Reach your goals with Best Health

Your Best Health coach is a great resource

“My coach and I speak every Monday,” Alex says. “It's a good way to start the week and maintain progress towards your goals.”

The accountability of having someone who is invested in your success is important, Alex explains. “If you could bottle this mentality, it would be a bestseller.”

Working with a coach, rather than a friend or a spouse made a difference for Alex. “You can't ask your wife or friend or coworkers to pay really close attention to your health and your goals and keep you in check and advise you,” he says. “The dynamics of the relationship simply don't support that type of interaction.”

Take time to plan ahead

Health coaching allowed Alex to envision his goals and stay on track.

“I think I really took to health coaching because it forces you to spend about 30 minutes planning or reaffirming your goals for the week,” he explains. “Something about the short-term visualization makes self-made challenges a lot more palatable.”

“One thing I found surprising is that once you're in the middle of it — it’s really not that difficult to just stay the course,” Alex says. “At the moment, I am feeling like ‘Could I have just done this at any time?’ There were not nearly as many barriers in my way as I thought there were.”

Don’t dwell on setbacks

When you’re focused on your goals, try not to get caught up on the things you can’t change. Alex encountered a few challenges, but with encouragement from his coach, he continued to move forward.

“I had to move apartments, was very sore and missed a run. [My] coach reassured me that I had a long life to live and to just start up the following week. Don't [dwell on it] and make too big of a deal about it,” he says. “I continued that next week and maintained it for four runs after that.”

“A similar thing happened about five weeks into losing weight,” Alex says. “I got so hungry one night; I was insatiable. Coach Michelle had already mentioned that this may happen, and encouraged me to simply ensure I was eating nutritious whole foods and not get overwhelmed by individual aberrations. I did indeed go over my calorie budget for the day; but was back on track the days and weeks after that.”

Keep your goals simple and clean

No need to overcomplicate: Alex recommends keeping your routine simple and easy to follow.

“Just start, don't overanalyze everything and ruin the actual results and process,” Alex says. “You can — and I did — drive myself absolutely bonkers getting into the weeds: Which running shoes? Steamed or air-fried Brussels sprouts?”

“Keep the goals ultra-simple and clean,” he says. “When I started running, I kept the time the exact same (30 mins), and only focused on running ‘further and faster,’ which I could track with the free suggested app from my coach.”

Although he counts calories, Alex doesn’t focus on the exact amount of weight he loses. Instead, he considers whether he lost weight during the past week. “[This] pass/fail makes it so much easier than worrying about losing 1.1 lbs. or .9 lbs. that week. It's just not that important how far you're going, just that it's in the right direction.”