As a nutrition coach, I’ve had countless discussions with other fitness/health professionals and clients about what our role is when it comes to ‘coaching’.
Then, a few weeks ago, during a consultation call with a client, we got wrapped up in it again. He felt so strongly about our chat that he asked me to write a blog post on this very important topic. So here’s my take:
A coach’s role is:
To provide you with the road map to get you to your destination. Whether or not you follow that map and get there, is entirely up to you.
To teach you about nutrition so that you can carry that knowledge with you for life and get off the yoyo-dieting-cycle for good. Not to provide you with bullshit restrictive meal plans that expire after 4 weeks #donewithchickenandbroccoli and leave you hanging with no idea what to eat.
To give you strategies to help you balance your life when dieting. So you can eat on the go, meal prep like a boss, and feel cool, calm, and collected with the choices you make.
To call you out on your own bullshit. When you’re making excuses. When we know you can be better. When you’re feeling defeated. We’re there to help you recognize your own darkness, and guide you to the light.
To help you identify issues that may be impacting your success. Like your self-talk, self-worth, self-fulfilling prophecies. To invite you to change those stories. Re-write that narrative that’s on repeat. Show you how your old ways of thinking aren’t serving you and help you replace them with new patterns.
A coach’s role is not:
To follow up with you every day to make sure you’re following the program. Sustainable results are based on your desire to achieve your goals and nothing more. Because lets be honest – I’ve got my own people to nag and harass on the daily – Shout out to you, Markus (aka The Daddy)! And I haven’t got the time, or energy to do it for you too.
To ‘motivate’ you to follow the program. We’re all adults here right? So I’m going to keep it 1000 and say that, no one ‘motivates’ you to go to work every day, pay your bills, or handle your business. Yet you do these things every day. So if you can ‘motivate’ yourself to get to work, you can ‘motivate’ yourself to eat better and achieve your health goals. Because your health is worth WAY MORE than your pay check. Amiright?
To convince you to enlist, keep going, or not quit. Because the truth is, if I have to ‘convince’ you once, I’ll have to convince you every step of the way. And I’m not about that life. I am not an insurance broker – I’m not in the convincing business. I’m a nutritionist – I’m in the abs and shopping for new clothes because your old ones don’t fit business.
So that’s my take.
Ultimately, I believe the role of a coach is not to do anything per se, but instead, to invite you to do something radically different for yourself.
What’s your take?
Shout out to the homie, a run-off-his-ass business man, a devoted father and partner, an incredible client, and a man who is 16lbs down and still going, Shawn aka ‘P’ aka DJ PPlus for the great conversations and the inspiration behind this post.
With love and nut butter,
Lindsey