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Health Coaching Help Or Heist?
I saw a comment recently on a blog that fascinated me someone posted that he thinks health coaching is a rip-off since all the same information is available for free on the internet. Even though I'm trained as a health coach, I like a bargain as much as the next gal, so it made me think.
Free information does abound, and more and more people have access to it. I've personally learned how to install appliances, put together toys, and cook dinner from people on the internet, for free. Could a person restore his or her health that way too?
I decided to do some research and look for data about what people achieve with and without health coaching.
The November 24, 2011, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine published results from a weight loss study with 415 obese patients and found that less than 20% of the self directed group lost 5% or more of their starting weight during the two year study.
By contrast, an average of 40% of patients who were regularly coached by phone or in person lost 5% or more of their starting body weight during the same 24 months. Clearly, something was happening in these coaching sessions to double the results for these patients.
I talked with celebrity health coach and author of Body After Baby, Jackie Keller, and she described how health coaching works “The main difference is that coaching focuses on positive psychology and the underlying preference is that the client has the answers,” she said. “When you give tips and advice from an expert perspective, you're giving the client the answers and direction.”
“With coaching, it's not about what you think will be effective. It's about asking the client about their most closely related experience and what works for them. Your perspective serves only to help the client uncover their own. It's a fundamental difference.”
And it's a difference that matters. Study after study confirms that coaching helps with weight loss and other clinically meaningful health metrics. Is health coaching for you? Jackie said, “Consider your level of fulfillment today and how much better you would feel operating from your own self interest. A coach could help you bridge that gap.”
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