5 Things a Health Coach Can Do For You

Consider these scenarios:

  1. You love sugar, but you are pre-diabetic. Your doctor told you to eat foods that lower your
    blood sugar, but diabetic diets are not satisfying and you’re angry. It feels impossible to
    manage your blood sugar. You feel trapped in a life or death situation you can’t win.
  2. You know you need to drink more water, but you don’t like the taste and never remember
    anyway. You truly believe hydration is important but if one more person asks “Are you drinking
    enough water?” you might scream. It’s so simple, why is it so hard?
  3. Your blood pressure was high at your last doctor appointment. The doctor is concerned and
    told you to “start by losing 10 pounds.” Your best friend is on the Keto Diet and loves it but
    you’re just not that into bacon. You’ve done Weight Watchers before, and you always gain the
    weight back. You have another friend doing Noom. The truth is, you’re not ready to go on a
    another diet. Just thinking about not eating donuts makes you want a donut. You are frustrated
    and a little angry.
  4. Everyone is talking about intermittent fasting. What is intermittent fasting? Will it help you
    lose weight fast? Is it healthy eating if you’re not eating? Everyone is doing it, should you be
    doing it too?
  5. Ever since the lockdown you have been having a hard time sleeping. You are realizing that
    insomnia is affecting your health and mental health. The stress you feel is starting to catch up
    with you. You’ve tried some things but nothing works. How will you ever manage your stress
    with so much to be stressed about? You feel hopeless.
  6. You want to lose weight but can’t stop night eating. You’ve tried everything and self-loathing
    is setting in. Nothing is working. Is it time for bariatric surgery?
    Can you relate to any of these scenarios? What is the frustrating health situation you are
    facing?

How A Health Coach Can Help

“Excellent coaching is about assisting people in creating and living their best life possible.”
Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC, CWP
Your health goals usually originate from outside advice or an inner desire. Maybe this
instruction came from your doctor in the way of a verbal prescription that sounded like “eat
right and exercise.” Maybe your desire to make a change is personal. Either way, in your head
this instruction for change may sound something like:
“Stop eating sugar.”
“Lose weight.”
“Exercise more.”
“Lower blood pressure.”
“Manage stress better.”


Great! Now what? You may not know where to begin. Maybe you’ve started but it’s not working
and you want to throw in the towel. Crossing the distance between your desire and achieving
your best health outcome seems like an impossible march across painful and unknown terrain.
You know what you want (or need) to do but you don’t know how to do it in a sustainable way.
You feel bad because you know you should do it and you know you can do it but for one
reason or another, you’re not doing it.

This is where a Health Coach comes in.

  1. Normalizing your experience… A Health Coach acknowledges your frustration
    The first thing an excellent Health Coach will do is help you understand that what you are
    experiencing is normal and part of the process. You’re ok, you’re not a failure and you can do
    this. You may not believe it yet, and that is also perfectly normal. An excellent Health Coach
    will stick with you on a road of discovery that will amaze you about yourself and your
    capabilities.
  2. The Best Laid Plans… A Health Coach helps you make plans that work
    The next thing an excellent Health Coach will do is help you make a plan that will work for you.
    It’s ok that what you’ve done in the past hasn’t worked. This is a part of the process and
    actually puts you ahead of the game. A Health Coach helps you formulate a plan that works
    for you personally. Sustainability is key because you and your coach both know that if you
    don’t like what you’re doing… you won’t do it – at least not for long. A Health Coach works with
    you to discover what you will enjoy doing that will help you reach your goal.
  3. You are just the person for the job… A Health Coach helps you discover and use your
    special talents and abilities to achieve your goal(s)
    An excellent Health Coach will show you how to discover the individual skills, talents and
    strengths you have that will help you succeed in reaching your goals. This is one of my favorite
    parts of coaching. I love seeing my clients learn how truly special and capable they are of
    realizing their health desires. Our disappointments and failures can make us feel so bad about
    ourselves that we can get depressed and experience what many of my clients describe as
    “self-loathing.” Focusing in our our positive attributes washes away self loathing and replaces
    it with the strength, inner joy and hope it takes to make goals a reality.
  4. You’ve got a friend in me… A Health Coach is available to help
    Doctors are busy and often can’t talk us through the process of changing our lifestyle from
    unhealthy to healthy. If a doctor tells you to exercise more, they aren’t going to have the time to
    encourage you weekly toward that end. Friends may not understand, or if they do, give advice
    that worked for them, but doesn’t work for you. A Health Coach is support you can access
    regularly to celebrate your successes and listen along the way. A Health Coach understands
    the road blocks you face and helps you adjust to succeed. An excellent Health Coach will help
    you discover your own path to success, examine the positives in your plan and help you
    reasonably adjust when something isn’t working it so that you can get stay the course with joy
    and excitement.
  5. Failure isn’t the F word… A Health Coach helps you overcome obstacles that seem
    immobile
    Sometimes our plans work, and sometimes as good as they sound on paper, they just don’t
    pan out in real life. An excellent Health Coach will help you turn failure around so that you can
    use it to your advantage instead of beating yourself up about it. You and your Health Coach will
    discover positive ways to press past disappointment and nonsuccesses to find new and
    workable workarounds to reach the best future for your health and wellness.
  6. You found yourself a cheerleader … A Health Coach Is your friend in wellness
    An excellent Health Coach will not consider themselves an expert in your life. A Health Coach
    knows that ultimately you are the one who is best suited to decide what works for you and
    what doesn’t work for you. A Health Coach comes alongside you to listen, root for you and
    help you organize a plan that you can follow and enjoy, to reach your health and wellness
    goals.

You can do it. You may not believe that now and that’s ok. There is a path to success for you
that is personalized and powerful. An excellent Health Coach believes this about you, even
before you believe it about yourself. You have what it takes, a Health Coach helps you see it
and achieve it.

Written by Julia Fikse, NBC-HWC
Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach
Mental Health and Emotional Eating Certified Health Coach
Weight Loss Certified Health Coach

For more information on Julia Fikse go to onesteptowellness.com

Need more support or want to say hello? Contact Julia here: https://www.onesteptowellness.com/
contact-us/

Julia Fikse is a Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, specializing in Functional
Medicine, Emotional Eating and Mental Health and Weight Loss. Julia has personally
experienced the frustration of weight gain, weight loss, weight-related health issues, and
emotional eating challenges. Learn more about her journey here: https://
onesteptowellness.com/julias-story/

Julia is a Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach but is not a therapist or a
doctor and this blog cannot and should not in any way replace doctor’s advice.

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