As you build your coaching program, you might wonder why you need to set up a curriculum when you can simply help people towards their goals immediately. In this episode, Kendra Perry answers an important question: why do you need education in a coaching program? There are compounding benefits to setting up a framework when coaching your clients. Here, Kendra illustrates how impactful it can be to your program and explains why it can also be extremely beneficial to your business. Tune in to learn all about it!
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Why You Need Education in a Coaching Program
I am joined by MetPro coach Bianca De La Rosa. We are discussing non-scale victories. Bianca, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited to talk about non-scale victories.
I’m so excited about it too. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. I talk about this all the time with my clients. We should start with what exactly is a non-scale victory.
A non-scale victory is any improvement that can optimize your health and result from small life changes. There are a ton of them that we can talk about. Those little changes that are changing your lifestyle and health are going to be those non-scale victories.
Let’s drill down on a few. Give me a few real-life examples.
Energy is huge because if you are changing your diet and nutrition, it is inevitable that your energy is going to increase. When you have more energy, you’re more likely to work out, get outside, and get active. You can sleep better. That is a huge one. Photos are a big one as well. Taking those before-and-afters is super important. It’s not necessarily just the number on the scale that gives you a snapshot. Those photos are so important. Hydration is super important as well. If you are well-hydrated and drinking lots of water, it goes right back to energy. You’re going to have plenty of energy. Your skin is probably going to be looking a little bit better. You might feel less hungry than you normally would.
It’s something to consider. If you want to consider that a victory, you need to be tracking it. You talk about pictures, for example. You need to have a picture to compare to do a before-and-after. It doesn’t necessarily have to be like, “I’ve reached my goal weight. Now I will take my after picture.”
MetPro does track pictures and measurements. However, having that number on the scale is not something to hone in on and focus on because there are so many variations and things that can change day to day. When you have that number on the scale, you have to think about women, our hormones, that time of the month, the cycle, and all the things that come with being a woman. If you have a high-sodium meal the night before and you hop on the scale the next day or even the day after, that weight might be coming up because you have water retention. It is important to know that it is a journey. It’s not a sprint. Having those pictures are super important.
One thing that I constantly find myself telling people is, “Losing weight is not always a straight line.” Nobody loses weight in a straight line. You might have several days in a row where there’s loss, and then it goes back up. You did everything “right” by the book. Everything was exactly as you planned. For some reason, it goes up. To your point, there are a million different examples of why.
Losing weight is not a linear journey. If it was, then everybody could do it, but it is up and down and all around. It’s okay to have those changes. You never want to feel discouraged if your weight goes up one day and then it’s down another day. That’s why it’s nice to have things like pictures or those non-scale victory aspects, “How am I performing in my workout? Am I sleeping better? Is my blood work getting better?” Things like that do help along the way. It’s super helpful.
You could always ask for your concierge coach, if you have one at MetPro, to help you track those things. I have clients. I’ll talk to them a lot about water. One of my clients has the busiest job. She gets going and forgets to drink during the week. Sometimes as we’re starting to do a rubbing cycle, she gets a little frustrated because her body gains on those rubbing cycles. I’m always like, “How much water did you have yesterday?”
Something cool, too, is I always love to tell my clients, “Set reminders on your Google Calendar or your phone for those tiny habits that seem like they don’t make a difference.” Water is so huge. It does make the biggest difference with everything, weight, energy, hydration, and all of that stuff. Setting a reminder on Google Calendar and your phone can be extremely helpful. It sounds silly but believe it or not, if you see that pop-up coming and you have your water bottle right next to you, what are you going to do? Probably grab the water bottle.
When it comes to things like doing the photos, how often do you recommend people do photos or measurements with a measuring tape to check things out?
It varies from client to client. Monthly would be good because if you tried to do this every single day, it would be so discouraging. Even if you tried to do this week to week, you have to take into consideration that everybody’s life is different. You may not be doing the same thing last week that you did this week. Usually, about a month’s time will be pretty good to see where you’re at. There’s going to be some form or type of change.
When it comes to things like drinking water or seeing how your workouts are improving, is there something that you can recommend for people to be able to track those changes as they occur?
Yeah, especially with performance and when clients are actively doing workouts. It’s trying to consciously feel how your energy levels are, how fueled you are, and if you’re hungry during or even after your workout. Even when we talk about blood sugar levels, are you feeling lightheaded during those workouts? Do you feel fueled during those workouts? All of those conscious measurements and thinking about how your performance is during your performance is super important. It makes a big difference.
If you have a client that’s going into a workout, hasn’t been properly fueling, and is feeling so dizzy and lightheaded by the end of her workout, she’s probably not doing so great, but if you have a client that feels good during their workout, they feel strong, and they feel like they had a sufficient performance afterward, it makes a world of difference.
