Feel Down About Your Goals? Health Coaching Might Be For You

Sick of having goals but being unsure where to start? Tired of waking up tired all the time? Frustrated with all the conflicting diet information you’re seeing? Did you get a diagnosis from your doctor and you’re really unsure how to proceed? Or maybe you want to up your exercise game? This can be a big deal for quite a few people. They end up depressed, hopeless, and unsure where to turn. But friend, your health is worth working on. Whether it be for your kids, significant other, parents, or friends, you were put on this earth for a reason. So don’t your mental, spiritual, and physical bodies deserve to be healthy and ready to live lift? Of course, so you can live life to it’s fullest and do what you enjoy.

When you’re trying to accomplish goals, no matter how big or small, you may need an extra helping hand. Someone who can help look at your goal & break it down so it’s easier to manage. Then, as you start implementing what you want to do, they’ll help you track your progress and face barriers head on. If this sounds like someone you need in your life, then hiring a health coach maybe right for you.

What is a Health Coach?

A health coach partners with a client and provokes thoughts to inspire them to reach their personal and professional potential. They aren’t necessarily experts in their field, but they can take you through and:

identify if you’re ready for change
look for opportunities and barriers to your growth
plan goals centered around you
create an action plan with you
empower and motivate you

Health coaches use evidence based care to help you tackle chronic conditions, decrease your risk for illnesses you’re at high risk for, or help you reach health goals. Unlike a medical provider who maybe is seen as the authority figure, a coach knows that you are the expert in your health and takes your health from a whole person approach. They partner with you and provide resources and education when you’re needing some guidance.

What They Aren’t

Although health coaches can provide you education, guidance, and research, they cannot adjust medications, prescribe a work out regime, give a therapeutic dietary plan, or diagnose physical or mental disease. For these ailments, a health coach would refer you to your own or their network of personal trainers, doctors, psychiatrists, or registered dietitians. In working with these providers, it’s also important to have a health coach who understands medical jargon. This can make finding a nurse or other health care provider who is also a certified health coach a valuable person to have around. That way, when they’re faced with medical terms you may not understand, they have the experience and background to understand these terms and explain them to you.

Benefits of Working with a Health Coach

Save money. Health coaching is an investment in you. When working with a health coach, you may find your medications needing decreased, yourself finally able to stop smoking, or your insurance decreasing. When you reach your health goals, you also decrease the need for expensive medical procedures.
More energy. And I’m not talking about from expensive supplements or drinks. When you’re eating more plants & moving as your body is intended to, you’ll get better rest. All three of these also equate to more energy throughout your day. This means, when you get home from work, you’ll have the motivation to get things done instead of needing to sit and order pizza for supper.
Feel fulfilled. When we accomplish goals, a part of the brain loves this! We want to be good at what we’re doing and not reflect back on how we didn’t meant a goal. This can lead to a healthier mental state making us happier and finding the feeling of purpose again.
A non-judgmental ear. Ever told someone a goal you have and they looked at or told you you were crazy? Sometimes your circle can’t relate or are fearful of your big goals. This is where you can have a health coach step in to give you that love and support others may not have given you before.

Signs You May Need a Health Coach

You were recently diagnosed with a chronic disease. When you get a new diagnosis, you’re bombarded with a TON of new information. A health coach can help you understand your diagnosis and create a plan to help you better manage your disease and life a happier, healthier life. They can even work with your doctor to give you that extra layer of help to understand medical terms you may be unsure of.
You’re not dealing with stress well. We all go through stressful times, but sometimes it’s harder to cope than others. This can lead to feeling poorly about ourselves, be detrimental to relationships around us, or lead to burn out. Stress can also cause health problems that are displayed in our physical and mental selves. A holistic health coaches can help you perform mindfulness practices and find ways to better cope with stressors in your life.
You’ve fallen short of your goals in the past. Whether you watched the pounds slowly creep back on, hated a ‘diet’ you tried, or whatever other goals you’ve missed, a health coach can help make your biggest health goals achievable. They know how to break them down into bite sized pieces so you can achieve them.
You want to eat healthier. Health coaches are great at helping you find evidence based information about nutrition. They won’t prescribe a diet, but can help you understand ingredients in your food, show you to read a food label, and teach you how to make better food choices for yourself & your family.
You need some time for yourself. Ever asked someone how they were doing and they responded “busy”? We’re busier than ever, making it even more vital to ensure we make time for ourselves. A health coach can help you find time in your busy schedule to ensure you stay charged so you’re better able to help others.

How Health Coaching Has Helped Real People

Here is something a client focusing on healthy eating and weight loss said after completing their sessions:

“A HUGE benefit to me was becoming more mindful of what and WHY I was eating — Was I really hungry? Was I bored? Just taking the time to pause, reflect, breathe.”

And here’s a client who was doing health coaching for a different reason. This client mentioned feeling “stuck in a stagnant bubble” prior to coaching sessions:

“I would recommend your health coaching to anyone who wants to improve their life in small or big ways, or to someone who has been wanting to exit their comfort zone and try something new. Sometimes we have these ideas in our heads, but have trouble acting on them, whether it’s because we can’t figure out where to start or how to break our goals down to eventually reach our full potential.”

Making lifestyle changes can be scary! They seem easy when you’re planning for them, but can easily become overwhelming when you’re in the thick of it. Ensuring you have that love and support when the time comes is so important for you friend.

So what do you think? Could you use a health coach or know someone who may benefit from one? Let me know in the comments and share this with them.

I believe in you! xo, Meg

If you’re wanting to crush some big goals, check out these goal setting tips and learn how facing this one thing can help you achieve your biggest goals!

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