What Does Working With A Health Coach Look Like?
WHEW…After coming back from Nantucket over a week ago, I have had some time to reflect, get back into my routine, and take time to process what I wanted to say in today’s post. I promised that I was going to share more about “The FINAL Chapter” and I think starting with my Coach is the perfect segue as I tackle all these topics with my journey, so let’s do this!
Before I dive into what it looks like working with Elizabeth, let me introduce y’all to her! She is a badass as an athlete, a Coach, a friend, and as a person. She LOVES big. She is selfless. She is strong, beautiful inside and out, real, raw, and honest. She inspires me in so many ways and has helped me heal and continues to help me heal from my eating disorder, but she has also helped me in so many other ways. I cannot say enough about this beautiful human. I am just grateful that our paths have crossed and I am able to call her my COACH and my FRIEND.
“Where to begin… For half my life, the relationship with my body was one of love, appreciation and grace. I was an athlete, my body allowed me to do the things I loved and it showed up consistently to get the work done. I was lucky in that I didn’t grow up in an environment that promoted unhealthy body image or worshiped “diet culture”. Meals were happy, social, nourishing times. My parents did an amazing job in praising and never critiquing my body. To some extent, I didn’t think twice about it.
After college that self-love changed. I grew critical, compared myself with others and went down a dark path of disordered eating. It took years (and a lot of loving support and therapy) to navigate a way out. When I work with athletes today, I have the unique experience and empathy to understand the inner conflict and war they often feel with their bodies. I believe it’s important to educate athletes about proper nutrition but more importantly to help them change their relationship with food. Life is much too short to be miserable and uncomfortable in your own skin.
I am a scientist by trade, a teacher by design and a therapist (unofficial) by necessity. I believe health begins and ends with the food we put into our bodies. What you needs changes with different stages and different activities and it’s my job to help guide athletes through that.”
And she has ALSO started an app too…so check this out…
FUELIN APP - A Performance Game Changer!
It removes the guesswork and helps athletes know exactly how to fuel to perform their best in sports and life. A simple to follow traffic light system guides athletes on their nutrition before, during and after training sessions. Under the guidance of a highly qualified coach, the app delivers practical fueling guidance on when, how much and what type of nutrition to consume for optimized performance and health.
Now that y’all have met Elizabeth, let’s dive into what our work together looks like…
WEEKLY CALLS
Elizabeth and I talk once a week for 30 minutes. Typically on Friday or the weekend, I will email her what my next week of workouts will look like, what my goals are, thoughts, struggles, or just typically anything that is on my mind regarding food, life, and relationships. Because let’s be real, an eating disorder is not just about the food, it can be about so much more. It’s why it’s such a mind fuck!
I am VERY open and honest this time around with her and there is NO FILTER. Plus, I find it very helpful to write all of it out, before our conversations, because it allows me to process all the things. She will respond before our call on Monday to then give me an outline of what I need to work on, my macros, and how to handle my thoughts and struggles. Our communication via emails is really good and I always feel ready and look forward to our calls. It sets us BOTH up for success!
Once I am on that call, it is GO time! The minutes fly by and I feel like we could talk to hours, but somehow we cover it all. We have gotten into a really good flow, which makes me feel good, and know that the work is working!
TEXT MESSAGE AND EMAIL CHECK INS
Like I said above, I share a lot of my thoughts in my emails.
For example…
There was one day on Nantucket that was just horrible…My mind was consumed with negative thoughts, anxiety, food, working out, I felt helpless and sad and was confused as to what was happening, so I wrote it out to Elizabeth. It was a total “brain dump”.This was one of the most powerful AH HA, fuck you, I can do this, inspiring, motivation responses from Elizabeth that made me take a deep breath, and tell myself that “I CAN DO HARD THINGS”!
“Let's talk about ED... the monster that loves to ruin happy moments and finds a way to sneak back in whenever we begin to release him. ED likes control, ED likes weakness, ED likes very close and constant contact... without it, he can't survive. ED knows that when you are in an environment that will foster growth and self-love and stability; your reliance on him shrinks. ED knows that if you can create enough distance between the two of you... that you might just learn how capable you are of getting rid of his ass. So naturally, when you're in this wonderful place and stepping outside your comfort zone and growing in ways you need; the thoughts and daemons come back stronger.The grasp gets tighter and the light gets darker.”
Elizabeth nailed it and I think about her response a lot and will reread it, if I can feel the negative thoughts trying to come back. These words will stay with me for a while in a very meaningful and positive way!
As far as text messages, Elizabeth and I have set up some helpful boundaries, because texting can be overwhelming, non-stop, and just too much for both of us, so we want to make sure that we are on the same page when it comes to sending a text. I respect her, her life, and her time, so having those boundaries doesn’t offend me at all. We are in a good place with them.
Most text messages include food photos, workout photos, social scenes, uplifting quotes, and small and big accomplishments throughout the week. They are fun, real, sometimes hard, but mostly a comfortable fun space that I love and respect with her!
FOOD JOURNALING
Tracking my food isn’t a trigger for me, rather I feel like I am being educated and inspired to eat more and to reach the goals that we have established for me! I use MyFitnessPal and log most of my meals during the week and then on the weekends I don’t do it at all. And if I go out for lunch or dinner during the week I don’t track that either. I don’t want it to control my life, so Elizabeth and I have agreed that this works.
My GOALS right now with food journaling are to make sure I am hitting my protein intake. This has been hard for me and I have been stubborn with trying to make it happen, but with baby steps, stepping out of my comfort zone, and trusting Elizabeth, I am getting there and WILL get there! I have already made such positive progress with adding in more food and I know I have more work to do and more food to eat, but I will get there. (I will talk about food consumption in another post as it is a big topic and big project that we have worked on!)
TRUSTING THE PROCESS
This is the HARDEST part by far…If you know me, I am Type A, control freak, so putting trust into someone else's hands when it comes to food, which I have controlled for years and years, was and still is really hard to let go of. But here I am learning, growing, believing, and trusting the process more than I ever have before. I know I need help and I can’t do it on my own. No matter how many times I thought and tried that I could do it on my own, I never healed, I wasn’t getting better, and if anything it was getting worse.
The difference between this time and the other times that I have “tried” to work with Elizabeth is that this third time, I am truly “trusting the process”...trusting HER…trusting the changes…trusting that there will be ups and downs…trusting that the work WORKS! And here we are one month into it and it is working! How do I know?!?! I am happier…I feel healthier…I am stronger…My body feels better from the inside out…Life just feels GOOD! Am I done doing the work after a month? HELL FREAKING NO! We promised that we HAD to do three months and then from there we would re-evaluate and see what’s next.
It’s a lot…It’s hard…It’s a journey that is not linear, but I am 100% okay with that and I am 100% here for it and to share it. If you are struggling with an eating disorder, have questions, or need help, please do not hesitate to reach out. You are not alone with these struggles. You are worth it and you deserve to get help and feel your best.
xoxo
