Have you ever tried to lose weight, get fit, get healthier?
The fact that you're reading this tells me that "yes," you have tried, in the past, to be healthier, lose weight, and improve your health somehow.
How did it go? I've got a sneaking suspicion that you ultimately weren't successful.
I've had numerous clients come to me and state that they "can't lose weight." And yet, we work together and weight loss happens.
Coaching, indeed ANY kind of coaching, is something that successful people in all fields utilize to level up their game.
Professional athletes. Business owners. Billionaires. You might think it's all about "drive," but that drive didn't get pulled out of a hat by a magician. Pros of all stripes know the value of coaching as a key factor in their success.
Coaching is the key to success in everything.
Think you can do it on your own? I'll repeat my point. No successful individual in any endeavor ever achieved their success on their own.
We all need the help of mentors, coaches, and professionals. Even coaches have coaches.
Nutrition coaching isn't just about getting help to rid yourself of those unwanted pounds. You're creating a new, improved version of YOU. Think about what that improved version should be like and aim for it. Visualize it. Be bold.
That's the key to successful weight loss. You're here to do much more than just lose weight and keep it off: personal development, building healthy habits, stress management, and a sustainable lifestyle are part and parcel of the coaching process.
"What Can a Nutrition Coach and Certified Personal Trainer do for Me?"
Spend 30 minutes on Instagram viewing what many so-called "nutrition and fitness influencers" are posting and you'll see that the space is in such a state of utter confusion that it's no wonder most people feel too paralyzed to act, or follow advice that simply doesn't work in the long-term.
Every food ingredient you've ever heard of is demonized by these "influencers." Milk is bad. Carbs are bad. Fat is bad. Meat is bad. Fiber is bad. Vegetables are bad (yep, that's actually a thing).
You'll see videos of these grifters roaming up and down supermarket aisles, picking up something off the shelf that they don't like and then waving their arms around, veins in their foreheads popping out, shrieking about why one ingredient on the label (that they clearly don't understand) is going to kill you or ruin your life.
Millions of views, millions of likes. And then they'll try to sell you their "special product."
No wonder people give up when it comes to losing weight.
So we have coaching to cut through the BS.
Fact: Only 4% of people who attempt to get fit and stay fit on their own without the guidance of a fitness professional ultimately succeed, while 81% of those who hire a fitness professional succeed in their goals.
There's a pretty good reason why professional athletes don't coach themselves, and this applies to nutrition coaching and personal fitness training too.
"Oh, but I'm not a professional athlete."
Yeah, that's right. You hit the nail on the head. So don't believe that you know more about nutrition than a pro does. The pros use coaches. You should too.
Don't fall victim to the idea that "I know what I need to do, it's just a matter of doing it."
The "it's just a matter of doing it part" is the fly in the ointment. And if you knew what to do and were accountable, you would do it, right?
Here's the thing: Without guidance and accountability, your goals will more often than not remain elusive. Few of us have the raw determination of someone like David Goggins to push through the times when we feel unmotivated, demotivated, or just too overwhelmed.
And besides that, most people walk into a gym not having the slightest idea of where to start. There's a reason that the majority of people with gym memberships spend the lion's share of their time on the elliptical, the bike, the treadmill, or worse, not showing up. They're not sure what to do and the rest of the gym may seem a little too intimidating.
A qualified fitness professional can help you get on track and stay there.
So let's be honest with ourselves.
Enter Online Weight Loss Coaching and Virtual Fitness Training
Online nutrition coaching is a relatively new concept that has gained popularity in recent years. With the development of better technology, it's become easier than ever to access professional coaching services from anywhere you happen to be.
When you're on a mission to lose weight and improve your health, there's no need to walk the path alone. Consider hiring a coach for weight loss - a professional dedicated to helping you clarify the confusion surrounding diet and exercise and navigate a sensible path to a successful outcome.
This post will explore seven compelling reasons why you should seriously consider getting an online health coach to lose weight and never gain it back. Let's dive in.
The Rise of Virtual Coaching
Virtual coaching has emerged as a significant trend not only in the fitness industry, but in all aspects of learning and self-improvement.
Online coaching allows anyone to access professional fitness and nutrition guidance without the geographical limitations of traditional gyms and studios. This democratization of fitness has enabled people in remote or under-served areas to connect with qualified coaches who can develop coaching programs and strategies customized for their unique needs.
