Meet Brad
FlexiDiet Founder
The story behind FlexiDiet and why sustainable nutrition matters
Qualifications
Brad Gorlicki, founder of FlexiDiet, is a qualified nutrition and fitness professional based in Hamilton, New Zealand.
- ISSA Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, recognized by the International Sports Sciences Association
- National Certificate in Fitness, Level 3, issued by the New Zealand Institute of Health and Fitness (NZIHF), recognized by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)
- Certificate of Personal Training, Level 4, issued by the New Zealand Institute of Health and Fitness (NZIHF), recognized by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)
How FlexiDiet Was Born
I was a nutritionist at a popular gym in Hamilton, New Zealand. Most of my clients wanted a 7-day meal plan: no thinking required, guaranteed to work. And they did work. For about a month. Then they'd get bored, come back, and ask me for a new one. And another after that.
The frustrating part wasn't the plans. It was that I could only ever hand someone a one-time fix for a problem that never stops. Your diet shouldn't be a temporary thing. It should be something you can stick to for life, without having to study nutrition.
This prompted me to write a book called 'How to build your own meal plan'. There were many recipes with different levels that could be adjusted to any calorie target. I offered a money back guarantee if the book didn't work. I offered support throughout the process and accountability.
The book was designed to teach people how to create sustainable meal plans they could stick to for life, not just another temporary diet.
I wanted to prove a point. Get a meal plan you enjoy, stick to your calorie target and the results will come. I took this to the extreme, I did a natural bodybuilding NZIFBB competition in 2017... eating lasagna, burgers and whatever I could fit into my calories and macro targets. The night before the competition I ate burger fuel, this was my condition 1 hour later.
I was backstage at the competition, hearing stories about everyone's last cheat meals 6 weeks ago. I busted out my bacon and egg mcmuffin from McDonalds. The whole room just stopped and stared... what was I doing? I had already calculated the exact Calories, Carbs, Protein, Fat and Sodium I needed to look my best on stage.
It worked! My first ever competition and I came second. My mission was a success. Calories and macros DO matter. Yes hormones and other factors also matter but the core principles to troubleshoot your diet start here!
I never wanted to be a nutritionist forever, I wanted to prove my idea and I had done just that.
But the app idea came first.
What most people don't know: I was a programmer for 16 years before I ever worked in nutrition. Specifically, SAP backend systems. Enterprise stuff, nothing flashy.
The app idea came in November 2015. On Tuesday the 17th at 11:08pm, I couldn't sleep until I'd written a Technical Specification document for it. The next afternoon, Wednesday the 18th at 3:43pm, I built the prototype in PowerPoint with hand-drawn iPhone bezels and stock-photo scrambled eggs.
I built versions of it. I shelved them. The wall wasn't the code. It was the data. Tens of thousands of ingredients, recipes, nutrition info, allergens, prices. All by hand. As one person with a SAP day job and a young son, the math didn't math.
In 2018 I got quoted $150,000 to build it properly. I closed the laptop and decided I'd just learn how to do it myself. I taught myself JavaScript, then React, then React Native. Three new languages while working full-time and being a new dad.
Then it sat. For years. Life got loud. The idea never left me, but the path through never came clear.
The receipts. November 2015.
Last June, the wall came down.
In June 2025 something shifted. AI tools had quietly gotten good enough to automate the work that had killed the project the first time. Not the app logic. That's still all me, every line, every algorithm. The household-coordination engine, the leftover calculator, the way servings adjust per person: AI didn't write any of that.
What AI did was let me stop drowning in data entry, so I could finally focus on building the actual product.
I scrapped three years of code. Started fresh. 4 to 8 hours a day, every day. Finished 7 May 2026.
Eleven months of sustained focus to build the version that finally works.
I spent years handing out temporary fix meal plans.
Turns out the answer was never the plan. It was removing every reason they ever quit one.
The boring rules. The clean-eating shame. The Sunday-night spreadsheet. The kids who wouldn't eat what you cooked. The grocery bill that climbed every week without explanation. The logging. Always the logging.
I built FlexiDiet to remove all of it.
One dinner the whole family eats. Your portion, your macros. Real food, real prices, ten minutes a week.
You don't need to be on a diet to lose weight. You need a plan that fits the life you actually live.
Any questions, my personal email is brad.gorlicki@flexidiet.co.nz
I read everything.
Brad