Interview with Life/Wellness Coach Lauren Miller

Diet and Exercise Leading to Personal Wealth!

Interview with Life/Wellness Coach Lauren Miller

26 May 2009 398 views View Comments

Hello everyone! Today, in keeping with our desire to provide informative information in the world of health and wellness, we are bringing you Life/Wellness Coach Lauren Miller. We are excited to have Lauren join us for this interview and we know you will find it as interesting as we have. Let’s get started!

Jason – Good afternoon Lauren. Thanks so much for taking some time to talk with us today.

Lauren – Thank you Jason, I am very honored to have this opportunity.

Jason – Just to let all of those non-believers out there know, we are here today thanks to the wonderful world of social media! It was, in fact, things like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. that brought you and I together so I am now a firm believer in their importance to our industry.

Lauren – It has really transformed the way we can communicate. Everywhere you look, it is Twitter this and Facebook that. The rules have changed and we can reach out to so many more people faster and easier… people whom we may have never been able to reach or get to know before.

Jason – I guess, now, I will have to spend even more time working on all those social media outlets huh? Oh boy! OK, why don’t we get started? Before we get into the details of what you do, tell us a little about who you are and how you came to fitness.

Lauren - Sure! I am in a loving relationship with Larry, I am a mother of two sons 19 and soon to be 22, and I am both a certified personal trainer and a professional life/wellness coach.

It wasn’t until after college that I really came to fitness, in fact I hated PE in school! Like many people entering into the adult world from student to going to work, not only does your life take on new directions and challenges but your body does too! The direction my body was going was “round”, I was uncomfortable with that and I realized I needed to pay better attention to it.

On my journey I have gone from eating what ever I wanted to a dieter… junk food to vegetarian… it is still a journey but now I embrace holistic eating, no boxes, no sugar, gluten free, organic as much as possible, fish and poultry, no red meat… do I seek pleasure foods from time to time? You betcha! But at least 90% of the time my nutrition is pretty clean. My fitness level has gone from sedentary to “warrior”, and leveled out some at my youthful 51… but the feat I am most proud of is my body-weight chin-ups… now up to 9 on the first set.

I began working out after college, and kind of stopped and started with having my children. By the time my youngest was 3 or 4 I became consistent with my workouts ever since, so a late start in some ways, but at it a long time now.

I loved working out so much I became an advocate by getting my personal trainer certification. I wanted to help others have the same benefits. When I made the shift to wellness coaching, I was amazed that my clients were even more successful and just by coaching them on the phone!!!

Jason – Wow! 9 body weight chin-ups? Got me beat! Amazing how we start to pay attention to such things and set those new goals isn’t it? Can you explain the Wellness Coach concept a little better for our readers?

Lauren – The short definition is wellness coaching, or any coaching for that matter, is what takes someone from where they are now (stuck or status quo) to where they want to be.

That may sound over-simplistic, and you may be thinking, okay so what? I’ve done this…

1) Get clear on what you want, set a goal

2) Take action to move you toward your goal

3) Evaluate your progress

4) Adjust your approach based on your feedback

5) Reach your goal

But here’s what really happens, and before I became a wellness coach I saw it all the time in the gyms where I trained…

1) The goal set is not clear (“I want to lose weight and tone up”) there is nothing specific and measurable about it, there is no strong emotional reason for why the goal is desired, or the deadline to complete the goal is unrealistic… the “quick fix”

2) Next a “diet” may be followed that becomes an act of willpower because it is one of food and calorie deprivation or lack of pleasure foods. Then, punishing exercise follows without any real knowledge of what works, for example long slow grueling hours on a treadmill where you seem to be working hard but the results you want aren’t showing up. (You’ve all seen these people at the gym who come time after time but their bodies never change)

3) The person feels like a failure and may convince him/her self that they either have bad genetics, their too old, too busy to stay accountable to the plan, etc… and all their limiting beliefs stop any progress as soon as they encounter the first obstacle. They are further frustrated when the goal is not reached in the amount of time they were expecting.

4) The person will either try the next best diet or exercise craze or they will give up all together and decide it just wasn’t meant for them, leaving them defeated, more stressed and overwhelmed than they were before.

Most of the clients I coach are looking to achieve their ideal body weight and fitness level. Wellness coaching is not about testing your willpower to stick to a nutrition and fitness program, in fact this method fails the most. Eventually you go back to your old habits… who you really are.

95-99% of people who follow a program gain the weight back in 1-2 years!

Let me repeat: 95-99% of people who follow a program gain the weight back in 1-2 years. This alarming statistic tells me that the billions of dollars spent in the weight loss industry are not working.

