Fitness · Nutrition · Lifestyle

Hi I'm Paul Smethurst

I’m a Personal Trainer & Nutritionist with 22 years and over 20,000 hours of coaching under my belt. I work with busy, time-poor women just like you who are done with diets that demand too much and deliver too little. My job is to help you lose weight in a way that actually fits your life — and keeps working long after we stop working together.

22 Years · 20,000+ HoursBSc (Hons) Sports ScienceMNU Certified Nutritionist

200+

4.9

Zero

Women coached

Average rating

Fad diets. Ever.

My Story

I've been doing this for 22 years. Here's what I know.

I started out as a personal trainer straight out of university, armed with a Sports Science degree and the unshakeable confidence of someone who’d never actually tried to help a tired, stressed, time-poor professional lose weight while managing a career, a family, and a social life. That education came later.

Before I left to travel the world working with high-profile private clients, I spent several years as a Master Trainer at E by Equinox in St James’s, London — one of the most exclusive fitness clubs in the country. Working at that level teaches you to raise your standards fast. Every client is high-achieving, time-poor, and has zero patience for anything that doesn’t work.

What 22 years and over 20,000 hours of coaching one-to-one teaches you — that no textbook really covers — is this: knowledge without context is useless. What works for a 22-year-old with no commitments and four hours a day to train doesn’t work for a busy professional who’s lucky to get 45 minutes.

"The people who get lasting results aren't the ones who followed the strictest plan. They're the ones who understood why what they were doing was working."

I became an MNU Certified Nutritionist because I wanted my advice to be rooted in actual science, not the fitness industry’s habit of recycling the same low-carb, low-calorie, high-misery nonsense every five years with a new name on the tin.

My coaching philosophy is simple: work with your life as it actually is, not as it would be if you were a different person with different habits, a different schedule, and a different relationship with food. Small, deliberate upgrades. No overhaul required.

qualifications
BSc (Hons) Sports Science
MNU Certified Nutritionist
Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (NSCA)
Precision Nutrition Coach
CHEK Practitioner L2
CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach L2
Pain-Free Performance Specialist (PPSC)
Pre & Post-Natal Performance Coach L2
Titleist Golf Fitness Coach
what i'm not
I'm not going to give you a meal plan you'll hate by day 4, tell you carbs are the enemy, or ask you to weigh your broccoli. That approach doesn't work. I've never seen it work long-term.
what i am
Evidence-based. Direct. Slightly obsessed with helping people understand how their body actually works — because that knowledge is what makes results stick.
my approach

Three things I believe that most coaches won't tell you

After 20 years of coaching, these aren't opinions. They're patterns I've watched play out with hundreds of clients. The ones who get results do these three things.
01

You don't need to eat less. You need to eat smarter.

Chronic undereating wrecks your hormones, tanks your energy, and — let's be honest — makes you miserable. Sustainable fat loss is about the right foods in the right amounts, not starvation dressed up as discipline.
02

Your habits are the programme. Not a list of rules to follow.

I don't replace your diet. I upgrade it. We take what you're already doing and make it incrementally better. That's how changes stick — because they're built on your life, not someone else's ideal version of it.
03

Understanding is the difference between results and relapse.

Most programmes hand you a plan and send you off. When the plan ends, so do the results. I'd rather you finish working with me knowing exactly why something works — so you can do it without me forever.
who I work with

You're probably exactly who I had in mind when I built this

My clients are typically professional women, 40+ who are succeeding in every other area of their life — career, family, relationships — but feel like their health and body have quietly slipped down the priority list.

They’re not unfit. They’re not unhealthy. They’re busy, intelligent people who’ve tried the usual approaches — cutting calories, eliminating food groups, signing up to plans that assume they have an hour to spare every morning — and found that none of them actually fit their life.

They don’t need more restriction. They need the right information, delivered in a way they can actually act on. That’s exactly what I provide.

my typical client
Meet Lucy
45 · Corporate executive · Two kids
  • Tried the fad diets, weight loss teas, and celeb magazine tips — some worked short-term, none of them lasted
  • Knows what she should be doing but doesn’t have time to work it all out
  • Wants to feel energetic and confident — not just lighter on the scale
  • Is done with approaches that treat her like she has no life outside the gym
  • Ready to invest in something that actually teaches her, not just tells her
ready to get started?

If that sounds like you, we should talk

The Reset is a 12-week programme built around your habits, your schedule, and your goals. No meal plans. No calorie counting. No nonsense.
tell me about the reset