Skip to main content

NEW ADVENTURE


New Blog.

New Adventure.

I started the journey of becoming a health and wellness coach over a year ago. My reasons were simple. My husband was diagnosed with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, and I wanted to find a way to help him ease the burdens of not only his disease, but also the side effects of the medications he will now have to take for the rest of his life.

And let me assure you, the side effects of these medications are worse than the disease itself.

PH is no picnic, but the side effects ravage his body on a daily basis.

The good news from all of the bad news we've faced in the last couple of years is that his body weight directly correlates with the amount of medication he has to take. So the more weight he can lose, the less medication he has to take and the less severe the side effects are.

And that leads me back to health coaching. I wanted to find a way to help him effectively lose weight, but also help myself get in better shape and have more energy to deal with the daily stresses of life. Health coaching crossed my path, and it felt like a great choice for me.

I started with a few classes from Arizona State University on health and wellness. I took a nutrition course from the American Fitness Professionals Association. Then I enrolled in the Pack Education Health and Wellness Coaching Certification program and completed my training. Now I'm considering taking another step and enrolling in the National Academy of Sports Medicine Nutrition Coach Certification program. 

(AND AS OF THIS UPDATE I AM NOW A NATIONAL BOARD-CERTIFIED HEALTH AND WELLNESS COACH).

My goal is to learn as much about nutrition and healthy eating as I can, and to put that information to good use helping others reach their health and wellness goals, as well.

One of the most important things I've learned in the last year of study is that a lot of what I have been told, have read about, or have seen in various forms of media (TV, magazines, blogs, Pinterest, etc.) is incorrect. 

Weight loss is about one thing - cold, hard math. The number of calories you put into you body versus the number of calories you burn off. 

That's it. It's not about pills, potions, number of reps, specific food combinations, etc. It's about the harsh reality of calories consumed compared to calories burned.

You can create any number of combinations to tip the balance of calories in vs. calories out - what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how quickly you eat, how slowly you eat, what exercises you're doing, when you exercise, exercise intensity, number of reps, etc. - but ultimately, it still comes down to the cold, hard math of calories in vs. calories out.

But that's also the GOOD news. You can create any combination of calories in (foods or drinks you consume) and calories out (exercises you do and movement throughout your day) to find the perfect balance that helps you lose the weight you want and maintain a healthy weight once you've reached it.

My hope is that this blog will be able explore the topic of health and wellness in a way that makes sense, and keeps the information relatable and real.

Until next time....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I’m Going to Tell You the SECRET No One in the Fitness Industry Wants You to Hear….

Got your attention? Okay.  Now that I’ve gotten the theatrics out of the way, I really am going to tell you the “secret”.  This applies to most, BUT NOT ALL , cases of people who are trying to lose weight, deal with medical issues, overall health, living longer, etc. Pretty much anything health related. WHAT YOU’RE EATING HAS A GREATER EFFECT ON YOUR OVERALL HEALTH THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU DO . I managed to get myself into a debate on social media, which was unintentional and not meant to be disrespectful. But RESPECTFULLY, I completely disagreed with their stance that food and weight loss do not have an impact on health conditions.  Health risks related to diet .  Nutritional Deficiencies . Is exercise important? Yes, it is.  But you can be very active, eat terribly, and deal with all kinds of health issues. Or be active, but still overweight because of eating too much sugar, fat, salt, or too many calories overall, and have NO health issues (high blood pres...

ME AND MY BIG MOUTH....ROUND 2

Okay. So, last week I posted about getting into a social media debate  regarding nutrition, weight loss, health, and a few other things that weren’t really relevant. The point of my post (before this debate happened) was that what you’re eating can have a direct effect on your health. I still stand by this statement. I was also told that because I have a link to a guide that says “ Natural GLP-1 Boosters ”, I “obviously” am not interested in science. When I explained it’s a list of healthy foods (general and specific) and recipes to go along with, I was then told “Food Isn’t Medicine”. I beg to differ.  While I agree that food is not MEDICATION , I do not agree that food cannot be “a compound or preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease”, as MEDICINE is defined in the dictionary. BUT…. In the interest of playing devil’s advocate, I’m going to throw this out there…. Who cares? So what if “food isn’t medicine”? Does that mean it’s going to HURT y...

DO YOU KNOW “WHY”?

Why do you want to start a health journey? Why are you on a health journey? Why is your health important to you? As a busy mom, these three questions are important to ask yourself if you’re working on your health or thinking about working on it. Because, honestly, we've already got enough going on in our lives.  You might find out you’re not even trying to be healthier/eat better/move more/lose weight for the reasons you THOUGHT you were. Maybe you’re thinking about losing weight because someone made a comment that hurt your feelings. Or you went to put on a dress you haven’t worn in a while, and it doesn’t fit anymore. Maybe you don’t have energy like you used to and you’re tired of feeling tired all the time. Maybe you’re noticing that you overall don’t feel good after eating candy or cookies when it didn’t used to bother you before. Or maybe a relative is in poor health much younger than they should be and it’s got you thinking about how you want to be capable and act...