Drop the Weight with EJ: 5 Times You Just Might Need To Recruit a Coach to Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals

There is no shortage of people, like me, who claim to have the answers on weight loss. Some of us have coaching programs that we offer and some of us don’t; but regardless, the sheer volume of coaches and trainers might have you confused about whether you need a coach, a trainer, or both.

I’ve put this post together to help you decide for yourself whether your life and your goals can benefit from having someone else on your team.

So when do you need a coach?
First, let’s differentiate a coach from a trainer – because they’re very different.

A Trainer is the person you go to at the gym to whip you into shape. A trainer is all about the workout plan – the individual exercises, the rep range or duration for each exercise, and how the exercises are put together to build a workout.

A Coach focuses more on helping you adopt the right behaviors to help you drop the weight. Coaches can further specialize by focusing exclusively on nutrition or habits and they can go further and have personal training credentials to allow them to draw up a workout plan. Some coaches get certifications to allow them to provide you with the full package.

So when do you need a coach?

When You Genuinely Don’t Know Where to Start
If you’re trying to change your lifestyle, sometimes the task may seem so daunting that you don’t even know where to begin first. There is so much information on how to start changing your diet, how to start exercising, and which healthy habits are the best to adopt. Unfortunately some of this information is also contradictory. In this scenario, you can look to a coach to help mine your current habits and help you decide which ones should be the first to change to help you get the most initial impact out of your effort.

When You Need Help Staying Accountable
Accountability means doing what you say you’re going to do and actually keeping track to ensure that you’re doing it. It’s one thing to say you’re going to eat healthy, but what systems do you have in place to help you see that you’re sticking to your word?

Accountability is important because it’ll help you see your progress, but it also breeds confidence. You see, when you show up and do what you say you’ll do to lose weight, you start to be one of these fit women you admire. When you start admiring yourself for sticking to your fitness goals, who knows what else you can show yourself to be capable of?

The trouble might be that you just don’t know how to hold yourself accountable. You might’ve struggled with a system in the past or you just don’t know what a system should look like. A coach can help you decide this, and create a system that works for you.

When You Hit a Plateau and Don’t Know How to Proceed
The dreaded plateau has stalled many a weight loss goal. But it doesn’t have to. I personally believe that plateaus have a purpose, but purpose or not they still need to be busted if you still have weight to lose. If you’ve looked at your healthy lifestyle and still don’t know what the culprit is, then a coach can help. For this scenario, it might take only one session to get you the insight that gets you going. And if you’re stuck then a coach’s services are worth the price tag.

When You Need a Cheerleader
It might sound frivolous to pay someone to cheer you on, but sometimes it might be just what you need to get past the finish line. Weight loss can be an isolating experience if you don’t have a support system around you and a coach can help fill that gap.

Let’s be real, hiring a coach is a financial investment. It can get expensive depending on who you hire and what they offer. It can also be an emotional investment because there are no guarantees that you’ll get the result. So next week I’ll be writing a post on some questions to ask yourself before hiring a coach. This way you’ll maximize the chance that your financial and emotional investment are well worth it.

Take Action
Have you considered hiring a trainer or a coach? Based on this new information:

• Do you feel like you still need one and which one of the two do you need?
• Why do you feel like you need one, is it any of the items on the list or is it something different?

Use this information when vetting your coach/trainer options. If you’re unsure about how to vet the right person for you, then stay tuned for the next column.