Health Coaching – The Key to Replacing Bad Habits With Good

Physical health and fitness, above all other things, is something that most people take for granted - until, of course, they no longer have it. Despite being surrounded with examples of how poor nutrition, lack of exercise, damaging lifestyle habits and choices and stress have impacted on the physical and mental well-being of others, until they actually experience these things themselves, most people simply continue with their same old habits as though they are somehow impervious to suffering the same fate. Even with the very best of intentions though, replacing a less healthy way of life for one which optimizes fitness and energy levels can be extremely hard if we feel that we are “going it alone,” which is why health coaching can be so valuable in terms of getting us on track. With a health coach to act as a guide and a champion, it becomes easier to find the necessary levels of motivation to achieve both shorter and longer-term health and fitness goals.

One of the greatest problems that many people experience in relation to improving overall health and fitness or addressing particular health concerns is that the goals they set for themselves are unrealistic. Working to achieve the impossible, however, can only result in disappointment and, with that, a return to old habits. Working alongside a health coach though, it becomes possible to identify clear and achievable objectives and acquire the tools to bring about a vastly improved quality of life.

Another considerable issue for those who wish to improve their overall levels of health and fitness revolves around the fact that most of the advice and guidance which is available is generic. Every single person though, is unique in terms of their starting points, their situations and circumstances and the things that they hope to achieve, which means that only a tailored approach to making constructive change is likely to be motivational and successful. Health coaching, because it doesn’t take a “one size fits all” approach, provides a sense of being intimately involved in the process of improving health and fitness to meet a highly individualized set of needs and to fit in with a unique lifestyle.

Health coaching is something different to receiving the services of a personal trainer. In an online coaching environment, naturally it is impossible for the coach to stand over his or her client urging just one more sit-up or yet another set of barbell lifts. Instead, health coaches help their clients to truly understand what they want to achieve and how to draw on their own inner motivation to achieve their goals. After all, doing something because we want to and creating change from the inside will always have much longer-lasting effects than doing it because we are told to. When we ourselves provide the reason to make constructive change, when we are self-motivated and when we are given the tools and the support to make changes which are directly relevant to our own lives, maintaining levels of determination and motivation is much easier.

by Julie-Ann Amos, professional writer, and owner of international writing agency www.ExquisiteWriting.com

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