You don't need to be living in a big urban center to have access to world-class coaching.
As a coach living in Tokyo, I can tell you that my clients live all over the world - from big cities to small-town USA..
Table of Contents:
7 Benefits of Hiring an Online Weight Loss Coach
1. A Personalized Approach to Nutrition
Food is Personal
Holidays. Vacations. Special occasions. Family dinners. Food preferences. Everyone is different when it comes to food.
A nutrition coach can help you develop a personalized nutrition plan that is based on your specific needs and goals. I can also provide you with guidance on healthy eating habits and help you make better food choices, no matter what their present habits are or level of knowledge about food and nutrition.
People are often surprised to find that many of the beliefs they hold about nutrition, food, and losing weight simply aren't true. The online world often makes this situation worse. There is no limit to the crazy diet recommendations you'll see influencers touting online, as I mentioned in the intro.
As your coach, I can help you understand the role that nutrition, eating habits, and exercise play in forming a healthy lifestyle. Fat loss, weight maintenance, and weight gain are all areas that many people don't actually understand.
Everybody believes they know more than they actually do. As you learn more, you realize how very little you know.
By understanding your obstacles and struggles, I can personalize the process with you, setting you up for long-term success.
Key to the process of sustainable weight loss is learning how to read food labels, understand portion sizes, and make healthier choices when eating out. Weight loss coaching can help you develop a better understanding of nutrition habits and how they can impact your success.
Customized Nutrition Plans
As your coach, I'll work with you and discuss your unique dietary needs, personal goals, and lifestyle factors to design a customized nutrition plan. One of the key benefits of a customized plan is that together, we design it for your specific needs. This is a pretty big deal.
Whether you have certain dietary restrictions due to allergies or health conditions, need to control your intake of certain nutrients, or have specific weight loss or muscle gain goals, a personalized plan addresses these unique specifications. This ensures that you're not just following a generic diet, but a strategy built exclusively for you.
Most of the diet programs you'll find online will send you pre-set menus that you have to try to adapt yourself to. There's very little flexibility. This isn't a good way to develop better nutrition habits.
Being able to eat your favorite foods without feeling guilty is a critical factor in developing a better relationship with food.
This is a far cry from the cookie-cutter approach that most mainstream weight loss programs follow.
There are different ways to approach nutrition plans. As a Precision Nutrition L1 coach, my approach is to guide my clients toward learning to create a sustainable, suitable plan of their own. This is something that most weight loss programs don't do. Most often, nutrition coaches will provide "menus" and in so doing, fail to develop independence for the client, even though clients lose weight in the short-term.
Unfortunately, after the weight target is reached and the weight loss program ceases, the majority of people gradually revert to their old selves, and over the course of a year or more, start gaining weight again and end up back where they started or worse.
This sad fact is backed up by all the research.
And group coaching programs, for most people, don't offer the degree of personalization that one on one coaching sessions can provide. The group milieu could offer support and accountability, but for many people, it could also create more stress, making the process miserable.
We don't want misery. A coaching program should be an enjoyable learning experience. My clients and I look forward to our one-on-one meetings because of the huge insights that we both gain.
Better nutrition, weight loss, and improved health aren't supposed to feel miserable!
A personalized nutrition plan should help you overcome common obstacles that can derail your weight loss efforts and quite literally be a life-changing experience. Your nutrition habits will change, setting you up for long-term success.
For example, if you struggle with emotional eating or have a busy schedule, I'll help you develop strategies to overcome these challenges so that your relationship with food changes forever.
2. Customized Exercise and Strength Programs
A personalized exercise routine or strength program is crucial for achieving specific fitness goals based on a client's strengths, weaknesses, injuries, and age.
What might be a suitable workout plan for a 25-year-old is going to be entirely unsuitable for a 50-year-old.
Canned programming doesn't take into account the kinds of issues that the older trainee might be dealing with. That's where custom workouts and online coaching step in.
Let's talk about this.
Exercise is the Magic Bullet
"Abs are built in the kitchen." "You can't out-train a bad diet."
I'm sure you might have heard these pearls of wisdom, and they are true to a certain extent.
