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!
