“The best way to describe it is that I offer support to people. People know what they need to change in their life—obesity, diet, bad habits and things that are not working for them. I encourage them to make lifestyle changes so they can feel better and look better,” says Howard Schwartz, a Virginia Beach health coach.
Schwartz knows how hard lifestyle changes can be—he once weighed 305 pounds. He lost 125 after gastric bypass surgery and as a result, studied nutrition to remain on track with his health. Schwartz customizes an individual program with food and exercise, and then meets with his client twice a month in person or on the phone.[/dropcap]
“The best way to describe it is that I offer support to people. People know what they need to change in their life—obesity, diet, bad habits and things that are not working for them. I encourage them to make lifestyle changes so they can feel better and look better,” says Howard Schwartz, a Virginia Beach health coach.
Schwartz knows how hard lifestyle changes can be—he once weighed 305 pounds. He lost 125 after gastric bypass surgery and as a result, studied nutrition to remain on track with his health. Schwartz customizes an individual program with food and exercise, and then meets with his client twice a month in person or on the phone.
“I talk to my clients about how they feel and the kind of things that bother them. I find that by asking open-ended questions, the client will find the answers they seek. So it’s really about listening to challenges facing them and then waiting for them to say, ‘That’s the way I want to go,’” he says.
Schwartz likes each clients to fill out a food journal to help them both understand what they are eating. He often takes clients grocery shopping, does cooking classes and offers recipes. Usually over the course of a six-month program, adjustments are made to both diet and exercise. “While we do set goals for some weight loss—inches, exercise and eating out less—it might also be to eat less packaged or processed food,” he says.
When people have setbacks, Schwartz goes to the root of the problem. “Your primary foods are really things like your life, your family, your faith … Emotional eating is the single biggest problem in people not paying attention to diet. We try to take emotion out of eating and get back to normalcy,” he says.
He also suggests the “90/10 rule,” which is if you eat healthy 90 percent of the time, you can indulge yourself the other 10 percent. “If you slip up, you can’t beat yourself up about it. You have to keep going.”
Of course, to be a health coach you have to be a good health role model. Schwartz, age 59, works out four days a week at the gym and closely monitors what he eats.
Paige Lysaght, a health coach from Northern Virginia who has clients all over the state, focuses on a specific segment of people who need health coaching. Again, there’s personal experience driving her.
“I had a high stress job and started getting migraines. I consumed a lot of sugar and caffeine to get my job done. I got drugs from my doctor, but that didn’t help that much. Working with a nutritionist got me a little closer. I went into it looking for some answers for my own health but found something I really love and am passionate about learning,” she says.
As her business grew, Lysaght found that she attracted a very specific kind of client, namely busy middle-aged women.
“We identify areas to start improving right away. My clients are often in high-stress jobs, or ones that don’t make them happy, or their lives are chaotic right now. I meet them right where they are and we try to find some immediate upgrades and shifts she can make,” she says.
One example is drinking lots of caffeine. While it’s a coping mechanism, it can also contribute to stress. Lysaght recommends a weaning process from coffee and soda to green tea and then herbal tea, or from coffee to decaf.
One of the tough love parts of health coaching is encouraging the recognition of bad habits and providing an objective viewpoint. “We have time for whatever we decide to prioritize,” Lysaght points out. She also adds that health is more than just our physical well-being, so she tries to look at the total person.
Her process starts with a health history, including eating, sleeping and stress behaviors. Together, she works with her client to develop goals, including what they’ve done in the past and what has or hasn’t worked. Then it’s time to put the plan into action. Often Lysaght will check in via email or Skype to see how the client is progressing.
“Getting off track is part of the process when we are transforming our lives. All kinds of things come up,” she says. “Real life obstacles can be harder than we expect. So we keep that in mind from the beginning. We may have to break goals down into smaller action steps.”
She gives the example of having to work late, and how the plan on paper might go awry. Anticipating a late night in the office might require a contingency plan like finding a place near the office to get a healthy dinner, or making a double portion of a meal on the weekend to heat up quickly later.
For stress, it’s easy to get caught in a cycle. Lysaght recommends easy breathing exercises and getting out of the office for a few minutes. To help clients let go of their stressful work day before they get home, she recommends calling a friend or listening to upbeat music, to be ready to engage with their family at home.
Nearly 500,000 people covered by Optima Health Care (most in Virginia) can contact a health coach to help them manage their treatment. Janet Kennon, an RN Case Manager, and Maria Curtis, a Patient Service Coordinator, are part of Optima’s health coaching program. They call plan members and ask them about participating after a hospital discharge or a diagnosis of a chronic condition. They check that patients have the equipment, medication and follow-up appointments needed after their hospital stay. Conditions where weight is a big factor—like hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, or respiratory illnesses (such as asthma and COPD)—are optimal for health coaching due to the benefits of a healthy diet, exercise and smoking cessation.
Over time, Optima’s health coaches build rapport, which builds trust and helps get the answers that might hold the key to lifestyle changes. The coaches do specific nutritional counseling, and may ask members to explain a typical “eating day.” For example, someone might have a job where they can’t carry their lunch, say a landscaper or a janitor, and the coaches help. “Even if they are eating from a vending machine, we try to give them better choices. Get the pack of peanuts, not the cinnamon roll,” Curtis says.
“We identify areas to start improving right away… I meet them right where they are and we try to find some immediate upgrades and shifts she can make.” — Paige Lysaght
“The degree of trust that you can develop with an individual just by talking to them on the phone and hearing the changes they have made and the goals reached simply by taking your advice makes this probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” Curtis adds.
“One of the important things I’ve learned in the last five years is that change has to come from within. For some of us, it takes something bad, like a diagnosis or a hospitalization… But those events can be very motivating. We celebrate small victories … like better lab values! We are so proud of them,” Kennon says.
Both ladies agreed, “When our people succeed, we do cartwheels!” Maybe health coaches are cheerleaders after all.