A better version of this saying is "Abs are REVEALED in the kitchen but built in the gym."
Fact: Without exercise, weight loss is MUCH harder. There's no doubt about that. Study after study proves this to be so. People who have a consistent exercise regimen are far less likely to gain weight and backslide, too.
I'll design an exercise or training regimen based on your current fitness level and the kind of physical activities you enjoy. By making your workout sessions enjoyable and progressively challenging, you'll be more motivated to stick to the plan. Working out will become something you look forward to. Looking forward to something instills compliance and sustainability.
Then there's the age issue. If you're 40 or 50 years old and still trying to train like you're 25, it's only a matter of time before you get injured, and getting injured at 55 years old isn't the same as getting injured at 25.
An injury that takes 4 to 6 months healing time at 25 can put a 55 -year-old out of commission for a year.
I take that into account when designing programming for my older clients. And being older myself gives me some insight into those issues that a 24-year-old coach straight out of college might have read about but doesn't truly understand on a visceral level.
If you spend any time at all searching for strength and fitness programming online, you'll soon stumble across all sorts of programs that can be purchased and downloaded via pdf or sometimes delivered to you via email.
While these kinds of cookie-cutter programs have utility and can be effective for people who have the knowledge and skill to adapt them to their needs, that's also the problem: those programs aren't designed for anyone in particular.
Adapting Workouts for Beginners
Beginners need a structured workout plan that introduces them to movements safely. I build workout programs that start with foundational movements and address structural imbalances, gradually increasing intensity as the client's fitness improves.
The goal is to develop habits that encourage consistency and gradual improvement. Movements focus on form, flexibility, and building strength, creating a strong foundation for more advanced workouts in the future.
Contrast that with a typical beginner's self-directed approach: a beginner might see something on Instagram or Tik-Tok, or follow an "influencer" who advises followers to do all kinds of things that may or may not be useful to achieve strength, fitness, and health goals.
There's no clear plan, and without a plan, there's no clear intent.
The result is often mediocre. The story often ends with the trainee quitting. "I have a gym membership but I stopped going." And that's one of the problems with a $20 per month membership at Globo Gym. Your wallet doesn't notice it when you just stop going.
Or even worse, a beginner might try to follow a program intended for an advanced trainee and end up injured. This is not a sustainable way to approach fitness.
Advanced Workouts for Experienced Athletes
Experienced trainees require advanced workouts to challenge their bodies and improve performance. As a coach, I build workouts and strategies that push clients based on their abilities, incorporating more complex and challenging programming. Experienced trainees have a harder time making gains, so those clients require a different approach than beginning trainees.
Once again, cookie-cutter programs don't take this into account. They're made for everybody and nobody.
3. Using Technology to Deliver Training Programs and Nutrition Coaching
I fully embrace technology to enhance my fitness programming and nutrition coaching. One on one coaching sessions are scheduled and conducted via technology like Google Meet. An online program will include video demonstrations, in-app messaging, habit tracking, reminders, and progress tracking. This technology enables me to help my clients stay engaged and motivated.
With my clients, I use state-of-the-art apps like CoachRX from OPEX and Precision Nutrition's ProCoach. These are the best of the best for both my clients and myself as a coach.
Video Demonstrations for Better Form
I use video demonstrations delivered via app to provide a visual guide for movements, ensuring that my clients understand how to achieve the correct form. I use these demonstrations to supplement workout plans and help my clients execute exercises safely.
These videos include detailed breakdowns of exercises, highlighting common mistakes and offering tips for improvement. Clients can refer back to these videos whenever needed, ensuring they maintain proper form.
4. Accessible Anytime, Anywhere
Weight Loss Coaching at Your Fingertips
One of the primary advantages of hiring an online nutrition coach is convenience and flexibility. Guidance and support are just a click away whenever you need assistance. This accessibility empowers you to keep moving forward, regardless of the time or your geographical location.
As I've mentioned, my clients are everywhere. I have a global clientele unrestricted by geography.
This changes everything. It creates a way for you to stay on track, even if you travel often for business or go on vacation. Consistency and compliance go up, healthy habits become real and sustainable, and then you'll lose weight and get fit. That's a big win.
No more excuses. No more "taking a break" from weight loss, only to come back 6 months later after gaining it all back.
