What is a Health Coach?
- Coach Danielle
- Aug 17, 2025
- 5 min read
Just a few years ago in the thick of perimenopause I was mentally exhausted, stressed, and overweight. I couldn’t understand why I was exercising and still gaining weight. I hadn’t changed anything but every photograph I saw of myself I cringed and wondered, “do I really look like that?”. I was miserable, uncomfortable in my own skin and had given up. I was told to accept the “middle-age spread” because it just happens to everyone. I knew I needed to lose weight. I knew I had to address my stress levels and that there was a better way to live life. I needed to make change with my health, but I just didn’t know how.
When I inquired with conventional doctors about perimenopause symptoms, I was offered anti-depressants over and over. I wasn’t depressed, I was going through hormonal changes. I wanted to lose weight and lower my stress & anxiety levels but without the assistance of drugs. I watched people I know and love inject themselves with a weight loss medications in an attempt to change the number on the scale and suffer through awful side effects. While this may not happen to everyone, I knew that wasn't a route I wanted to take.
As a last-ditch effort I decided to work with an Online Health Coach who focused on nutrition & exercise. I decided I would be a student of the process. I didn’t want to just dabble with it, so I went “all-in”. I listened to what I was told. I embraced the discomfort. I tried new things. I looked like a fool not knowing what I was doing. I was frustrated because it was hard. I was confused because it was new. I didn’t necessarily like it, but I did it anyways. Slowly over time, it became less confusing. Eventually it became more comfortable. Then it just became routine, and a habit that I no longer even think about it. It's just something I do and it's become a part of who I am. While I initially only had results with weight loss, I was still struggling mentally. This is when I opened my mind and my heart to the fact that health is more than diet and exercise and enrolled in the Institute of Integrated Nutrition.
You can eat all the kale, drink all the green juice, and do any form of exercise to your heart's desire but if your mindset isn’t right and your mental state isn’t well then you are just as sick as a person who is morbidly overweight. Stress can kill. You can be a sick healthy person, in fact I found myself to be one of those people and this is when I realized there was more work to do when it came to my own health.
A doctor may tell you that you need to lose weight, they may offer you medication to assist with that but what they don’t offer you a road map to sustainable lifestyle changes. So, you leave their office and look up the new trending diet or exercise routine and may quickly lose weight but is it sustainable over a long period of time? The majority of people who jump on these fads gain the weight back because you can’t maintain that intensity for a long period of time. Sure, you can take weight loss drugs, but what happens when you stop taking them?
You may also find yourself being told you you’re depressed and need drugs because that medical professional is looking at the symptoms you’re describing to them in that 15-minutes you have with rather than spending time digging into what may be triggering the action causing that result. They may write that RX, tell you need to do this or do that, and send you out the door of their office because your brief time with them is up and there are 35 other people waiting in line to see them that day alone. This is where working with a health coach comes in.
As a Certified Integrative Nutritional Health Coach my goal is to support you in figuring out where to start the process of change and how to shift your thought process to create daily habits that are sustainable. It’s not about short-term, quick fixes but lasting habits that are built over a lifetime so you can not only achieve your wellness goals but stick to them. Together we will collaborate to identify and modify unhealthy behaviors & habits so that we can set realistic and achievable goals with guidance and support along the way. You won’t have to tackle anything alone.
Most people tend to focus on what they’re putting in the mouths, which yes is a big part of health, but it’s important to look what we're putting on our skin, washing our clothes with and overall at what nourishes us off our plates as well. Your mindset, home environment, financial situation, social life, spirituality, career, relationships, and so much more are all important factors that impact your health. With so much information out there it’s impossible to know what to do or where to start. Everyone is telling you “do this", "don’t do that” and it’s more confusing than ever. As a Health Coach, I will focus on you as an individual person by looking holistically at how to dial into what nourishes you and you alone both on and off your plate.
So, going back to what is exactly is a Health Coach? Health Coaches work with individuals on their specific goals and create a customized plan unique to each person as to what can be accomplished based on their specific circumstances. There is no one-size-fits all because what works for me, may not work for you and that might not work for someone else. Health coaches focus on small steps that can be implemented from a mindset perspective. I prefer to be in the journey with my clients rather than obsessing about the outcome and we’ll work to shift your mindset so that you can leverage the strongest muscle in our bodies, our brain. When we focus on the here and now, we take part in the journey. When you put in the work, the results will come. The challenges and learning experiences we go through can be more valuable than just achieving the final result. While we will work together in pursuit of a goal, it’s the process of personal growth, resilience, and the lessons we encounter along the way that will get us there and guide you even after our time together.
At the end of the day, you know your own body better than anyone else. As a Health Coach, I will put you in the driver seat of your own health. I am not a medical professional and I will not diagnose, treat, or prescribe medications. However, I will be that support system in conjunction with other tools, resources, and professionals you may be working with so that you can tap into your own power & motivation to manage your health through lifestyle changes.
I have walked and continue to walk my own path of struggle and success and would love to be your "guide on the side" so that you too can transform into the best version of yourself. Together we work to rediscover that inner glow and reignite what may have momentarily dimmed on the inside. Find out how this Certified Integrative Nutritional Health Coach help you achieve your health goals in sustainable manner that will last a lifetime by clicking the button below. Are you ready to shine from the inside out?
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