Products, Willingness and Lifestyle Changes

Over the years I have come across several coaches for different weight loss companies. I’m not going to name names of these companies or coaches. I have run into a few coaches from the same company who run these challenges that sound really great and something that I want to do to motivate myself. I’m all up for a new challenge and guidance because I don’t know everything. I haven’t experienced everything. I have discovered over the years tho what works for me and what doesn’t work for me and what I am willing to do or not do.

One of the things that does work for me is writing down what I eat every day in a planner or fitness bullet journal. What doesn’t work for me is plugging that food into an app like MyFitnessPal for an extended amount of time. I can track for up to a week at a time before I become too focused on the numbers and it gets into my head and I become stressed out. I’m not the only one like this. I watched a video on somebody trying this one program that has you weighing in every single morning. The reason behind the daily weigh ins is to see how the foods work with your body and the numbers got into their head as well. I can’t remember the name of the channel as it’s been several years since I’ve seen the video. Daily weighing in works for a friend of mine but doesn’t work for me. Just like tracking daily works for some people but not others. I was on a call because I found a program/challenge thing that I wanted to do and the person in charge was less than helpful about how to get over that mental block of daily tracking. They told me that I had to track everything every single day. OK? Um that doesn’t work for me. They brought up that they will teach you how to copy and paste from day to day. The only thing that I eat that is similar that I can do that is my breakfast. I eat an egg and cheese wrap almost every morning and the major difference is the egg size. It’s always 3 eggs and sometimes it’s large, extra large or jumbo based on how much a carton of eggs cost. I asked how long I’m supposed to track. For example the duration of the program, the next 20 years or the rest of my life. The answer I got was I’m supposed to track until I meet my weight loss goal and then when I’m in maintenance long enough for me to get an idea of how much I’m supposed to eat during maintenance. That’s not very helpful considering the fact that after like the second week I start having that mental block and it feels like it’s a chore and I become focused on the numbers and frustrated and then I start gaining weight. I asked about getting over that mental block and frustration and they didn’t have an answer. Needless to say I’m not working with them for the challenge or program. If somebody works with me I will have them try tracking using MyFitnessPal and see how they are with tracking. If it works for them then great. If not we’ll find something else. But I do want them to at least go and get a composition notebook and write what they eat everyday for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I want them to write down what exercises they have done that day. If they have time to jot down how their day went and if they think of any questions to ask me. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or take too much time. I want them to do this to bring awareness of the foods they are eating and to take accountability for their choices. I have my free Facebook group and page. My Facebook group is private.

Another thing I do not see myself doing is taking certain supplements. Some of the coaches I have come across and have talked to really pushed the company’s supplements. The thing is if I am going to take a supplement it has to be something I see myself taking long term. Something like collagen peptides, protein powder/shakes or a pre-workout. But as far as meal replacement shakes, pills or something that has a ton of products is not something I see myself taking in a year from now or in 10 years from now. At this stage in my life I need something that has as few products as possible. The other day I had gotten a message about a program that they said is science based. OK great, send me the information. What they sent me is a couple of pictures. One is a 5 day kickstart and then for the next 30 days is the next step in the system. The 5 day kickstart has 4 products and I’m pretty sure one of the things is pills. Those products are $250 and you get a bottle of this stuff for free. The next thing has 6 things and you get an additional bottle of this stuff for free. That’s on sale for $300. That’s a few too many products for the amount of mental capacity I have remaining. Not to mention the cost of both things. I don’t know if the second thing is supposed to be for both the 5 day kickstart and the 30 day lean out process or if it’s separate things. Either way both things are too many things for me to remember and it’s going to last a lot longer than originally planned. As a single parent with 2 kids who is in charge of everything that is not something I can see myself doing for the next 35 days. Not to mention the cost of both things. They also wanted to create an account for me and they wanted my birthday, phone number, physical address and email address. Some of that information I do not give out freely. I ended up creating the account myself and checked out the products. I’m not going to buy any of them even if I had the extra money to spend. It’s just not something I see myself doing long term or even short term or ever. 

What do I want out of a program? I want simplicity. Something that does not have a ton of steps to follow to be successful. I don’t want a program where I absolutely have to have a certain product or a bunch of products to take in order to be successful. I want a program that has workouts and nutritional guidance that has real food. 

What do I want in a coach? Somebody I can vibe with that meshes well with my personality, is easy to talk to, answers any questions that I have and listens to my concerns. I want somebody who understands what works for one person doesn’t always work for another person and doesn’t have a cookie cutter program. Health and fitness is not a one size fits all thing and it’s individual to the person. 

I want to be the kind of coach and trainer that listens and answers questions. My free, private Facebook group is a judgment free zone. I am leaving the link here: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19jSdSTvPx/

What lifestyle changes am I willing to make? I am willing to write down what I eat and my exercises, eat better food without restrictions, and exercise. I have discovered what exercises I like and what I don’t like. Same with foods. What used to work for me in my 20s doesn’t work for me in my 30s. What works in my 30s won’t work in my 40s and so on and so forth. It’s a fitness journey and a lifestyle.