No Nonsense Fitness targets nutrition confusion

Keith O’Beirne’s No Nonsense Fitness has launched Protein Swap Lab, a free Irish tool that helps consumers compare foods by protein, calories and labels.

For most consumers, comparing foods means scanning front-of-pack claims and marketing messages. For Keith O’Beirne, founder of No Nonsense Fitness (NNF), that approach leaves too many unanswered questions.

The Irish entrepreneur has developed Protein Swap Lab, a free online food comparison tool that allows users to compare supermarket products on the same protein or calorie basis, helping people better understand the nutritional trade-offs behind their food choices.

The platform forms part of a wider mission to make fitness, nutrition and health education more accessible and easier to understand.

“I built Protein Swap Lab, a free Irish food-label comparison tool that lets people compare selected foods on the same protein or calorie basis instead of relying on front-of-pack claims,” said O’Beirne.

“The method is deliberately transparent: preparation state is preserved, selected products aren’t presented as market averages, and every result can be traced to the label data. It is an attempt to make everyday supermarket comparisons easier to inspect.”

Turning labels into meaningful comparisons

The idea emerged from a simple observation. While food manufacturers increasingly promote products as being “high protein”, consumers are often left without sufficient context to understand what those claims mean in practical terms.

“Food labels are a good example,” O’Beirne explained. “Something can be marketed as ‘high protein’, but that doesn’t tell you how much you would need to eat to get 25g of protein or how many calories come with it. I want people to be able to check the numbers, understand the trade-offs and make their own decisions.”

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Protein Swap Lab allows users to compare up to four foods at a time using equal protein amounts, equal calorie amounts or custom portion sizes. The calculations are based on published label data and are fully visible to users.

One example highlighted by O’Beirne compares two Tesco Finest Greek yoghurt products. According to the listed nutritional values, obtaining 25g of protein would require around 255g of the 0% fat version for approximately 166 calories, compared with roughly 410g of the full-fat version for about 541 calories.

“The tool doesn’t call one food ‘good’ and another ‘bad’; it shows the trade-off,” he said.

Building a different kind of fitness platform

Protein Swap Lab is the first public element of a broader ecosystem that includes free calculators, nutrition resources and training guides designed to support people at different stages of their fitness journeys.

Those resources include the Day One starter pack, the Year Two training guide and the Protein Hub, all of which are available free of charge and without requiring users to provide an email address.

At the centre of O’Beirne’s ambitions is the planned launch of the No Nonsense Fitness mobile app, which he intends to position as an educational alternative to traditional calorie-counting platforms.

“I am still pre-revenue, so I wouldn’t invent a commercial market-size figure, but it’s clearly a large and established category,” he said.

The planned app will be priced at €9.99 per month and will initially focus on Irish and UK consumers.

The rise of food processing awareness

Among the application’s standout features is a tool designed to help users understand how processed their food is.

Called “How processed is your food?”, the feature will display a product’s NOVA processing classification alongside its nutritional information when users scan or log a food item. Ingredient-label scanning will be used to help classify products where information is incomplete.

A second flagship feature, NNF Coach, has been designed as an educational tool rather than a traditional coaching service.

“Rather than generic motivational messages, it looks at the days the user has actually logged and produces a simple weekly educational review, what went well, what pattern stood out and one manageable thing to focus on next,” O’Beirne said.

“It’s automated education, not a human coaching service or a health score.”

Additional functionality will include barcode scanning, meal-photo tools, saved meals and a food database tailored towards Irish and UK grocery products.

From personal transformation to entrepreneurial journey

The inspiration for No Nonsense Fitness came from O’Beirne’s own health and fitness experience.

Alongside his role as Head of Sales and Customer Success at Greyhound Recycling, where he has worked for 14 years, he began rebuilding his personal fitness after recognising his own health habits had drifted.

“I had let my own fitness slip and was over 90kg. Learning how to train and eat in a way I could actually sustain took me to 72kg,” he said.

As friends and colleagues began asking how he achieved the change, he identified a broader issue.

“I realised how many people were being left confused by competing diets, exercise advice and expensive options.”

That experience ultimately led him to launch No Nonsense Fitness.

“So I built the resource I wish I’d had.”

A founder building around family and full-time work

Unlike many venture-backed technology start-ups, No Nonsense Fitness is being developed alongside a demanding career and family life.

O’Beirne is currently not seeking investment and remains focused on product development and validation before considering outside funding.

“My focus is getting the product ready, seeing what people actually use and proving the business model before considering outside investment,” he said.

His long-term vision extends beyond individual consumers.

“The aim is to keep the core guides and tools free, offer an affordable app for people who want more day-to-day help, and eventually bring practical food, movement and strength education into Irish workplaces through a planned employer programme.”

Lessons learned along the way

The development journey has already involved multiple revisions.

“I’m already on version five of the app before launch,” O’Beirne said.

One lesson has stood out above all others.

“The biggest lesson is that having ideas is easy; deciding which ones actually make the product clearer and more dependable is harder.”

He also believes transparency around nutrition data will become increasingly important as health technology evolves.

“I’ve also learned that scale means very little if the underlying data can’t be trusted. A huge food catalogue sounds impressive, but I care more about showing where information came from, keeping source links where possible and being honest about the limits of a calculation.”

“If somebody can’t understand or check the result, I haven’t explained it well enough.”

Building in the age of AI

Like many modern entrepreneurs, O’Beirne has embraced artificial intelligence tools as part of the development process.

He uses Claude and Codex to assist with planning, software development and code reviews, while GitHub and automated testing help track changes and identify issues.

Yet he remains clear about where responsibility lies.

“AI helps me move faster, but I’m responsible for what goes live and what claims I make about it.”

That philosophy also informs the advice he offers to other aspiring founders.

“Don’t wait for a perfect gap in your diary. I started around a full-time job and two kids, one useful piece at a time.”

“Don’t spend months polishing something nobody has tested yet. Get the useful part in front of people, listen and improve it.”

And when progress stalls?

“Sometimes the best thing you can do when you’re stuck is leave the desk for a walk or training session. I’ve solved plenty of problems that way.”