How Long Should You Work with a Health Coach?
I hear this question often: how long should someone work with a health coach? What happens if I want more/less support then what’s offered? Like many things in the health and wellness space, the answer is: it depends! There are many factors that go into deciding how long to work with a health coach, to include: where you’re at in your health journey, your goals, your personality, and the type of support you’re looking for. I’m sure there are many other factors, but let’s jump into a few of these and go from there!
Where you are at in your health journey: Some people are brand new to the health and fitness world, some have been involved for many years. If you were well versed in health principles, then you probably don’t want someone to start/teach you at a basic, 101 level. On the other hand, if you have never touched a dumbbell and don’t know what keto is, then working with a coach to learn the basics is exactly what you need!
Another thing to consider is if you are starting your health journey from ground zero, as in you’ve been eating a SAD diet, not exercising, getting lots of toxic blue light and not enough sleep, then you might need a bit more time then a couple sessions to get on track. You probably need at least 1-2 months (maybe even more) if you’re starting from scratch. There’s a lot of information to learn, new habits to form, and goals to achieve…and a coach can shorten your timeline to get up and running.
Now, if you’ve been on your health journey for a while and just need a boost to break through a plateau or explore more ways to improve, then maybe just a couple sessions is exactly what you need.
Depends on your goals: There sky is the limit on the variety of health goals that people may want to pursue, and the timelines to to get after them are just as varied! If you have difficult, extended goals that will take a lot of hard work and time investment to achieve, then choosing a long-term coaching relationship makes sense. Some goals are more basic and short-term (lose 20 pounds, be able to hike whenever you want to, look good naked, etc), but may require some extra support via a health coach. Either way, having someone support you and your goals can make a big difference in achieving them or not realizing them at all.
Your personality: I know I keep bringing up personality in coaching, but it can make a big difference if you get along with your coach or not! Personally, I wouldn’t select a health coach unless I liked them, and knew they were competent at what they did. Hell, I would sacrifice a bit of the “like” before the competency, but that is my personality. Maybe someone would enjoy having a coach that’s more laid back and buddy-buddy, or someone else would prefer to keep it totally professional and straight to the point. Neither way is wrong, it’s just what you’d prefer with your coach. Bottom line is to choose someone you can at least get along with, feel comfortable sharing your info with and can learn from, even if your personalities aren’t perfectly synced.
The type of support you want: Based on what I’ve seen from other coaches and my own experience, people need various type of support or accountability, which can be tailored to your goals and personality. Certain types of coaching packages could entail more support/accountability, or less, depending on how you the client want to proceed. Sometimes the longer relationships (2+ months) might have weekly or biweekly accountability, but at least a couple times per month is standard. This is something you can discuss with your new coach from the beginning: some people need contact everyday, some only need it a couple times per month. As stated before, neither way is wrong, it all depends on you! Quite a few clients prefer a weekly or biweekly phone call or zoom chat, with the option to text or email in between sessions to ask questions (this is the type of coaching relationship I offer!). Trying to strike a balance between getting the right support while still living in the real world and making your own decisions is what we’re going for here!
Getting the right amount of support for your health goals that mesh well with your personality shouldn’t be hard to achieve with the right coach. This is why it’s very important for you as a client to know exactly what type of support you are receiving with your package, and to talk to your prospective coach during the discovery call to see what types of support they offer, and if you can tailor their offerings to fit your needs. Some coaches will have pre-made packages ready to go, and others may allow you to add other services as you see fit. Again, it all depends! 😊
If you ever decide to work with a health coach, hopefully the info above will help you understand how long you would want to work with a health coach to hit your goals. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you already know you want health coaching to help you achieve your goals, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!
How to Choose a Health Coach
Now that you know what a health coach is and how to use one, now we need to discuss how to choose a health coach! I would advise choosing a health coach that aligns with your goals, the health coach’s areas of expertise, personality, and the Coach Approach. Also an important consideration is the Discovery Call, and making the final decision to contract with a health coach. We’ll cover this info in the following sections.