In the MetPro app, we even have, “How did you feel? How was your performance?” We have a notes section when you’re logging a workout. You can share with your coach, “This is how I was doing.” I love checking out people’s different comments that they put in there. I love when they leave me notes and tell me how they were feeling if I had them do hill sprints. I love when they yell at me for having them do hill sprints.
Those are the best. You’re tracking your workout and how many active calories you burned. If you’re feeling good in your performance, you might be burning more calories doing a 30-minute run versus if you don’t feel so great and you burn fewer calories. That note section is so important because you can write about how you truly felt. You look back a couple of months from when first started at MetPro versus now. Maybe you felt cruddy during your workout, but now, you feel good. You feel energetic. You’re making it through. The notes section, active calories, and logging those workouts are super important.
I hear people talk about a workout journal. Do you recommend keeping anything like that?
For some people, it does work. Workout journals and food journaling can be very helpful for some people. That’s also a good example of how you can measure a non-scale victory. Having a performance journal of how you felt during a workout when you first start something or a program, especially like MetPro, seeing that journey as weeks progress, and looking back on those entries can be helpful to see, “Maybe then I didn’t feel good, but now I feel good.” You get to keep track of how many workouts you did for how long. It can be helpful.
Let’s say you’ve been tracking your water. You were drinking 50 ounces before, but now consistently, you’re doing 64 ounces. Do you have any thoughts on how you can reward yourself in a positive way or do positive reinforcement in some way that you’re motivated to keep going and keep doing that, especially if you’re not seeing it necessarily add up? If you don’t drink water, you don’t necessarily feel it instantaneously.
It’s not like those instant gratifications where all of a sudden, it’s like, “This is it. It’s the end-all-be-all.” A lot of times, it’s easy to lose stamina and motivation when there’s no certain number on the scale, but there are those other things that you can take into consideration, “I drink 50 to 64 ounces of water, which is what MetPro recommends every single day. I have that consistently this week. I’m going to reward myself with a nice snazzy water bottle so that way I can keep it up.”
It’s the same thing with workouts too. You’re getting in those workouts. You got them consistently 3 or 4 times a week or how many times. Get a new workout outfit. That is a thing. I love to treat myself with those little things. That’s another motivation to keep on going. It’s an incentive. It’s almost like, “I’m doing good.” Having something new and fresh can be an incentive to keep on going.
I’m a huge Peloton user. We often talk about magic pants because we get a new pair of leggings. It’s magic. Suddenly, you get a new PR on the bike.
It works instantaneously overnight. There’s nothing bad about it. There’s nothing bad that can happen for getting yourself new. It’s a plus. You’ve got to do it.
Those are all good tips. Are there things out there that people could be doing to see their progress that maybe they haven’t even thought of as a victory? You mentioned some good ones, like drinking water and exercising but are there things that people may not have on their list that they could be doing to see a victory?
One of the things that aren’t always necessarily measured but you can feel consciously is also the way that your clothes fit. Even if you aren’t necessarily thinking about an analytical number, feeling the way that your clothes fit whenever you’re trying to work towards a certain goal can be very helpful too, “Maybe I can finally fit into those skinny jeans. I don’t have to jump up and down to try to bring them over my tummy. They’re fitting a little better now.” Our t-shirts are starting to get a little bit looser.
Things like that are also helpful and the subjective feeling of how clothes feel. Sleep is a big aspect that a lot of people don’t think about. I hear a lot of clients tell me, “I’m starting to eat better and exercise more. Believe it or not, I’m starting to sleep better too.” You can’t avoid stress in life and work. However, sleeping is also another great aspect that can be super helpful not only in your recovery but how you feel when you wake up.
You tend to eat more calories whenever you’re tired. It goes back full circle.
You’ve got lots of hormones going crazy up and down and all over the place whenever there’s a lack of sleep. It has a big impact on mood. When your mood or your energy is down, it makes it hard to try to get through a workout or get through the day. Having a sufficient amount of sleep, seven hours to be exact, that’s the sweet spot, is going to help with not only the recovery of your body but muscle recovery and replenishment as well.
Did we miss anything? Is there anything about non-scale victories that we have not covered?
Those progress pictures, tape measure, and the way that your clothes fit are some of the main ways to track your non-scale progress throughout the day, but if you’re able to do that, you don’t have to focus on the number on the scale. It makes things less overwhelming. It’s something to focus on, for sure.
That’s great advice. Some people get a little discouraged when they focus solely on the number on the scale. I’m one of them. I get down if that’s the only thing I ever focus on. Bianca, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Readers, that is all. Please be sure to follow the show, rate, and review. That lets other people know what they can expect. I will be back. Until then, remember that consistency is key.
