My true motivation for coaching

Today is a big day for me! I am celebrating my one-year anniversary as a Certified Health Coach. After being involved in nutrition and coaching part-time for years, I finally decided last year to focus 100% on my passion. So I studied, got accredited by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), acquired my business license, and got to do what I really love day in and day out: help people become healthier, thanks to a gentle French approach. Yay!!!

I am getting ready to celebrate this anniversary with my husband and 3 daughters, but first, I want to tell you why I got into the health industry in the first place. It’s actually because I got scared out of my wits!

Scary stuff all around

It’s pretty clear that more and more people are trying to be healthy. Health and wellness are super trendy. They are all over the internet, on TV, in books, magazines, everywhere. And yet, so many of us struggle the reach our health goals. Why is that?

Well, of course, there are many reasons, one of which is that there is so much information everywhere, and especially so much crap, that it makes it impossible to sift through all the junk, focus on what really matters, and get back to common sense. So we try all kinds of tricks, diets, workout programs, and of course, we fail. Not because we are not good enough… but because this is not the way to do it! Don’t get me wrong. There is sensible and wise advice out there. Unfortunately, it’s mostly lost amidst foolish recommendations and completely out-of-reach expectations.

What you've been told is wrong

The general trend is to have you believe that if you want to be healthy and keep your weight under control, you have to deprive yourself, be on a diet, sweat on a treadmill. In short, you have to suffer and “be good.” This message is wrong! And it has devastating effects, on people in general and on women in particular. And it's actually when I realized firsthand the impact it has on teenage girls (my daughters and their friends!) that it became clear to me that I HAD to jump into the fray and do something about it. I really wanted to set the record straight and show that there is a different approach to wellness, a practical approach that works in the long term.

There is another way to be healthy

The framework I want to share with you is a wellness program that relies as little as possible on self-control and will-power. Instead of self-control, we rely on establishing good habits by tweaking our environment and focusing on pleasure. Pleasure in eating, in moving, in social connections, in sleeping, and most importantly, pleasure without guilt. It might seem counter-intuitive and it often takes time for my clients to embrace that system, but in the long run, this approach is the only way for many people to succeed.

Let me be clear though, it still takes work! One has to learn, build awareness, think outside the box, and be patient because it takes time to slowly change all those little things in your daily life that will make a huge difference in the end. It’s not straight-forward, because there is no “one-size-fits-all” rule that you can follow. You have to be willing to create your own rules, your own balance, your own lifestyle. You have to reinvent some of your routines and change your environment so that it's supporting your goals in the long run. And you have to consciously make health a habit rather than a struggle.

With some help, we can all do it!

And that’s why I became a Health Coach. Because I want to help people through that process. I want to help YOU through this. Provide you with as much (or as little!) support as you need, and give you all the tools and tips that will make the whole journey easier, smoother and more efficient. I want to help you make health part of yourself rather than make it an extra burden in your life and busy schedule. That’s what drives me. I want to help change lives, one at a time, and this is exactly what happens when I work with clients. I can see it with my own eyes, and this is why I love my job so much!