Client Goals and Coach’s Expertise:
If your goal is to be a vegan bodybuilder or a carnivore gym queen, then the coaches for these types of people could be vastly different. A health coach can probably work with anyone if they tried hard enough, but most coaches have a areas of expertise or a niche they focus on to provide their clients with better support. If you want to lose weight, most health coaches will probably be able to help you no problem. But if you have more nuanced goals, it would be better to seek out coaches that are experts in your improvement area. Personally, I would rather work within my realm of expertise so I know the support I’m providing is the best I can do for the client I’m working with.
Examples:
If someone wanted to work with me, but refused to change their light environment or insisted on being a vegan, I would probably tell that person that we wouldn’t be a good match. I’m passionate about light environments and animal/meat-based foods/ways of eating, and personally believe that thriving, glorious health requires sunshine and animal foods. So it wouldn’t make sense or be in alignment with either of our values to work together if a client’s desired actions fell waaay outside my values.
If you’re a competitive athlete, you would want a health coach focused on perfecting your environment, lifestyle, and ways of eating for your sport, versus a health coach that specializes in thyroid improvement or helping seniors improve their diet and fitness.
Personality and the “Coach Approach”
This one is sort of difficult to pinpoint, but you want to make sure your health coach gets you, and you are comfortable talking and sharing information about yourself with them. You are going to spend a lot of time with a health coach and share personal aspects about yourself, so things will be easier if you like your health coach.
It is also important to consider what type of person you’d want to receive coaching from, for instance: do you prefer a coach that’s older or younger than you? Would you prefer a man or a woman coach? Do you like a no-frills, direct approach or prefer a more supportive, subtle approach? Intense accountability or cheerleader? None of these types of people are good or bad, it comes down to what type of person you want to work with!
Once you’ve decided on the type of health coach and the approach you like, then you can start checking out health coaches you’ve heard about on social media or podcasts, or even get a referral (coaches that are vetted and vouched for by people you know are awesome!). Once you’ve found someone you might like, time to do some research to see if you like their personality, and if you like their approach to supporting you as the client. You could check out their website (like what you’re doing here! 😊), their social media, and past clients’ testimonials (if available). Once you decide, then you reach out to the coach for a Discovery Call!
The Discovery Call
The first official meeting with a potential health coach, called a Discovery Call, can be the most important start to any coaching relationship. This call is the first step to seeing if you and a potential coach are a good fit before anyone commits to anything. It’s usually an easy way to get a feel for someone pretty quickly and ask some questions to see if you would get along for weeks, months, or longer. If the call goes well, then you and the coach can move to deciding on the type of program then signing the paperwork to set up the coaching agreement.
Contracting with a Health Coach
At this point, you both have talked and decided to move forward with the coaching relationship, so congrats! That’s awesome! You should know the timeline, the cost, and general expectations for the relationship, and the coach should be sending you some forms for you to sign and send back, such as terms and conditions, waivers, client-coach agreements, etc. the types and number of forms can vary depending on the coach and the situation. Once the paperwork is done, and payment has been completed (another “it depends” scenario), then you’re good to go to hit the ground running!
If you ever decide to work with a health coach, hopefully the info above will help you understand what type of health coach you want to work with, how to find one, and other important steps and expectations. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you already know you want health coaching to help you achieve your goals, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!
What is a Health Coach?
Being a “coach” seems to be a new popular trend these days. One could get a coach for almost anything, from lifestyle to fitness to business and many others. What I am specifically is a Health Coach, and here’s what that means:
Someone that is knowledgeable/trained/certified in many health topics, to include weight loss, food, fitness, lifestyle factors, and sometimes specializes in certain niches (thyroid optimization, fertility improvement, CrossFit athletics, or others).
Usually certified through a type of health coach educational program, school, or accreditation process
Someone that will support and advise you during your health/fitness journey and help you figure out actionable, realistic goals and a plan to get there.
