If you are trying to make changes in your food, you’ve got to track what you are eating.  Portions and calories.  Even better your macronutrients. You can then look back at what you ate and make changes to improve your nutrition. 

Often times we overestimate portions and underestimate calories, and that keeps America fat.  Add to those sedentary jobs and lifestyles an overestimation of calories burned with activity; and even if you make minor changes, your lifestyle and activity levels don’t allow you to lose weight.  Setting the right goals is important!  If you need help with your nutritional goals, I’d love to help you 1:1 with health coaching.  Most of you know what you want to do but cannot bridge the gap between you and your knowledge and the healthy eating habits or lifestyle you want to achieve.  Health coaching assists you in adding “boards” to build that bridge from “here” or where you are currently at over the chasm of overwhelm, not knowing where to start or lack of an action plan.  Each person has a unique way of getting to the other side, and that’s where an NBC-HWC comes in, like myself.  Through assessments, conversations and questions, you are given permission to dig into your values, beliefs and priorities and see if they support your goals and dreams.  You will get to the bottom of why you do what you do and address thought patterns and beliefs that do not serve your choice to change.  It’s a journey you take with me, so you have a guide, support and accountability to create an action plan that suits your unique needs.

Let’s evaluate how you have done this week.  Pull out your tracking sheet/device with your information and look at what you ate last week.  Take time to celebrate your wins!  Give yourself a sticker, highlight your goal met days, say out loud – “Great work!  I knew you could do it!  I feel strong and capable!”

Then, I want you to look at what you learned this week… this is the information you will use to TWEAK your goals for the following week,  I have listed sample questions I use with clients in health coaching.  They will help you acknowledge what you learned about yourself and need to focus on in the next week.  By doing this, you keep tweaking and modifying your plan based on the information you learned the week before.  Goals are experiments that need version after version to gain success.  Just because what you tried last week didn’t work, doesn't mean you failed again, the goal just wasn’t quite right. 

Here are examples of what I ask clients who are trying to change their eating habits:

Q: Did you stick with foods you have already tried and liked, or did you try something new? 

Q: Did it help to stay with tried-and-true foods?  If not, what would you be willing to try this week?

Q: Did you add a new recipe this week?  If so, would it be beneficial to add another 1 or 2 recipes for variety this week to build variety?

Q: How many days were you able to eat protein and a complex carbohydrate for the first meal of the day? 

Q: What would help you accomplish your goal this week?  Support? Planning? What could you try this week that you didn’t last week to be more successful?

Now that you’ve celebrated your wins, and learned from last week, tweak your goals for this week so that you can experiment and make this week successful!  

I then will move forward with questions like this in the following sessions:

Do your beliefs/values about food support the changes that you are trying to make?  If you do not value or believe something, it will not happen. 

Explore the why…why do you believe what you do, is it because of your family of origin?  Friend group?  A magazine article or Facebook post?  Where does your information come from that supports why you make the choices that you do? Are these your beliefs and values? What values support this change? What beliefs sabotage your goal?

Q: What did you learn last week to apply for this week?

·       You tried a new food; I will eat it again. I can change up _____ so many ways! (example eggs) or I tried a new food, didn’t like it, I will try ______ this week and not give up!

·       You need to go to grocery shop to get protein rich foods in the house because in a rush you couldn’t eat protein that you didn’t have in the house. I didn’t succeed because I did not shop and have the foods handy.

·       Preparation is key, if I cut it up or prepped it ahead, it was quick and easy OR that I need to prep this week to make it work. I didn’t succeed because I mismanaged my time,

·       You feel full longer, you notice less snacking, didn’t have an after-breakfast sugar crash attack. OR I went back to my old sugary coffee drink and a donut and feel like crap, I feel better when I eat a healthy first meal of the day.

·       Eating protein helps you feel more energetic and focused, more productive, and less fatigued.  OR I noticed when I ate a fast-food supper that I felt sluggish and had heart burn, I need to make some changes for all my meals.

·       You ate 4 of 7 meals with protein but did 5 with a complex carbohydrate.  I was unable to eat the suggested foods every day because I caved to peer pressure on the weekends and ate out. This week I will do better and try: If I look at a menu and am more conscious of my choices, I can make better choices on the weekends next week that fit my plan and desire to improve my health.

·       I don’t really know what a complex carbohydrate is, I better find a few that I can add this week!  Add these to the grocery list. Back and read Janelle’s custom handout with suggestions.

·       I was able to eat some protein, but not the recommended amount, I need to premeasure and plan this week to be more successful.

·       I believe that feeding my body fuel and not a sugary coffee drink will help me stay full until my next meal (sample new belief to add) OR, If I want to be less fatigued, I will stop visiting the break room or vending machine and bring a healthy snack to work, why? Because I want to have more energy and I value my energy over having a candy bar or donut!

 When you are trying to add a new habit, going back, and evaluating what you can celebrate that went well helps increase motivation and remember what you have learned, which is vital to success.  Goals are experiments that you try, then tweak, leaning from what didn’t go as planned, and trying something else.  There is no “I failed” – replace that thought with “I learned…”.   If you need more help with this, I’d love to do some 1:1; health coaching with you!

Okay, tweak those goals and get ready for good, better, best choices this week!  You got this!  And if you “ain’t got this” – I’d love to chat with you about taking that next step with 1:1 health coaching!  Message me for a chat or to find out more about individual health coaching.

Make the rest of your life the best of your life! 

Janelle