I decided to coach myself this month.
I realized my work pants are just a little tighter than I’d like. I don’t like my mattress at work anymore and have been having difficulty sleeping through the night. I figure if I can coach myself, who is stubborn, willful, and autistic so has trouble understanding simple concepts, I can coach anyone, right?
I’m one week into it.
I forgot I’m doing this.
I wake up with the best intentions, then let life interfere and forget I’m my client. So how am I doing this?
Struggles
- With my autism, I have really bad ADHD. My squirrel moments & shiny object distraction is REAL. Our station is next door to Domino’s. Let me tell ya… the smell is enough to drive the strictest person insane with cravings! Just something about the cooking dough, I guess. Doesn’t help the guys order in pizza at least once a week. My partner likes fast food, so we’re hitting Panda, Burger King, or the like every day.
- I get food fixations like any other autistic person. I’ll eat the same thing day after day after day… until I open it and gag at the smell/thought. So what I pack in the morning may gross me out by the time I actually get to work. Then #1 hits, and BOOM! I forget I’m eating healthy to be healthy, and eating to strengthing my body for the Spartan I’m doing in January.
- Same with #1, when I go to the grocery store, I shop by list. But then I see pizza or ice cream and buy it, not remembering I’m supposed to be eating healthy until I get home. I’ve heard people liken it to a fugue state, and I can 100% agree with that!
Wins
- I KNOW what’s healthy. I KNOW what I need to eat, when to eat it, how much to eat. Now I’m down to tweaking things… biohacking if you will. I’m experimenting with food combinations & food timing… as well as supplementing. This is the part of being a coach that’s FUN, because I can test these viral tricks and tell my clients if they’re worth it or not. I realize every body is different, but I have a real personal experience to share, versus some random influencer we don’t know if they’ve been paid off for their “experience”.
- I’ve finally gotten all the junk food out of my house. I can 100% share with my clients just how successful they will feel when all they have in the house is healthy food. The desire to snack goes away. I’m hitting my macro goals. I may have cracked the secret to amazing sleep. I know. Mind blowing.
- When I eat properly, I’m feeling AMAZING! I can eat 2 slices of pizza and feel stuffed and sick to my stomach for HOURS. I ate a 9oz ribeye (so…. About 3x the volume of food?) and felt fantastic! No acid reflux. No heaviness or lethargy… just felt good. Went to sleep just fine, got up to run calls in the middle of the night just fine.
So what are my goals? I’m keeping my June goals simple. Just as I would with any client. See my starting point, and aim to make a 1% improvement (OK, really 10%, but…. 1% is the aim!)
- Aiming to reduce or eliminate processed foods
- Aim to get adequate protein every day
- Aim to train for the Spartan 3x/week
- Take my supplements daily (ketones, multi-vitamin, adrenal support, and athlete complex)
And my new one…. Reduce dairy until I can cut it out entirely. Somehow I got confused and made dairy a food group right up there with steak, and that’s no bueno.
Going forward, I’m going to continue to focus on preparing for Spartan. I’m going to continue to reach for my protein goal, only supplementing with nutrient-dense fruits/veggies if I’ve already hit my protein goal for the day. I’m going to train every day I’m not working (hard to train when I work 24 hour shifts).
Essentially Health & Wellness 