Fed Up of Fad Diets? Discover the Benefits of a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach for Long Lasting Health Changes
@helloimnik
Are you fed up with fad diets that promise quick results but eventually leave you back where you started? Confused by the overwhelming and often contradictory nutrition information online? If you're looking to lose weight and improve your health in a sustainable way, working with a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach could be exactly what you need. In this blog post I’m going to explain exactly why.
Break Free from Restrictive Diets and Discover Lasting Change
If you're stuck in a cycle of restrictive eating or tired of diets that don’t work, it’s time for a different approach. Unlike traditional diet plans, nutrition and lifestyle coaching focuses on creating long-term, sustainable habits that are completely personalised to your unique lifestyle and health goals. You won’t find anything off the shelf or pre-packaged here!
What Is a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach?
If you’re looking to create healthier habits, improve your nutrition or lose weight in a way that will last, keep reading, because they can offer all of that and much more. Creating new habits and changing our lifestyle, even when we know it’s going to make us feel so much better? It’s really hard. Having someone to support you, encourage you and be your personal cheerleader throughout your the journey? It’s not just helpful, it can change everything. It may be unexpected, but often it’s exactly what you need - we also help you to start to believe in yourself, create strong boundaries, prioritise the things you need to do to make you feel better and learn to put yourself first without feeling guilty. So, of course, we will talk about food, but we’ll also talk about so much more. This is why the work we do together will last so much longer than any quick fix or fad diet.
Five Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach Red Flags
If this sounds like exactly what you need, but you’re not sure how to choose the right Nutrition Coach for you, this will help you when making up your mind. Here are five things your Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach should never do:
1. Make False Promises
Effective weight loss and lifestyle changes require effort from both you and your coach. If a coach guarantees quick results without acknowledging the hard work involved, it’s a huge red flag. Real transformation takes time, but with the right support and consistent action, you’ll get there. Working with a coach can be life changing, but, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy and it doesn’t mean you’ll see drastic changes. To make lasting change you need to be ready to make changes and do things differently. That will probably mean stepping out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. This is how we learn, grow and develop. Your coach will have your back and guide you through the process, but the real work needs to come from you.
2. Offer a One-Size-Fits-All Meal Plan
You’re unique. It’s what makes you interesting. It’s also why your nutrition coach should provide fully personalised advice that fits your unique needs and lifestyle. Whether you benefit from more protein, healthy fats, or balanced macros, your plan should reflect you. A Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach can’t know for definite what dietary approach is best for you until they get to know you. Some people lose weight quickly when they add more protein to their diet and others notice a difference when they eat more healthy fats. Your uniqueness is why a good coach won’t talk to you in absolutes or make promises they can’t keep. What they will do is create a realistic and fully personalised plan. If you try something and it doesn’t work? Great, we know what doesn’t work. Chalk it down to experience and keep going until we find what works for you.
3. Blame You for Setbacks
Life happens! A good coach helps you overcome challenges and adjust your plan, instead of blaming you. When things don’t go to plan, they’ll help you to deal with problems so they’re just a little bump in the road and don’t derail your progress. If something hasn’t worked out? Maybe chose the wrong plan, your actions weren’t specific enough or it’s time to re-evaluate your goals. If your coach blames you when things go wrong it’ll create a feeling of fear, preventing you from being open and honest to avoid criticism. Make sure your coach is able to challenge you though. There’s a fine line between support and collusion, where they just let you off the hook and prevent you from making meaningful progress.
4. Dominate the Conversation
Your coach should listen more than they talk. Real transformation happens when you’re guided to discover your own strengths and areas for improvement. Your nutrition coach should ask the right questions and listen carefully to help you realise your full potential. Of course, they need to explain the findings of your dietary analysis and will be able to educate you on nutrition, but real coaching involves long term change. It involves changing your mindset. Often when we need to make huge changes in our lives we already have everything we need inside of us. A good coach will listen, ask the right questions and help you to realise the next steps-remember you know yourself better than anyone. This approach can lead to true lightbulb moments. You’ll figure out where you’ve been getting in your own way, then you’ll work with your coach to get you to where you want to be.
5. Focus Only on the Outcome
Health is a journey, not just a destination. Of course, you will have a goal in mind when you start coaching. Let’s say that goal is weight loss. You could do a 30-day juice cleanse and lose a lot of weight very quickly. So you’ve achieved your goal, but what about your confidence, energy levels and knowledge of how to eat healthily? Without these things, it’s likely that you fall back into bad habits and put all the weight you’ve lost back on once the cleanse has finished. A good nutrition coach can help you to build a healthier lifestyle by educating you on nutrition, sleep, stress management, and more. It’s much more than just being handed bucket loads of information though. You’ll work together to create realistic action plans, identify potential barriers and discuss strategies to overcome these when they arise. My clients have found this one of the most powerful step in their health journey. When they start to focus on the way they feel, how much more energy they have and how they are finally managing their stress and getting a good night’s sleep instead of a number on the scale they know that everything has changed. This approach takes longer, but it also lasts a lot longer.
Bonus Tip: Choose a Coach You Can Connect With
Working with a coach should be enjoyable! Find someone you feel comfortable with, is approachable, and understands that improving your health can (and, in my opinion, should) include having fun. Many coaches offer free consultations—take advantage of this to find the right fit. This is a personal preference, but I would be dubious of anyone who doesn’t love chocolate and wine. That doesn’t mean that they have to be eating or drinking those things all the time, but working with someone real is going to make it a lot easier to open up and talk about those bad days that we all have. Does your Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach never seem to let their hair down? Enjoying your food, doing exercise that makes you feel good, learning to love your life, that’s what it takes to create sustainable change. Before you start working with a coach make sure to spend some time connecting with them. Most coaches (including me) offer a free introductory call. Make the most of this and don’t feel pressured into working with anyone you don’t feel a genuine connection with.
Why Choose a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach?
If you’re ready to make lasting changes, a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach can help you transform your health and reach your weight loss goals. Whether it’s through meal planning, mindset coaching, or creating a plan to tackle those obstacles you know are going to hold you back but keep tripping you up, this holistic approach offers everything you need for lasting success.
Want to learn more about how a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach can help you? Visit my website at www.catherinedeancoaching.com or find qualified health coaches at www.ukihca.com (UK & International Health Coaches Association)
What health changes are you currently trying to make? Let us know in the comments so I can cheer you on!