What I learned from a year of coaching nutrition

Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash

Yesterday, March 19 2022, marked one year since the official formation of Go Bravely.  I started the company with 3 beta clients and a burning desire to help people with food.  And I finished my first year having had the opportunity to share in the journeys of more than 30 incredibly determined, resilient, and courageous human beings!

If you had asked me then how I expected to feel in a year, it wouldn’t have come close to the sense of pure joy, gratitude, and satisfaction that I feel today.

And I believe it’s because I get to bear witness each day to small yet significant acts of human courage and resilience. 

I get to see the side of humanity that is vulnerable and honest, that holds hope for the future, that is open to learning and laughter, that seeks connection, and that is willing to try different things.

Go Bravely is a body-positive nutrition and fitness coaching company that uses state-of-the-art coaching methods to deliver inwardly and outwardly transformative results.  This mission is much more than just words to me, but a philosophy that animates each coaching relationship.  

There is no singular, broad-stroke prescription or one-size-fits-all program to achieve the kind of deep and enduring health that we all deserve, and that those who we love deserve from us.  We are all on our own unique journeys, and I meet people at different points along that path, with different ideas about where they want to go and different places they have been.

Through my formal training, my coaching experience, and my own life experience, I have learned that nutrition and fitness do not exist in a vacuum that can be easily separated from our lives, our identities, our past experiences, our financial situations, or even our genetic and cultural heritage.  Diets and meal plans are lovely on paper, but at a certain point, they lack the fluidity, fullness, and feedback to fit our multi-dimensional bodies and lives.

Nutrition and fitness are, rather, a portal for self-discovery.  A window “in” to your values, priorities, assumptions, and views about yourself and your place in the world. 

As a coach, it’s important to me to help you clarify these goals and motivations, recognize and draw on your individual superpowers, and identify opportunities for greater alignment.  And sometimes we do all these things only to realize that the goals we were chasing weren’t the right ones after all. 

Some of the most profound moments I’ve shared with clients are when they realize that their ideas about who they wanted to be weren’t really theirs to begin with, but their partner’s or their parents’ or society’s or the ideas of some past version of themselves.  

And so we iterate.  We start again, we refocus, and we realign.  We practice the skills of introspection, discipline, self-compassion, and adaptation, always starting from a place of complete worthiness.  

We stay open to what comes up in our minds and bodies as we “try on” different actions related to how we nourish ourselves, move our bodies, advance our personal missions, connect with others, and spend our time.

I was in the middle of a workout today alongside several gym members and coaching clients and had a moment of overwhelming awe.  It was a Sunday morning, not even 8am, and there we were: choosing, once again, to move our bodies, to express our vitality, and to connect.  Which is at once an act of respect for our bodies, an act of hope for our future, an act of belief in ourselves, and an act of community for each other.

I love a big victory and my clients have had plenty of them: hitting new lifting PRs, running their fastest ultramarathon, becoming fit enough for deployment, eating a “fear food” for the first time in years, ending a toxic relationship, fitting into pants that make them feel amazing, and so many more.  

But it is also these seemingly small, inconsequential moments–these humble Sunday morning workouts–that ultimately define why I coach.  

Because everyone wants results. But what takes courage is having the humility to recognize that things won’t change overnight and to the take the first step anyway.

It takes courage to play the long game, to answer the tough questions, and to own your actions, emotions, and stories. These are the victories that fire me up.

I couldn’t be more proud of the GB community or more optimistic about the future.  Here’s to another year of learning, eating, training, dancing, writing, and going bravely, together, into the beautiful and terrifying unknown.