Think about your favorite Olympic athletes. They train, eat and prepare to perform at their best.

But behind every Olympic athlete is a coach who works even harder to ensure their athlete’s support. Even seasoned Olympic athletes need coaches who can help them improve at their sport and have a strategic game plan in place.

So what are you doing to unlock your best self?

With so many conflicting priorities in life, it’s easy to put everyone else first. But if we don’t give ourselves proper self-care, our bodies respond negatively. Over time, we see weight gain, higher stress levels and chronic disease. If we want to change these outcomes, we have to challenge the status quo. We have to commit to improving our lives.

Much like athletes training for the Olympics, we can benefit from having coaches who can help us improve our health. We simply do better when we have a coach – someone to educate us, encourage us, challenge us and hold us accountable to the changes we want to make. A health coach is an expert on health, behavior and nutrition to help you set and reach your goals.

Read on to learn more about how working with a health coach may help you reach your goals.

10 benefits of working with a health coach

There are many reasons why you might consider a health coach if you are trying to lose weight. Whether you’re new to coaching or have had multiple coaches in your life, learn more about the health benefits of working with a health coach.

1. Lose more weight

If you’re serious about losing more weight, you might want to enlist the help of a health coach. A study showed that women who followed a structured weight loss program with one-on-one support lost three times more weight compared to those who didn’t receive coaching.¹

2. Improve your quality of life

 It’s not just about the numbers on the scale. In the same study above, the group that received health coaching also reported “improved physical and mental quality of life at 12 months compared with usual care.”¹ This is because your health coach focuses on the whole you instead of just weight loss.

3.  Put thoughts into action

 You probably already know what a healthy lifestyle looks like: sleeping well, eating whole foods (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins), being active daily, decreasing stress and being connected to others. Putting these principles into practice is harder than it seems, through no fault of our own. Your health coach will help write down a plan that will work for you and how you can achieve your goals.

4.  Better accountability

Having a health coach means you have someone to hold you accountable for your goals. At your scheduled check-ins, you have someone to ask you how things are going. Even when things aren’t going well, a good health coach will help you break down barriers instead of being judgmental.

5.  Improve your health outcomes

 Health coaching has positive benefits beyond just your weight on the scale. A review of randomized clinical trials showed that people had better weight and nutrition behaviors with health and wellness coaching.² This applied to a diverse population with different chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

6.   Support with making healthy choices

With so many nutrition headlines in the news, it’s hard to tell the facts from myths. A health coach is typically trained in nutrition and healthy eating to help guide healthier lifestyle choices. Even after your weight loss program, you can expect continued benefits from health coaching!

7.   Set “SMART” goals

 A health coach will help you set some SMART goals – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. Many of these goals will be focused on behaviors that repeat over time rather than an outcome. For example, a SMART goal for someone who wants to improve their hydration would be to drink two more cups of water daily for the next four weeks. By making small changes over time, you can expect to reach your goals!

8.  Get personalized advice

 Losing weight is not a one-size-fits-all journey. We all have unique challenges that are part of what makes us special! Your health coach will help tailor discussions around where you most need support — whether that’s managing temptations or how to read nutrition labels at the grocery store.

9. Have support in your corner

 As much as our friends and family try to support us, they sometimes don’t get it. Family gatherings and holidays are particularly challenging when you’re trying to stick to a program. Your health coach will always be in your corner as part of your support system so that you’re not alone in your journey. They’ll always be there to lend an ear on a bad or good day.

10.  Positive encouragement

Sometimes you just need a cheerleader to keep you motivated. Health coaching is not just about talking about goals – a great health coach should encourage you, motivate you and help you achieve all your goals. You can do it!

Health coaching from Jenny Craig’s Max Up program

We now understand why it’s so critical to have a health coach when we’re trying to lose weight. Much like our favorite Olympic athletes, we can max up our health when we have the right support system in place. We don’t have to be alone in our weight loss journey – we can be more successful by enlisting a health coach.

Fortunately, Jenny Craig’s Max Up program includes one-on-one health coaching from your Jenny Craig coach to help you achieve your goals. It is the only program that combines health coaching with chef-crafted meals, physical activity routines, intermittent fasting support and hydration to maximize the science of weight management. It’s a holistic and evidence-based approach to weight loss! Ditch the fad diets out there that promise quick results but don’t focus on the whole you.

As part of Max Up, your Jenny Craig health coach will meet with you weekly to help set and monitor your goals, provide guidance, answer questions about your menu, keep you accountable and provide motivation.

Get connected, supported and encouraged to maintain your life changes. Max Up your life with Jenny Craig! Get started today.