a lot for their own life

Since you will give advice to many patients, you will also learn a lot for your own nutrition and can apply those concepts to live a much healthier and more content life in the long run.

Dieticians have a decent social standing

You will also have a pretty decent social status as a dietician and many of your friends may envy you for your career choice and may want to be like you which may give you a pretty high standing among your friends.

Nutritionists have decent job security

You will also have pretty decent job security as a dietician since nutritionists are in high demand right now and you will have more than enough patients who need advice on how to lose weight and may have more work than you could ever handle.

Positive future outlook for dieticians

Since obesity has become an even bigger problem over the past decade, chances are that this trend will also continue in the future and dieticians will therefore have a great future outlook.

You can work self-employed as a dietician

Becoming a dietician can also make sense in case you don’t want to work as an employee in the long run but rather want to start your own business since it is relatively easy to become self-employed in this field without having to spend lots of money upfront.

You can build a strong personal brand

You can also build a strong personal brand as a dietician and you will have more than enough patients soon without even having to actively acquire them anymore if you are good enough and also know how to bond with your patients.

You can leverage social media channels

Thanks to modern technologies, you can also promote your work on social media and if you know what you are doing, you can acquire more than enough clients in this manner and may even be able to start your own YouTube channel and monetize it in the long run.

You can build a strong network of people

Since you will work with many different people, you can also build a really strong network in the long run and this can benefit you in various parts of life.

Dieticians don’t have to deal with lots of stress at work

Working as a dietician is also not as stressful as working as a police officer or in other fields where you really have to risk your life on a regular basis and you can therefore enjoy your workday in a rather relaxed manner.

You work in a pretty safe environment

You will also not be at great risk of suffering from serious accidents at work and can spend your workday in a pretty safe environment as a nutritionist.

Now that you know all the reasons for becoming a nutritionist, you should also have a look at all the drawbacks of working as a dietician in the following chapter so that you can better decide whether you still want to work in this field or rather want to go for a different profession instead.

Disadvantages of Working as a Nutritionist

  1. Dieticians don’t make as much money as doctors
  2. Nutritionists often have to deal with difficult clients
  3. You need a college degree for becoming a dietician
  4. You may have to deal with student loan debt
  5. You will experience failure quite often
  6. You will not create things
  7. Dieticians often can’t work remotely
  8. There will not be much room for creativity at work
  9. Limited promotion opportunities for nutritionists
  10. You may feel guilty when eating unhealthy stuff
  11. You will not get the same admiration as doctors
  12. Being a dietician is not really exciting

Dieticians don’t make as much money as doctors

One downside to working as a dietician is that while you can make decent money, you will still not make even close to what doctors or dentists make and if your goal is to get rich, you should rather go for one of the other careers instead.

Nutritionists often have to deal with difficult clients

You should also know that you will often have to deal with difficult clients who will not understand that they have to change something in their lives if they want to lose weight and you may therefore have many tense discussions in this regard.

You need a college degree for becoming a dietician

Another problem with being a dietician is that you need at least a bachelor’s degree to be able to work in this field.

Consequently, you will have to spend lots of time and money on college education while many of your friends may be able to start making money at a much younger age.

You may have to deal with student loan debt

Since you will have to spend lots of money on tuition and other expenses related to college, you may also have to use student loan debt as a tool to finance your degree and you may therefore have to pay back lots of money in the long run.

You will experience failure quite often

Many of your patients will also just not be ready to lose weight yet since they are still stuck in their daily habits and you may therefore have to deal with many failures during your career and may get discouraged in the long run.

You will not create things

While farmers and many other people really create things, you as a dietician will do most of your work with your brain and will therefore not see an end product of your labor and this may let you lose motivation for your job sooner or later.

Dieticians often can’t work remotely

While you may be able to work remotely for some days of the week, dieticians also have to be present at their workplace in person while digital marketers and other people are often able to work completely from home and will be more flexible in general.

There will not be much room for creativity at work

Since you will educate people with the same methods over and over again, your tasks will also be pretty repetitive and you may also not be able to be really creative at work as a nutritionist.

Limited promotion opportunities for nutritionists

Once you are a nutritionist, you will also work in the same position for many years or even decades since you will never be able to work as a real doctor unless you get lots of additional education.

You may feel guilty when eating unhealthy stuff

Since you will know how unhealthy most sweets, burgers and other stuff really are, you may also feel really guilty eating them and you may therefore not be able to enjoy those things as much as the average person who is less aware of those facts.

You will not get the same admiration as doctors

While you will do an important job for society, you will still not get the same level of admiration as doctors and you may therefore just not feel really important as a dietician.

Being a dietician is not really exciting

Another disadvantage of working as a dietician is that most of your workdays will also not be exciting since you will just have standard procedures and will also not have lots of action at work.

Top 10 Being a Dietician Pros & Cons – Summary List

Being a Dietician ProsBeing a Dietician Cons
Dieticians can make decent moneyNutritionists don’t make as much as doctors
Nutritionists don’t have to work on weekendsDieticians are not considered real doctors
You don’t have to work many extra hoursNutritionists often have to deal with difficult patients
Dieticians have decent work-life balanceYou will experience many failures
Nutritionists do an important job for societyYou don’t create physical products
You have decent job securityMany tasks are pretty repetitive
Solid future outlook for nutritionistsWorking as a nutritionist is not exciting
You don’t have to work in a hard physical mannerYou may get bored in the long run
You can learn a lot for your private lifeYou may feel guilty eating unhealthy stuff
Nutritionists are not at great risk of burnoutHard to be creative at work

Should You Become A Dietician?

While dieticians can make decent money, have solid job security and can also help many people out, you should also know that dieticians often have to deal with difficult clients and also don’t have the same high social standing as doctors.

In the end, it is on you to evaluate all the pros and cons of being a dietician so that you can better decide whether you still want to work as a dietician or rather want to work in a different field.

If you come to the conclusion that a dietician career is not for you, you may also want to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of being a secretary

Advantages and disadvantages of being a restaurant manager

Advantages and disadvantages of being a TV presenter

Sources

https://www.statista.com/forecasts/997223/diets-and-nutrition-in-the-us

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world.

In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of what a fulfilling career could look like.

I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics.

However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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