Flexible Appointments
Unlike traditional, in-person coaching, online coaching lets you schedule appointments at a time that fits your schedule. No more rushing to meet your coach at inconvenient times; you can now have your sessions when it suits you best, from the comfort of your own home.
Moreover, this flexible scheduling extends beyond the boundaries of traditional business hours. Online weight loss coaching can cater to a variety of lifestyles, including those who work irregular hours, travel frequently, or simply prefer late-night or early-morning sessions.
Time zones and geographic location cease to be an obstacle with virtual coaching. This flexibility helps to ensure that you can maintain consistent progress on your weight loss journey, regardless of how hectic your schedule may be.
3. Accountability and Motivation
Staying on Track
Ask anyone who has tried to lose weight, get fit, follow a typical diet plan, or build healthy habits: Staying motivated and committed can be tough on your own. I hold you accountable, check on your progress, and encourage you when you need it most. This significantly increases your compliance. You'll stick to the plan and reach your goals.
Having a coach track your weight loss progress introduces a vital element of objectivity to your weight loss journey. It's easy to lose sight of your progress or become overly critical of yourself when you can't see your own progress objectively, or hit a plateau.
We are our own worst critics.
I provide a balanced perspective. Weight loss isn't linear, but a series of peaks and valleys. As your coach, I'll help you learn to see the big picture and recognize the small victories along the way, ensuring that you stay motivated and avoid getting discouraged or falling off track.
This objective feedback can be a game-changer in maintaining a long-term commitment to your weight loss goals.
Regular Progress Monitoring and Check-ins
As an online nutrition coach, I provide progress tracking and regular check-ins via in-app messaging and video chat to stay connected. This constant support helps encourage my clients and keeps them accountable, ensuring they stay on track.
As I mentioned, in my own practice, I use two different apps depending on the client and the client's purpose: either OPEX CoachRx or Precision Nutrition ProCoach.
Being responsible for daily check-ins via an app goes a long way toward staying accountable.
In addition to boosting motivation, regular progress monitoring ensures that your weight loss plan remains adaptable. Over time, your body will begin to respond differently to certain diet or exercise routines, Your body changes, and we monitor those changes together and make adjustments accordingly.
We can track progress including body measurements, weight, body fat percentage, and even fitness tests to measure strength and endurance improvements. This data-driven approach helps coaches like myself fine-tune workout plans and meal plans to maximize your results and keep you progressing toward your goals.
4. Expert Knowledge and Support
Science-Based Advice
All qualified, competent weight loss coaches and trainers bring a wealth of knowledge about nutrition, exercise, and health to the table. We can offer science-based advice and debunk any weight loss myths you might come across.
My expertise ensures you're getting the most effective, safe, and sustainable approaches to weight loss.
Additionally, a coach's science-based advice goes beyond just providing facts about nutrition and exercise. Your coach can help you understand the underlying principles and mechanisms of how your body works in relation to weight loss and explain how specific nutrients affect your body, how different exercises impact your metabolism, and how your lifestyle and habits can influence your weight loss.
This deeper understanding of exercise science empowers you to make more informed decisions about your health and well-being, far beyond the duration of your coaching program.
The weight loss coaching process leaves you with an incredible amount of power and control.
That's something you won't develop when you buy a subscription to weight loss programs that deliver monthly boxes of meal replacements and supplements. Those companies create permanent dependency. Who wants to spend 6 grand a year for monthly deliveries of meal replacements that are little more than enriched skim milk powder?
Avoiding Fad Diets
Fad diets often promise quick results but can lead to unsustainable habits and health risks. I steer clients away from these pitfalls by offering realistic and science-backed dietary and habit guidance that promotes overall health.
In contrast to fad diets, which often require extreme caloric restrictions or eliminate entire food groups, my balanced approach, based on Precision Nutrition's proven methodology, focuses on building awareness so that my clients can move toward balanced nutrition and better habits.
This approach produces long-term success and a healthier relationship with food, avoiding the pitfalls of yo-yo dieting.
Furthermore, this evidence-based and data-driven approach is vital in an era where misleading information and fad diets are rampant on the internet. I'll help you sift through the clutter and help you separate fact from fiction.
