Note to Health Coaches

I have a request for health coaches. I think it's a fair and simple request.

When you post the before and after pictures of the clients who have used your diet product or service, could you make the small print at the bottom of your post a little bigger to read?

I'm getting older and my eyes aren't what they are used to be. So it's kind of hard to see that the average weight loss of those who use your product is only X and that people using your product are only tracked for 12 weeks while using your product.

Actually, what I think it said was that 12 weeks was the average length of time that someone stays on your plan.  That's not very long, is it? I'm curious, what happens after the plan is over? 

I'd also like to see some follow up before and after pictures.

Could you show me those pictures after a year?  Two years? 5? And I'd like to see them for all your clients. I'd also love to see their Eating disorder screening results after a few years if they continue using your product. 

That seems fair right? I mean - if you are helping someone change their life "once and for all" and live "happy, thin and free" then those pictures and that data shouldn't be that hard to come by right?

Oh, and can you make it a little more obvious that the person whose picture you are displaying is actually not the average participant in your plan? So yeah - I'd like to see everyone's picture if you don't mind. I mean, why not right?

I don't mean to give health coaches a hard time. They mean well. But anyone who sells intentional weight loss is causing harm to the majority of people (if not all) whose lives they come into contact with. And sadly, those who are suffering from that harm don't even know it.

They simply move off into the distance thinking that once again they have failed at something they really wanted and that everyone else is able to achieve so effortlessly. 

But they haven't failed. Effective, sustainable, effortless, benign, intentional weight loss does not exist.  No matter what name you give it - a lifestyle change, healthy eating, clean eating, or the dozens of diet names out there.

It's all the same. The cycle of dieting is the same. Losing and gaining are the same. The hope and subsequent shame are the same. The perpetuation of the same ideas over and over is the same.

If you don't like your body and want to change it - intentional weight loss is not going to solve your problem. Finding out why you don't like yourself is going to prove way more beneficial in the long run.

When you find out why you don't like yourself and you learn what it is you feel drawn to change, that is when true transformation happens. It's an inside out job.  Liking our bodies does not come from our bodies looking a certain way - it comes from a deep inner knowing and feeling of unconditional love and respect.

It comes from a core truth - I am a perfectly imperfect human being and I am worthy and enough, just as I am today and in whatever form I take a year from now, or five years from now or 10 or 20. 

I know health coaches are wanting to help people tap into that feeling of self-worth as well but our appearance is always changing and outside of our control. If we base all our feelings of worth on looks and size then we are indeed going to feel like the rug has been pulled out from us when we inevitably shift and change through the cycles of life.

Our feelings of value cannot come from a number on the scale, our clothing size or even a vision in the mirror. No matter how good you think you look - self-worth and pride based on appearance are fear-based and fleeting.

So if you see those before and after pictures; unfollow, unfriend or put down your device and walk away. And if you want to know how to cultivate a lasting framework for well being and self-worth, I'm only an email away.  Please feel free to share this with anyone you know who might benefit from the message. 

As more and more people come to know their own sense of self-worth and value, the world indeed becomes a better place for all.