Why You Should Invest in a Health Coach

Have you ever gone to your doctor, knowing you need to lose weight, only to have him or her say, just eat less and exercise more? Or perhaps they told you to start tracking your calories and keep them under a certain number. Those are very generic recommendations and depending on why you are overweight to begin with they may or may not even work. One of the very first weight loss clients I ever worked with completed her food logs and questionnaire and my first comment was that she wasn’t eating enough! In some instances, that can stall weight loss and in her case it was.

One size never fits all, which is why there is no one perfect diet for everyone! Even a recent study confirms that generic weight loss advice not only doesn’t work, but patients tend to lose less weight! The study revealed that patients who received more explicit advice lost an average of 7 pounds more than the generic advice group.

Telling someone to just “clean up your diet” or “eat healthier” is also way too generic. What do either of those things actually mean? So when I work with someone doing my Today is Still the Day 7 Week plan it all begins with a phone consultation, food logs and a detailed questionnaire. Unless I understand where you are when we begin, I can’t personalize the plan to fit your specific needs. And that is the critical piece of the puzzle most generic diets overlook. As I mention in the preface to Today is Still the Day, “any diet will cause you to lose weight, temporarily.” Making lasting changes that improve your overall health is key. And generic recommendations will never address that.

Please don’t think I am criticizing doctors for not giving patients more specific recommendations. I am, however, suggesting that also working with a health coach who is able to focus on you specifically and tailor a plan to address your needs and fit your lifestyle will make all the difference.

I shared my daughter’s personal experience in a recent newsletter and Cindy’s story in a past newsletter, and they both very clearly illustrates exactly why a health coach can turn things around when you are doing all you know to do and are still stuck. Sometimes being overweight is a symptom of another problem, not the problem itself.