Changes are afoot

I'm adding amazing new value to my online nutrition coaching.

It's a bit subtle so I thought it would be good to break it down here.

Reflecting upon improving my coaching practice.

I've been working for a while with people who want to focus solely, or principally on their diet and lifestyle, rather than the "traditional" exercise focused Personal Training.

As with all my work I have been considering how I can do this better. Deliver a better service, be more efficient, get better results etc. This is what I found....

I really enjoy working with individuals, talking them through the issues they are encountering and helping them to see their way past their personal roadblocks.

Checking in and regular accountability is great. While many exercise based clients find between-session check ins unnecessary, nutrition clients tend to need consistent support and more frequent reminders.

While I am great at the theory stuff, and always a teacher at heart, I am not sure that going over the basics with every single client, is the best use of their precious one to one time.

I've built a library of resources to pass on, but appropriately concise information at client level (rather than trainer level) without "bro science" is constantly on my "hunt" list.

I enjoy a habit based coaching approach, and it pays off for the people I'm working with, which is great. Certifying with Precision Nutrition has really helped me refine that and I love the PN coaching process.

Keeping up lines of communication with clients can be tricky. Trying to keep track of emails as they descend my inbox, remembering who I need to contact when I've seen their message on the go.

In fact I'm juggling sign up forms, progress, initial reports and workouts over a number of platforms. It's manageable, but it could be better.

Working with clients from week to week, deciding which habit might work best next is flexible, but a long term, progressive plan works better. Taking on short term clients means they need to see results fast, but fast results aren't always the best results.

The next step

So I had the opportunity to start working with Precision Nutrition's own coaching tool, Procoach.

I'm going to spare you the nerdy details, but the system is amazing, and this is why:

As my client, you have me as your coach. I tailor your programme, I check in with you, I keep you on track, talk you off ledges and out of late night cake binges, just as before.

But you also get the PN team. Nutrition Legends, Dr John Beradi and Krista Scott-Dixon, leading short, online videos and tasks that support my coaching process. That means you can find out the whys and hows of the coaching programme from them, then spend your time with me clearing up the questions and talking about YOU and YOUR PROCESS.

It's PN's brains, and my heart.

You check in every day, and I can see when you have checked in, what tasks you have done and generally how you are getting on. Every day. You can also message me, and I you, within the system, where lasting records of our messages, plans, goals, tracking data etc are stored for both of us.

The Procoach curriculum lasts up to 12 months. It takes you systematically through all the skills and strategies you need to implement sustainable healthy eating and a great relationship with your food and your body's needs. Just the same as before, I can adjust it to suit your needs, preferences and current skillset, but as we are committed from start to finish you are guaranteed amazing results. And I know that because PN has been using this same programme to coach tens of thousands of successful clients.

I've already started filling my client slots on this programme, and it's looking great so far. If you want to join me, then head on over to my website and get yourself signed up while I still have space.

Want a sneak peek?

I'm also offering this bundle of resources at the moment, they give you an idea of how my coaching methods work, and why it's a bit different to the calorie counting, quick fix, fad diets out there.

Click here and you can get some super useful graphics.

I'm really excited to be going forward with this, I can already see that it's going to add great value to my clients' coaching experience.

And a bigger peek?

Here's a little video that shows you how it works.

Comments

Step away from the scale. Why weigh ins and weight loss don't match.

I have a persistant bugbear when it comes to health coaching, and it's this issue of "weight". People are often talking about "losing weight", the number on the scale becomes a focus. "If only I could just get under 65kg" they say. Or worse I see advertised "buy this supplement and you can lose 20kg in a fortnight". I've found myself frequently sitting with a weight-focussed client and asking "if you were 2 dress sizes smaller, fit and toned, but you weighed the same as you do now, could you be happy with that?" You might be surprised how challenging a question that can be. For many people, particularly those who have struggled with weight loss, that number is the absolute key. They can wake up, feeling energised and full of life, slip into those jeans that used to live hopefully in the bottom of the drawer, check themselves in the mirror and love what they see... then they step on the scales, see the number is half a kilo

Managing Fibromyalgia flares

I've written before about living with EDS and Fibromyalgia , much of my personal fitness and health practices are geared around managing those conditions and keeping me as well as I can be. When managing a chronic health condition, particularly one that involves fatigue and potential flare ups, pacing, good nutrition, good sleep and generally taking care of yourself is always the first priority. Ideally we want to have as few flares as possible. But sometimes they still happen, and when they do, it's good to have a strategy in place. And I'm going to be talking in fairly general terms, because while EDS and Fibro are my personal experience, there is so little understanding of the mechanisms behind these conditions, that most strategies are going to be applicable to a number of conditions where crashes of exhaustion and pain are a feature. So what is a flare? A flare is a period where someone with chronic illness suffers increased symptoms for a short while. The

What's the deal with yoga and hypermobility?

I wanted to address a question today that keeps coming up on various hypermobility and EDS forums that I frequent. It comes up so often in fact that I feel like I have to write this all up in one place, to save me 1000s of key strokes of individual responses and distil some of my opinions and thought processes on the matter. It always goes like this. Someone asks a question like "I've just been diagnosed with hypermobility, I've been told I can't do yoga anymore..." The responses are always a mixture of "yes, my doctor/physio told me yoga was the worst thing I could do for my hypermobility" and "I do yoga and it's been the best thing for my hypermobility". So what gives? Well, I'm firmly in the "yoga is useful" camp, and I have to disclose that. I'm a yoga practitioner of around 20 years and a perinatal yoga teacher , as well as a personal trainer and bendy person. While I have the deepest respect for the medic

Is being polite sabotaging your weight loss?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the barriers that make it hard for people to stick to healthy habits, or even take them up in the first place. My personal training clients are a lovely bunch, and one thing I can certainly say is that none of them have come to me completely uninformed about healthy eating. Most people have done some homework before they get to the point of hiring me, and while I always go over the basics (never assume anything) I know that when I tell them stuff like this, it's not new information to them: Eat less to lose weight Eat protein with every meal Eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day Consume high sugar and fat treats rarely and in moderate portions Drink water with every meal or snack Exercise regularly That's not rocket science, so why are so many people still struggling with it? Is it because "the rules" are more complicated? Are they missing the "weird trick" (spoiler alert, there are no weird tricks

My top apps for supporting a healthy lifestyle.

The hardest part of making healthy choices and lifestyle changes is making it a habit. It's easy to make a decision to "eat better", "exercise more" or whatever your current plan is. It's a lot harder to stick to it on the rough days, for long enough that it becomes a habit and part of your life that you can't imagine being without. I love a bit of tech. I am a super geeky science nerd and finding ways to use technology to support my health and fitness makes me very happy. So with this in mind I thought I'd give a quick run down of my favourite smartphone apps for developing and maintaining healthy habits. Habitica I'm starting with this one because it's mad and I love it. Habitica is basically a to-do list app, but it's specially for the gamers among us. If you are familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, and all the games that grew out of that system and fantasy world, you will recognise Habitica. The app allows you to create 3 t

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