At Skillings Fitness, clients share a common goal of losing weight. Since 2017, Skillings Fitness clients have combined to lose over 900 pounds by more than 20 people. Nearly every client came to Skillings Fitness because they wanted to exercise to lose weight. Some clients immediately bought into my habit-based approach to nutrition coaching while others needed a little more guidance and support to try this completely new concept of not dieting in order to lose weight. No two people have the same weight loss journey. Some people are at the point in their journey where they’re nearing the end of their ProCoach program, have lost weight, and kept the weight off. And you’re probably wondering what to do when the program ends.
For the people who have been with Skillings Fitness for a year or longer, we don’t often address what life is like for you or how it could be for someone about to be in your shoes. You’ve done your workouts, you’ve read your ProCoach lessons, and you’ve tried new ways of eating and preparing food. You’ve likely made a food journal, counted calories in a food log, or tracked macros at some point in the year to see if it’s right for you. Maybe you lost 30 pounds at the beginning like it was no big deal then Seasonal Affective Disorder reared its ugly head this winter and 10-15 pounds crept back on while you (smartly) focused on your mental health.
You’re learning how to rule your nutrition and weight loss world by creating your Owner’s Manual with ProCoach. People are dynamic: constantly learning, growing, and adapting to life — you aren’t the same person you were last year. So what can you do to keep learning, growing, and changing?
The ultimate goal for a weight loss client is to get to maintenance mode. Everything you’ve worked on at Skillings Fitness has been based on the idea that your everyday actions will lead to weight loss. Small, repeatable actions yield big changes later on. Take weight lifting, for example, those strength training classes you attend three times per week are designed to build lean muscle, remove aches and pains, and improve your quality of life. Your fitness schedule is set in stone. You may even rearrange the rest of your day around them so you don’t miss a class. That routine you’ve established with exercise is exactly the type of things we’re trying to do with nutrition at Skillings Fitness.
*Actual Skillings Fitness client story*
This client initially came to class so they could lose a bunch of weight and didn’t want to change their eating habits. The scale didn’t budge one bit for weeks. But they kept going to the classes. After around month one or two, their clothes started getting looser. They noticed that going up the stairs at work doesn’t leave them feeling winded anymore. While they may not have been getting the results they wanted, everyday things were changing for the better. They started sleeping better. It got easier and easier to make the “better” food decision more often. After four months, they felt confident enough in their fitness routine to shift their focus from weight loss with exercise to weight loss with eating habits. Eight months later, they’ve lost over 50 pounds by sticking with their fitness routine and their new eating habits are nearly effortless now.
This client is very close to being in maintenance mode. They still want to lose another 15 pounds and with their current habits and lifestyle, they are on track to achieve their weight loss goal this year. For this client, entering into maintenance mode won’t involve changing anything in their life. Their current lifestyle and habits will lead them to their weight loss goal and allow them to settle into their new weight. Entering maintenance mode means different things for each person. It can often be a more turbulent transition than the initial eating habit changes you’ve made.
This client has signed on for another year of coaching and classes so they can have guidance and support during their transition to maintenance mode. For this client, it’s more about having that strong support system in place for when unexpected bumps in the road come up.