 |
|
Affiliate instructions: You have permission to publish these articles in and on your website, blog or anywhere else your readers would view it provided the entire article is left un-altered and the bio/about the author resource box is included in its entirety. All you need to do is copy and paste. You of course, should replace all www.Mealplans101.com links with your affiliate hoplink. I recommend including the Meal Plans101.com website link at the top and bottom of the article to give the reader more than one place to click through. It is also effective to sometimes include a cd cover of the software where applicable.
Getting Started with a Weight Loss Program Overweight and obesity are worldwide epidemics. Current statistics show that 66.3% of the American population is overweight and 32.2% obese. But you have the opportunity to make a change and not be a statistic! While research is continuously evolving, science has clearly provided sufficient evidence on how we can help clients be successful with their weight loss endeavors. Sure, it’s easy to decide you want to eat less and exercise more; it’s often a joke we use with clients in that is all it takes. However, it’s not what to do that’s the issue—but how to do it. HOW do you eat less and exercise more? By educating yourself and making sure you have all the proper behavior “tools” you can start to make some positive changes and continue to get healthy! Here are 5 tips to get on the path to achieving a healthy weight! Realize it is not that easy. Many folks become discouraged when beginning an exercise or weight loss program because they expect a magic bullet. But starting a simple exercise program or maybe reading a “diet” book won’t cure a 30 year ice cream or soda addiction. Honesty is the best policy. Small steps each day mean big changes in the long run; nothing will happen overnight and it’s important to continually encourage yourself. Habits weren’t created overnight and they won’t be broken overnight. Changing behaviors is difficult, but it can be done. Understand Motivation. Know specifically why your clients have hired you. Clients often give very superficial, general reasons why they hired you—lose a few pounds, improve health, etc. These are not specific enough. If you ultimately want to change their behavior, you need to dig a bit deeper so you can determine what will really help them commit. “Lose weight”, for example, is very general and is not likely to keep them motivated to continue for the long haul. These same folks were likely motivated when they purchased a fad diet book, supplement off an infomercial, or what have you. Remember, your clients are with you just a few hours each week; they are on their own for many, many more, so you need to find the underlying issue(s) and help change those. Have Clients Self-Monitor. One of the most valuable tools you have at your fingertips is to have clients self-monitor their behavior. Self-monitoring is the observation and recording of a specific behavior. Self-monitoring can be as detailed as writing everything down regarding that behavior (i.e. specific details, date, time, location, emotions, etc) to as little as placing a checkmark on a calendar indicating that a desired behavior was achieved. Many times clients are not aware of their own behaviors. Self-monitoring can help increase awareness. In addition, as a trainer, many eating behaviors that occur outside of the gym may affect clients’ progress inside the gym. By reviewing self-monitoring records you will be better able to help clients stay on track and ultimately reach their goals. Self-monitoring can be useful to gather a baseline for behaviors or as an ‘as needed’ measure when clients are struggling. Teach Your Clients to Problem-Solve. A study conducted at the University of Florida showed that individuals who used behavior change and problem-solving strategies when losing weight did better at maintaining weight loss than those who merely used behavior change. Problem solving requires identifying the real problem that is preventing the client from reaching his or her goal. Have the client create possible strategies to overcoming the problem, based on his/her current lifestyle and likelihood of success. The client should choose one strategy to implement and evaluate its success at overcoming the barrier. Remember to allow the client to develop strategies and try to guide them through this process. It is important to recognize that not all strategies will be successful. Instead, work with the client; together, various strategies can be created to ultimately identify and correct a problem. And also remember that just because something works for one person, does not mean it will work for everyone. There are some generalities that can be made and implemented, but each person is unique and often has their own situations that must be dealt with. Work in groups. Social support has been shown to improve the ability to lose and maintain weight loss. Use this to your advantage. It can help with client’s success, in addition to increasing your profit center (more people into the same hour is better than having just one person in that same hour). Try starting small groups of individuals who want to lose weight; work with them in a 30 minute group setting where you can all share different situations, stumbling blocks, etc and, then do some physical activity with them. The time when they can all talk amongst one another with you may be most beneficial to them; one woman may have encountered a situation that is exactly like another woman in the group, yet it’s nothing that ever crossed your mind. Therefore, you all benefit from this learning experience and your clients are that much further into achieving success. Adding the group exercise will help with adherence and can add to the movitation. Working out with others also helps with accountability; it’s a lot easier to skip your own exercise session than if you were meeting with others. These are just five of an endless amount of tips, behavioral lessons, and ideas. When starting a program in your health club, studio, or facility, it’s imperative to talk all factors into consideration. There are always going to be an endless amount of barriers to adopting exercise and nutrition change. Rather than giving up in frustration, use these to your advantage, as a challenge to ensure both you and your clients are successful. While this piece was not specifically about nutrition, it’s something that can’t be left out of a weight loss piece. It has been said in this magazine and others; if you are not discussing nutrition with your clients, you are doing them a disservice. Your client would best be served by working side by side with a registered dietitian, but making simple food recommendations such as those below can help your clients: Eat more fruits and vegetables There is no time like the present to implement a weight loss program. It doesn’t take a lot to make big changes and there is clearly a lot of job security in this growing, pun fully intended, area.
Dr. Chris Mohr RD, PhD is a health nutrition consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including Discovery Health Channel, Clif Bar, Waterfront Media, and Fit Fuel. He has authored and co-authored several textbooks and textbook chapters, including consulting with LL Cool J on "LL Cool J's Platinum Workout" (Rodale Press, 2006). He is also co-creator of Meal Plans 101 nutrition software. For more information on how you can utilize Chris's expertise go to www.mealplans101.com (replace and redirect with your hoplink) |