Expert Guidance, Emotional and Psychological Support
Beyond physical health, an online nutrition coach can provide emotional and psychological support. Weight loss is not just about diet, exercise and calorie counting; it's more about mindset. A good coach will help you overcome any self-doubt, guide you through emotional eating issues, and instill a positive mindset and self-confidence.
80% of your success stems from mindset.
At the end of a one-year weight loss program with me, my clients are armed with the knowledge and confidence to eat their favorite foods, maintain their fitness levels, and stay on track through anything life throws at them.
That's the difference that coaching makes.
No More Rebounding
I provide my clients with the support and accountability they need to stay committed to their weight loss journey so that they won't fall back and rebound.
Rebounding is one of the greatest barriers to weight loss and weight management.
The vast majority of individuals who try to lose weight will gain back all the weight they've lost PLUS MORE. Coaching will reduce the likelihood of this happening.
5. Long-Term Lifestyle Changes
Building Sustainable Habits
The goal of an online weight loss coach isn't just to help you lose weight; it's to help you maintain your weight loss by building sustainable, healthy habits. It may sound like a cliche, but a nutrition coach should help you work toward a more healthy lifestyle. I'll guide you in gradually changing your lifestyle in a way that aligns with your weight loss goals, but that's also realistic and enjoyable.
This involves integrating dietary modifications, exercise routines, and other wellness behaviors into your daily life so that they become an ingrained part of YOU, rather than temporary measures. The power of these habits lies in their ability to make weight management an automatic process, reducing reliance on willpower alone, which can wane over time. Willpower comes and goes. Habits will remain.
We want these habits to become a no-brainer.
Things that a Good Nutrition Coach DOESN'T Do:
We DON'T BAN entire food groups.
Unless you're the Master of the Universe, banning foods only creates a mindset of scarcity, and from scarcity, the feeling of deprivation. Then it's a short slide into "cheat days" (binge eating in disguise) and yo-yo dieting.
Similarly, instead of insisting that you join a gym (which you may dread), I might suggest enjoyable activities that you haven't tried before: Group fitness (such as CrossFit), personalized fitness coaching online with me, or even activities like cycling or hiking that get you moving.
The key is to make intentional exercise and movement part of your daily routine.
It may take time, but we'll get you there.
Future Health Benefits
Sustainable lifestyle changes won't just lead to weight loss. Weight loss is just the beginning. There are myriad trickle-down effects of losing excess weight. You'll improve your overall health, potentially reducing your risk of various lifestyle-related health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
In addition to disease prevention, weight loss through healthy lifestyle changes can also lead to improved physical fitness and enhanced energy levels. You may notice increased stamina, better flexibility, and improved muscle strength, which contribute to a more active and fulfilling lifestyle.
Think about this common scenario: Nobody wants to be a burden on their family as we age. And yet, too many people don't take care of their health, not feeling the long, slow decline, until one day they lean over to pick up a bag of groceries and "tweak" their back or pull a hamstring.
Doing some chores in the yard suddenly put you into physiotherapy for 6 months.
How did you get there?
Or maybe you go on a yearly vacation and find that "suddenly" you have a tough time climbing those steps in Rome or wherever that used to be so easy.
"Jeez, how did THAT happen," you ask?
We know the answer to that question, yet we avoid it until it's too late.
Regular physical activity and a balanced diet can also lead to improved sleep quality, better mood, and enhanced mental clarity. The interconnectedness of these physical improvements means the rewards of your weight loss extend far beyond the numbers on the scale.
And we haven't even mentioned the positive effects on your relationships with family, friends, spouse, and others. The effects radiate to every aspect of your life.
These benefits are not trivial, and go far beyond just "losing weight."
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
A comprehensive, habit-focused approach in facilitating lasting weight loss and improved health is the core purpose of a nutrition coach. This isn't about telling you what to eat and what not to eat. This is about changing your lifestyle so that you have a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life.
So whether you're just starting on a weight loss program or feeling stuck in a rut, an coaching is a game-changer.
If you're serious about achieving your weight loss goals, investing in coaching could be the best decision you'll ever make for lifelong, deep health.
Ready to start your journey? Click HERE to get started!
Disclaimer: All information provided on this website is for informational purposes only. No information provided is to be construed as medical advice. If you have medical issues, always consult your doctor.
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