8Fit vs Second Nature

Signing up

	8Fit	Second Nature
Money back guarantee	Full refund if cancelled within 14 days. After this point, any charges non-refundable	Full refund if cancelled within 14 days. After this point, any charges non-refundable.
Clear breakdown of costs	✓	✓
Clear cancellation policy	✓	✓
Length of program	Dependent on the goal and program selected. Each level takes around 2 weeks to complete, but this can all vary depending on your current fitness level and how many workouts you end up completing	Ongoing subscription (minimum 12 weeks)
Easy to cancel	✓	✓
Refer-a-friend scheme	✓	✓
Easy to include family	✓	✓

Nutrition

	8Fit	Second Nature
Dietary approach	Focus on nutrient-rich whole foods	Lower carb
Caters to vegetarian	✓	✓
Caters to vegan	✓	✓
Vegetarian/vegan recipe section	✓	✓

Support

	8Fit	Second Nature
Tailors the plan around diabetes	✗ (Special meal plans for people with diabetes aren’t offered. 8fit recommends working directly with a doctor)	✓
Tailors the plan around other health issues	✗	✓
Access to a qualified nutrition specialist	✗	✓*
Weekend support available	✗	✓
Phone support available	✗ (Works exclusively via messages)	✓
Face-to-face meetings	✗	✗

*Second Nature coaches are all UK registered dietitians or nutritionists. This means they have completed university accredited degrees to gain this professional title. However, coaches are not registered in the US, so don’t meet the regulatory requirements to be considered US registered dietitians or nutritionists.

Program features

	8Fit	Second Nature
App	✓	✓
Recipe videos	✓	✓
Exercise videos	✓	✓
Encourages daily weigh-ins	✗	✗
Tracks sleep	✗	✓
Tracks steps	✓	✓
Tracks exercise	✓	✓
Tracks water intake	✗	✓
Education of nutrition science	✓	✓
Requires calorie counting	✗	✗
Food diary feature	✓	✓
Meal planning tool	✓	✓
In-app journalling tool	✓	✓

As of February 2021, 8Fit doesn’t track sleep or water intake. However, this is something that they are looking to provide in the future.

Pricing

When programs provide price plans in different formats, it can be hard to accurately compare prices. To make this easier, we’ve calculated the monthly basic price plans of each program to show you how costs compare (as of February 2021).

At first glance, the Second Nature program may seem more expensive than 8Fit. However, the cost of the Second Nature program includes access to your coach, a qualified nutrition specialist, who you can speak to regularly. You also have access to your digital peer support group, plus meal planning and journaling tools, and step, weight, and habit tracking technology.

Another option to get support with your diet would be to see a registered dietitian. Weekly face-to-face sessions with a registered dietitian can be very expensive ($70-$100 per session). We have added a column representing this to compare costs (Weekly RD – WRD).

Monthly digital subscriptions:

	8Fit	Second Nature	WRD
Registered dietitian or nutritionist coach	✗	✓	✓
The same, personal coach throughout the program	✗	✓	✓
Price	$25 / month	$60 / month	$350 / month

Example nutrition query response

Nutrition is a major part of any lifestyle. Therefore, it’s important to receive accurate and reliable nutrition advice. We asked each program a common nutrition-related query to see how the information provided as an answer compares.

Q: Are eggs bad for your cholesterol? Should I avoid them?

8Fit answer:

We asked this question via the online customer query portal and had a reply from one of the 8Fit customer advisors. The advisor linked us to a blog post written by Noureen at 8Fit. We’ve copied a few paragraphs from the blog post below:

“They’re versatile, budget-friendly and an egg-cellent source of protein to start your day with – also, we at 8fit HQ can’t get enough of them. Maybe that’s why eggs are such a hit in breakfasts all over the world!

Eggs are considered a ‘complete’ source of protein thanks to their nine essential amino acids, packed with nutritional benefits that earn them the reputation as a nearly perfect food. They’re also one of the few natural vitamin D food sources and contain heart-healthy fats as well as the essential nutrient choline, key in brain development.

Years ago, when scientists made the initial association between high blood cholesterol and heart disease, foods high in dietary cholesterol were thought to be the leading cause of the condition, and subsequently got blacklisted — egg yolks happened to be one of the prime suspects.

Even though there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, it’s been found that having one egg daily is safe. As a general rule of thumb, eating a healthy egg breakfast that contains more than one egg is fine if you’re not eating it every day.”

You can read the full article here.

Second Nature’s answer:

“Eggs are a rich source of dietary cholesterol. It was previously thought that cholesterol-containing foods increase blood cholesterol and the risk of heart disease and strokes. However, this has not been shown to be the case as dietary cholesterol is poorly absorbed from the digestive system, and if cholesterol is absorbed, the body will produce less of it to balance out (and prevent blood cholesterol levels rising). Therefore, you do not need to be restricted unless recommended to do so from your GP/Healthcare professional. Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet providing good quality protein as well as being loaded with vitamins and minerals.”