This week, Adee is talking about one of her favorite topics: mental mindset and your relationship with food and your coach.

Q: How can tracking macros have a long-term effect on my relationship with food?

A: Tracking your nutrition can completely transform your relationship with food. I used to avoid and restrict myself from foods, then I would completely binge. In other words: don’t eat pizza, don’t eat pizza, don’t eat pizza and then the first chance I got to eat pizza I couldn’t control how much of it I’d eat. The great thing about tracking your food is that you can find ways to use moderation when approaching foods you commonly find tempting. You can find a way to eat just some of that ice cream, but not all of it. Changing the way you see food allows you to be in control of what you eat, rather than letting the food control you. This mindset and the practice of tracking macros ultimately promotes a positive relationship with the food you eat!

Q: How much detail should I be giving my WAG coach during check-ins?

A: Nutrition is extra unique in that it’s not just about the food on your plate. The way you make food decisions is not often solely based on your performance in the gym or how you look in the mirror. Actually, many factors affect the way a person approaches nutrition and food intake: stress, anxiety, emotions, relationships and travel, among others. This is exactly why, when you’re working with a nutrition coach, it’s really important to provide them with the whole picture. Tell them more than just what and how much you’re eating. Your coach needs to know about your moods, habits, behaviors, sleep patterns and your hunger level so they can help you be as successful as possible on your plan. If we can look at all those factors affecting you, then you’ll be able to achieve any goal you’re after, while feeling totally in control.  

Q: Does my Working Against Gravity coach draw the line at nutrition? Can I ask for other help?

A: Your relationship with your WAG coach won’t just be about nutrition, especially if you deem nutrition as the food on your plate and your performance in the gym. Your relationship goes far beyond that. We’re here to help you find the program that best fits your lifestyle, so that the program you’re doing will be one you can follow and stick with, even under the harshest circumstances. If you become really stressed out or emotional, your coach needs to know so they can provide you with strategies, tactics and principles to help you manage your mindset and follow your plan. Our goal at Working Against Gravity is transformation, whether that’s emotional, intellectual, spiritual or physical. Whatever it is, we’re here to help you transform your life, and we use nutrition to do that! Some of our success stories include a member securing the job of her dreams, ultimately changing her life. Others have fixed relationships and troubled marriages—there really are no boundaries to the goals we can achieve together!

If you were feeling uncomfortable talking with your coach about more than just nutrition, I hope my answers have encouraged you to open up. Your coach’s job is to help in all aspects of your life—mindset and nutrition are the uniquely intertwined tools we use to help. So provide your coach with all the information possible, so that they can help you to the best of their ability!

If you still have questions about the relationship between nutrition and mindset, or about your relationship with your nutrition coach, add them in the comments and I’ll address them in an upcoming blog!