Facilitating Movement: Coaching For Health, Well-being, and Weight Management. What is the number one item that shows up in more people's wellness plan than any other health goal? That's easy; attaining
and maintaining a healthy weight. With the world-WIDE obesity epidemic in full swing and the consequences showing up in health risk statistics and alarming rises in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc., it's fairly safe to say that the majority of people seeking wellness coaching are hoping to succeed at this elusive task.
When we seek out the reason people are struggling with weight issues we usually spot the very visible villains like the evil fast food scoundrels that coat everything with batter, deep fry it, and serve it up "supersized". Much can be achieved by an improved diet, absolutely. However lots of social research has revealed that there may be another baddie out there driving the obesity epidemic; sitting disease! Our ways of living and working are increasingly sedentary. Think about your own average work day. How much do you really move about? For millions of people around the globe, their work is now more focused on data and tasks done while they are stationary. Daily activity is on the decrease for adults and, tragically, for children also. Most of us spend ten to fifteen hours a day just sitting.
In previous newsletters I've written about "Living Like You Were In Tuscany"and living your "Lifestyle as Art" In those pieces I expressed a desire many of us share for creating a way of living where movement is a natural and significant part of daily life. I asked you to imagine a life where you didn't have to "work" and exercising, but it was built-in to your everyday way of living. What are we learning about movement, outside of our purposeful "workouts"?
Researchers in both laboratories and out in the social landscapes are concluding that first, all movement counts toward our health, and second the real key to being active enough to make a true difference if we want to lose weight and keep it off may be all the movement we do besides that workout. Purposeful exercise is still important, in fact it may be hard to move enough in a day without it to go for actual weight loss, but the non-exercise activity is crucial.
"Exercise" is a word most of our wellness coaching clients do not like. "I hate exercise!" is a common phrase you hear from someone who struggles with weight. Some folks like certain kinds of exercise, but they usually don't do it often enough. Lots of barriers to exercise come up and though good coaching can help a person find ways over, around, under and through, it's often a real challenge.
Read more
