The Benefits of Working with a Health Coach

Imagine this. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and energized ready to take on the busy day ahead. You reach for your glass of water by your bed and drink the entire glass feeling your body slowly start to become hydrated. After you hydrate your body, you sit silently in bed feeling gratitude for your life and proud of yourself for investing time and energy into designing your life the way you’ve visualized it to help you become the healthiest version of yourself.

You have your self care routine that you do throughout the day. Your self care routine consists of eating whole nutrient dense food, moving your body frequently, enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning in silence, and meditating. Most days you’re really good at sticking to it, however, there are days where you allow life to get in the way. You’re ok with this because you realize your human. You choose focus on progress not perfection.

You feel great in your body and are able to think clearly most of the time. You’re leaner, your anxiety has decreased drastically, and you no longer need the sugar boost in the afternoon to make it through the rest of the day. Your family and friends keep telling you how much positive energy you’re carrying and passing on to others. You feel more confident than you have in years. Your partner is sharing how proud he is of you for all the hard work you’ve done during the past year to make simple lifestyle changes that have helped you get to this point.

You’re more focused at work and have become more creative with your job. You’ve earned the promotion you’ve been working towards for a few years. You have a team of coworkers that are feeding off of your positive energy and your department has been more productive this past year than it has in the last three years.

Parts or all of this story you just imagined could be you. What’s the one simple action you can take to make this happen? Start working with a health coach.

“But Melissa, what exactly is a health coach?” Well, I’m so glad you asked! A health coach is a behavior change specialist who teaches you how to create healthier habits that are sustainable to help you become the healthiest version of yourself for life. When we carve out time to invest in our physical and mental health everything else in our life seems to fall into place more easily.

Along with being a behavior change specialist, a health coach is usually an expert in one or more areas of health. For example, I specialize in helping women with anxiety and depression design their life by creating healthy habits that give them more mental clarity, more energy, and more control over their physical and mental health. One health coach I know works primarily with corporate men to help them lose fat. Another one helps women with endometriosis. There’s so many health issues that we struggle with as a society so it’s super important that we have experts in all different areas.

How do you choose the right health coach for you?

Health coaching is a very personal investment so it’s super important to find a coach that’s a good fit for you. Here are five area I recommend exploring when considering investing in a health coach.

Personality

In my opinion, first and foremost should be personality. The relationship between a coach and a client is a neutral one. This means both the coach and the client are on even playing field. Even though I’m viewed as the expert, it’s not my job to tell you what to do. My job is to listen to your wants and needs and then ask questions to help you find the solutions within yourself that work best for you. After all, you are the expert in your own life.

This is why it’s super important to find a coach that you mesh well with. You want to feel some level of comfort being open, honest, and transparent with them. The more open and honest you are with your coach the better they can help you.

If you want a coach who will be a drill sergeant, go find one that will be firm with you. This is not my personality style. I will be direct and honest with you at all times. I wll always share my thoughts with you along with compassion. I will encourage you to always stretch yourself but never push you too far out of your comfort zone.

We all go at our own pace on our health journey. I will always be your cheerleader even when you have setbacks. In fact, if you have setbacks I believe in celebrating them. Setbacks are always a learning experience and an opportunity for growth so I view these as a positive.

Values

When I’m looking for a coach in any area of my life, I want someone who shares similar values I do. For example, when I was looking for a business coach, I wanted one that made healthy lifestyle choices a priority. If my coach prioritized eating whole food and exercising, I knew she would be able to teach me how to run a successful business while still putting my health and wellness first.

I also look for someone who values family time as well. In our home, we make spending quality time together a priority. It is an area in our life my husband and I both agreed from the beginning of our relationship was a non-negotiable. We really value all the time we spend together as a couple from our date nights to our weekend get aways. I want coaches in my life who encourage quality family time together and carving out time to relax and rest.

Gender

It was also important to me that I invest in a female business coach. I know there are several very successful and fully qualified male businesses coaches out there but they don’t understand what it’s like being a woman.

I was just watching a video the other day with my business coach talking about getting help not just in your business but in your home as well. This is something I struggle with every day. I feel like I need to do every thing myself at home including cooking and cleaning. When I allow myself to get carried away with laundry, dishes, cooking, grocery shopping and all the other tasks needed to keep a household running smoothly, I neglect not only my business but myself as well.

Since this is very common struggle for women, I knew if I hired a female business coach she would give me tips on how to delegate household tasks and encourage me to do so.

Financial Investment

One thing I learned from experience in my twenties is that financially investing myself is priceless. Yes, there is an actual dollar amount on coaching programs whether they are online, in a group setting, or one-on-one. However, if you actually apply the principles that you learn to your life and you experience amazing results such as more energy, better relationships, or getting off medication, it’s hard to put a price on that.

With that being said, I highly encourage you to look at your finances and plan a head whenever possible. When I invested in myself in my early twenties I wasn’t making much money and I was terrible at saving money so I invested in books and trainings that were within my budget. Sometimes an investment was just barely within my means which meant that it was stretch for me. I know when something is a stretch for me I’m much more likely to commit and follow through with it.

These days I’m so much better at saving money! I’m so grateful that I did what I needed to do to get in the habit of transferring money into my savings account with each paycheck. Now I have money in the bank and a portion of it is set aside for coaching programs I want to invest in now and in the future.

One-on-One or Group Coaching

I’ve worked with clients both one-on-one and in a group setting. In my opinion, both are beneficial and effective if you do the work. However, what I’ve found is that most people benefit more from one-on-one coaching.

During one-on-one coaching sessions, you can dive deeper into your personal challenges. What I love most about one-on-one coaching is watching my clients have “aha” moments. These are the moments when they suddenly become aware of why a certain habit they’re doing is no longer supporting them on their health journey.

I had a client last summer who had a great “aha” moment during a one-on-one coaching session. He was experimenting with a keto eating style and had a hard time getting away from bread. During one of our coaching sessions, he realized that he didn’t even enjoy eating bread. When he was growing up, his mom always served bread with meals and he naturally continued this habit as an adult. After this realization, eliminating bread was easy.

Group coaching is a great option for people who thrive in an environment with people who are on a similar health journey. Knowing that other people are also having challenges finding time to exercise and cook healthy meals lets people know they are not alone. So many other people have the same challenges. In a group, we can all support each other by sharing ideas and inspiration with one another. Accountability is an important component of being part of a group.

I encourage you to take these into consideration while carefully choosing a health coach to work with. Most coaches (myself included) offer a free discovery call to give you the opportunity to ask questions about their programs and how they work as a coach. I highly recommend doing this with any coach you think might be a good fit for you.

I know from personal experience, as a potential client myself, these phone calls are incredibly valuable. When I was looking for a life coach last year I got on a discovery call and learned about another program this coach offered that was a much better fit for me than one-on-one coaching. I’m so grateful I took 20 minutes out of my day to connect with a coach to learn about which program was best for me.

I invite you to schedule a free discovery call with me here. I’ll answer any questions you have about my programs, the coaching process, or my experience as a coach and personal trainer. I will always be honest and transparent with you during these calls so you can make an informed decision.

I look forward to chatting with you!