Should you work with a health coach?

I am a person who views life as a journey of self-discovery, continual learning and ongoing self-improvement. As a result, over the years, I’ve worked with multiple therapists, life coaches, personal trainers and other self-help gurus.

I’ve written before about how much I love life coaching – and that it’s actually an aspiration of mine to one day become certified as a life coach and start my own practice.

This spring, I reconnected with a friend of mine, Colette from Be Well Health Coaching, who is now a certified Functional Medicine Health Coach. After hearing all about her new endeavor, I got super excited about giving health coaching a try.

Since Colette was interested in hiring me for some digital marketing consulting, we agreed that we would work together for a few months so I can see what this type of health coaching is all about and she can get some tips and tricks for her social media and blog. It’s been a total win-win!

We are now several video calls along on our journey together and I feel great. I love and look forward to our health coaching sessions. Colette describes her role as that of a “flashlight” – she helps shed light on things that her clients may already know on some level, but aren’t yet acting on. It’s really working for me!

I’ve always been a health and fitness extremist: I’m either doing ALL the things for my health (which I call “on program” or “on the wagon”), or completely letting myself go and doing nothing (which I call “off program” or “off the wagon”). I’ve basically been off the wagon since right around the time Coronavirus hit in March – or maybe even a little before then.

Pretty much all year, against my better judgement and what I know about how to feel my best, I’ve been letting myself eat whatever I want – including tons of junk and sweets. I’ve also let myself sleep in or watch TV instead of working out or doing yoga in the mornings. In fact, I’ve not been doing much at all for myself physically, except for riding my bike, going on nature walks/hikes from time to time and the occasional massage or chiropractic visit.

All of this neglect of my physical self had me feeling pretty crummy, if I’m being honest – but I was able to get some clarity once I started talking with Colette. She really helped me get focused about my health goals and let go of some of my frustration with my seeming inability to get back on track and quit being so lazy with my program.

Colette got me to stop beating myself up with guilt. She let me know that her role was to help me close the gap between where I am now and where I want to be. We talked about figuring out the “WHY” behind my behavior – and she never said anything I was doing (or not doing) was bad or wrong. Just that she wanted to help me reach my goals.

Colette uses positive psychology, affirmations and concrete action steps in her coaching. (Even if you are only 5% ready, she can help you get to your goal whether it is to lose weight, cope with stress and anxiety, or manage a health condition.)

Talking with her always leaves me feeling great and motivated, and I leave our calls with actionable “homework” I can work on between our sessions to keep the momentum going. (And if I don’t do my homework, she never yells at me – she always keeps it positive!)

Some of my action steps have been to make a sign for my candy shelf (the place I typically hoard a stash of candy, aka “Mommy’s Little Helper” for when times get tough); to journal weekly about my health goals and the steps I can take to reach them; and to create a Well Life Vision with all of my health and fitness goals in one place so I have a visual reminder to stay on track.

Am I perfect in my eating and workouts since working with Colette? No, of course not – no one is perfect. But I am certainly more mindful and thoughtful about how I’m taking care of myself and what I put into my body. And, for the first time all year, my candy shelf is empty and I’m finding more productive and healthful ways to give myself a little boost when I need it.

In addition, I’m getting more curious (and journaling more) about WHY I sometimes blow off my health and fitness efforts for long periods of time, when I know that only makes it harder to get back on track with healthier habits.

Just as I love receiving energy work to clear my spirit and help me be my best self, so too do my health coaching sessions with Colette help me to manifest my healthiest, most well and best physical self. Our coaching sessions have been a fabulous form of self-care over the past couple months and I highly recommend Colette’s Functional Medicine Health Coaching for anyone who wants to get more in touch with their healthiest and most well self, too.

Have you seen a Functional Medicine doctor or worked with a Functional Medicine health coach before? As always, I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below or over on Facebook.

Disclaimer: this is the first in a series of blog posts I’ll do about working with a Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach. Part of this disclaimer is that the health coach happens to be a friend of mine. The other part of the disclaimer is that we are working together in a trade/barter situation so although no money is actually changing hands at this time, I do consider this a sponsored post. That said, my review is as honest and heartfelt as all my posts are – and I would absolutely pay for her coaching services, as they are excellent!