Many people become health coaches because of their own desire to get as healthy and optimal as possible, and now want to support others on their journey using their hard-won knowledge. At least that’s a big reason why I became a health coach 😊. As many of you probably know, it’s hard to sift through all the info available on the internet and it is so hard to know who to believe or who to trust! That’s why working with a health coach can be beneficial by navigating the noise and helping you formulate an actionable plan to start you on your journey to a more kick ass you!
Even the best made health plans can encounter issues, unforeseen circumstances, life in general…and a health coach can help you navigate these obstacles and turn them into successful situations instead. A coach can be an accountability partner and support while you are working on achieving your goals. This could be very important for someone that doesn’t have a supportive family, travels a lot, or if your workplace is always full of candy and doughnuts and coworkers wanting to go out to eat all the time (seriously, why is there always candy everywhere?!).
How do you work with a Health Coach?
Working with a health coach is very different than working with your doctor or a dietician. The biggest difference comes down to a health coach’s “scope of practice” which can depend on what state or country the coach is located in. For instance, here in Colorado, I have a much wider scope of practice pertaining to recommending various types of food or way of eating versus if I practiced in the state of Georgia.
Here are just a few examples of what Health Coach CAN do:
Be an advisor, and/or accountability partner to help you achieve your goals
Help you figure out a plan of action to achieve your health/wellness goals, and provide recommendations based on the health coach’s specialty areas
For example, I specialize in carnivore, keto, and primal ways of eating but not vegetarianism or veganism. So I will be more than capable of helping you navigate through more animal-based meal planning, but probably not a veggie-based!
Provide recommendations on workouts and adding more movement throughout your day
Support your desired behavior changes and provide recommendations to achieve lasting changes.
Help you troubleshoot any issues or plateaus you might encounter in your health journey
Here are some examples of what a Health Coach CANNOT do:
Diagnose an issue/symptoms and recommend diets and supplements to treat your issue.
Nuance here: if you have a diagnosis and an order from your doctor to “go on a diet” or some other vague recommendation and you hire a health coach to help you out, then a health coach can definitely support you in this!
Tell you to stop taking medications.
Order lab work/bloodwork for a client and evaluate the results to see what’s going on.
Prescribe or recommend supplements to diagnose or treat a problem.
How does one best utilize a Health Coach?
Write down your health goals…yes, write them down on actual paper! Once you write them down, your goals become more real and concrete instead of some vague thing you want to achieve someday. Then, discuss your goals with your health coach, who will help you put together a plan. If you don’t have specific goals in mind, your coach could talk through what you want to do and hopefully help you come up with some high level goals to aim for. Goals don’t have to be highfalutin, they can range from losing a couple pounds to optimizing your hormones…it all depends on what you, the client, wants to achieve within a reasonable amount of time.
Allocate enough time to work with a health coach. I know that sounds obvious, but I’ve heard from other coaches that people would hire them, and then they wouldn’t end up finishing the program or wouldn’t attend the sessions. Totally understand that people are busy with life in general, and while your coach can be there for you every step of the way, it will come down to you doing the work. Some folks aren’t ready due to life circumstances, and that’s ok! When you’re ready, then take the plunge and get support to hit the ground running towards your goals.
Stay accountable to your goals. Make sure you meet with your coach for scheduled calls so you can go over how you’ve been doing and what you need help with. Your health coach will be an accountability partner for you, but this step will be easier if you consistently tag up with your health coach at your designated meeting times. Depending on the type of health coaching package you invest in, you may get day to day support via texting or emails, so use that to help you stay on track as well.
Tell your coach if something isn’t working. While your health coach might be a wealth of knowledge, your coach won’t know everything and won’t know how you are exactly (beyond what your intake form may say and what you’ve told them). Only you know your body, environment, and situation inside and out. Don’t be afraid of telling your coach that something isn’t working, especially if you’ve given it the ole blue collar try. A lot of what happens on health journeys can be trial and error to figure out what works for you personally, for instance, a keto diet might work beautifully for you and be terrible for someone else.
If you ever decide to work with a health coach, hopefully the info above will help you understand what to expect out of a health coach and how you can work with one. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you already know you want health coaching, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!