Since starting my business, I’ve promised to keep it real. Health related content tends to lean idealistic. I mean, I’m a dang Health Coach and I find myself rolling my eyes at 90% of the articles and blog posts out there. One of the reasons (and perhaps THE main reason) so many people give up on behavior change is because they feel like it requires drastic habit transformation. When the Health Coach you’re following on Instagram is only posting pics of being in the gym and eating lean protein and veggies, well – it feels entirely out of reach for most of us. I’m here to say you can make progress (and sustain that progress) without giving up bread or Hazy IPA’s forever. To be fair, if your goal is to be fitness competition … [Read more...] about Behavior Change Doesn’t Have to Suck
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Messing Up is Part of the Process
About 10 years ago, I enrolled in a Weight Loss Coaching Certification program. I was already certified as a Health Coach with ACE, but that program didn’t teach about the mindset of weight loss. The new program was ALL about mindset. During my certification, I was asked to assess any overeating I did. What did I overeat? What were my sabotaging thoughts? But, I DID NOT DO IT. Why? Because I was beating myself up for not being perfect instead. I was too busy swimming in shame + comparison + judgement. How can a Health Coach possibly make mistakes?I’m supposed to be the example.Who would hire a coach that overate sometimes (or GASP, gained weight)? I tried SO HARD to do it all perfectly so I wouldn’t have to feel the … [Read more...] about Messing Up is Part of the Process
I Gained Weight
I gained a few pounds this year. And this was the BEST GIFT for so many reasons. I lost my weight 20 years ago. About 50 pounds. And since then, I’ve kept within my healthy range. But I recently crept into a place where I just didn’t feel good in my body. The last few months have been a bit rough. My father in law died in December + my Dad died three weeks later + COVID. Note: This is not a plea for sympathy. Life is just hard sometimes. And when shit gets hard, my husband bakes bread like he is feeding an army. FOR REAL. Over the past few months, I was eating too much fresh bread + drinking too many gin and tonics + generally snacking more frequently than usual. This is probably a good time to share a … [Read more...] about I Gained Weight
Eliminating Triggers
The path to changing our behavior has very little to do with resolve. We achieve control, not through willpower but by finding ways to take willpower entirely out of the equation. The central force for eliminating bad habits, according to social psychologist Wendy Wood, author of “Good Habits, Bad Habits,” is friction. In other words, making bad habits inconvenient. She cites the ways in which increased friction has produced a decline in smoking: laws that ban it in restaurants, bars, airplanes, and trains; taxes that have helped triple the price of cigarettes in the U.S. in the past twenty years; the purge of cigarettes from vending machines, and of tobacco ads from TV and the radio. We can apply the same concept to eating … [Read more...] about Eliminating Triggers