Weight gain is not the problem, food is not the trouble… people are. Weight gain is often the result of our bodies wanting to be loved, needing more awareness, looking for self-validation, finding life purpose, needing healing, living less stressfully either in our careers, our relationships, or our finances, and on and on…

Without getting to the root cause of being over-weight on a much deeper level, one beyond burning fat and burning calories, the weight loss is not successful.

Ultimately you must do the work of proper exercise and nutrition. Without first creating the proper mindset to create the unstoppable action you are merely putting a “band-aid” on the problem, (the over-weight), and not addressing the root cause of why the weight was gained in the first place.

Hiring a coach helps people find out exactly what they want by asking powerful questions that encourage deeper level thinking. Then, together we set a plan with specific actions steps to continually propel forward toward the goal. The person begins to see that they can achieve those inner goals in all aspects of their lives and gain confidence as well as lose fat and become more fit.

The result is a natural appetite, not punishment with exercise or willpower to deny food. You stay committed to gaining life, not losing weight. Your inner mantra becomes, “I enjoy eating healthy foods and moving my body because it makes me look and feel good.”

Jason - So very true Lauren. It is truly amazing how few individuals either set goals to begin with or do not now how to set goals properly to ensure their success. I am so happy to hear that someone such as yourself is really pushing that aspect as it applies to every facet of life and is far too often overlooked. Now, personally, I still don’t think the Wellness concept has enough steam and most people are going to benefit from your explanation of it. Now what about your ” Best Body Makeover” program? What is that all about and how does it work?

Lauren -Thank you Jason, and I hope I didn’t carry on too much, but you can tell I am very passionate about what I do and I love helping others reach their goals in the most meaningful and lasting way.

Well, first of all they can sign up and get a free 7-day email mini course by going to: http://www.bestbodymakeover.com/

When they sign-up for the free course, they will also receive a free 30-minute strategy coaching session with me.

If they just want to jump right into coaching, they can visit http://www.bestbodymakeover.com/coaching for more information.

Jason – Can anyone, on any fitness level, benefit from your program?

Lauren – Absolutely, and it is never too late to make a change.

Jason – What do you find to be the most common obstacle your clients face when starting your program? Is there a common denominator so to speak that most of your clients face?

Lauren – They struggle with busy schedules and don’t see a way to make time for self-care.

I actually surveyed my readers and time was the number one obstacle. I did a teleseminar with another fitness professional, Marc Lebert called “The Top 10 Reasons Why People Struggle With Their Fitness and Nutrition and What to Do About It”. Now we are launching a 30-day program starting on May 27th, http://www.bestbodymakeover.com/bbm

Jason – Typically, what’s your biggest challenge as a Wellness Coach?

Lauren -The biggest challenge is everybody wants the quick fix. The body has a slower pace than we would like it to have. It takes a long time to get into a mess and sometimes even longer to get out of one.

We cannot push it, when we try to push, that is an act of desperation and that causes more stress and that unfortunately can create the opposite of the desired effect.

Jason – And what about your biggest reward from what you do? Your client’s rewards, as well as, what makes being a Wellness Coach rewarding to you?

Lauren -I feel happy and grateful for the life I have been given and the journey I am on. This journey has led me to share my service and help others in a meaningful way. I love that I can reach out to so many people through my coaching programs, posting information of value on my blog, and offering free teleseminars on a variety of wellness topics.

You can see by the testimonials posted on my coaching websites the rewards that my clients have achieved.

I love when I see my clients enter the world of AWARENESS. When they discover that “Aha Moment” and they can move ahead with confidence and total conviction that they will achieve their goals. They become literally unstoppable. When they get to that place, they feel so GOOD, and that feeling is contagious, so I feel good and happy to have shared that part of their journey.

Jason – It’s a great feeling isn’t it? Doing what we do?

Lauren -You Jason, are doing some awesome things that are really going to help so many people, and I am excited to know you and watch it all unfold.

Jason – I truly appreciate that Lauren! Very kind words and hopefully we will be watching society change on a whole through our combined efforts! Thanks so much for chatting with us today! I’m sure this will do a fine job of enlightening our readers on Wellness Coaching quite a bit. We would love to have you back in the future if you’d like to join us again. Interested?

Lauren -You bet! And it’s okay to pick up the phone and talk to me the old-fashioned way! Any time, Jason.

Jason – I will make sure and do that! We will work together for years to come, fighting this wellness battle, along the way! Thanks again Lauren. We will have you back soon!