October 7, 2025 • 38 mins
12 Mistakes Dieters Make: A Deep Dive into Alan Aragon’s List for Health Coaches
Discover the top 12 weight loss mistakes we all make & learn how to avoid them! Tune in to this must-listen episode with insights from health guru Alan Aragon.
In this episode, Erin Power reflects on Alan’s practical advice while emphasizing realistic goals, the importance of sufficient sleep, resistance training, nutrient-dense foods, and the power of accountability. Get inspired by these real-world examples and actionable tips to help you and your clients achieve sustainable health and wellness.
Episode Overview:
0:00 Intro
0:55 Learning from Different Perspectives
1:45 Introducing Alan Aragon's Insights
7:00 Weight Loss Mistakes: Unrealistic Expectations
10:00 Importance of Sleep
12:00 Resistance Training
14:00 Protein Intake
17:00 Nutrient-Dense Foods
22:00 Dichotomous Views
25:00 Caloric Deficit
28:00 Maintenance Phases
30:00 WProactive Planning
33:00 Long-Term Perspective
35:00 Accountability System
Connect with Erin on:
- Submit your questions to help@primalhealthcoach.com
- Website: primalhealthcoach.com
- Instagram: @primalhealthcoach
Ready to turn your passion for health into lasting impact?
Health Coach Radio is your backstage pass into the world of health and fitness coaching, hosted by Primal Health Coach Institute Coaching Director, Erin Power, and powered by the legacy of founder Mark Sisson. Each episode is packed with real stories, expert strategies, and practical inspiration to help you grow as a coach and make a difference.
Curious about what’s possible for your own health coaching journey?
Visit primalhealthcoach.com to learn how Primal Health Coach Institute can help you transform lives—including your own—through the power of coaching and ancestral health.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello, health coaches, Erin Power here, and I'm dropping in with a solo episode today
that is actually kind of in the realm of an unscripted riff because I was literally just
scrolling my phone in a productive way, okay, not in a low vibe way. You know, I run my business
on Instagram. I get most of my clients and my audience through Instagram. So I kind of have
(00:21):
to be on Instagram for my job. And, you know, for better or worse, I do spend a fair bit of time on
that app, but I also learn stuff. And I actually kind of love it for that reason. I mean, we have
access to more information than ever before, which is a blessing and a curse. But I think maybe a lot
of folks listening, if you're like me, you are hungry for knowledge and information. And especially
(00:41):
in the wellness world where there's so much constant evolution and changing ideas, it feels
kind of like part of our job to, I consider it part of my job to be aware of some of the different
narratives that are all over the place. So for example, I take it upon myself to listen and
follow people who I disagree with, not because I want to argue with them. I have no interest in
(01:06):
arguing with people on the internet, but because I want to hear how they justify their perspective
in much the same way I justify mine. I mean, we're all drawing a line in the sand in terms of our
expertise and our point of view. And we're very convicted of our own points of view. And other
people have totally different points of view that they're equally convicted on. And I love to
(01:26):
experience that both sort of both sides of the aisle, if you will. So anyway, I follow a lot of
people who are in my space and not in my space and whose beliefs align with me and whose beliefs
don't align with me. And I end up learning a lot. I end up learning a lot through my social feed,
and I'm grateful for that. Hi, I'm Erin Power. I'm a health coach, a health coaching educator
(01:47):
and mentor and your host of Health Coach Radio. This podcast delves into the art, science,
and business of health coaching. Whether you're aspiring to land a coaching dream job or to embark
on your own entrepreneurial adventure, we cover it all. Our mission is to help you grow your career,
elevate your income, change the lives of the clients who need your help, and leave a lasting
(02:09):
mark in this rapidly growing field. It's time for health coaches to make an impact.
It's time for Health Coach Radio.
So I'm scrolling today and Alan Aragon posts this carousel post.
He's jotted down some ideas in his notes app on his phone, took a screen grab, posted it
(02:32):
to his feed.
It sounds like I'm talking a different language, doesn't it?
What is this language I'm using?
Screen grab, notes app, Instagram feed, post, carousel.
Anyway, you're following, I hope.
And I absolutely love this post and I wanted to share it with you and like dissect it a little
bit. And by the way, just putting this out there, I would love to have Ellen Aragon on the podcast.
(02:53):
The wheels are in motion. We've invited him. We'll see if it happens. But he's a really
interesting guy because this is a good example of personally how he's not really in the space that I
would pay attention to. And by this, I mean, I mean, he does body composition, body recomposition
stuff and fat loss, as do I. I'm a weight loss, fat loss coach. But I do fat loss for women of my
(03:19):
sort of peer group, call it in their 50s, who don't really have any interest in being aesthetic,
you know, to that extent. We're not doing fat loss phases. We don't want to take on any crash diets.
We don't want to track our food. We're just not in that kind of fitness nutrition space. We're
just regular people trying to live our lives and feel great in our bodies. So a little bit different
And Ellen Aragon's in the fitness world.
(03:41):
The fitness world approaches fat loss a lot differently than I do.
And that's cool.
That's great.
Isn't that amazing?
So if you have like a fitness aesthetic goal, there are tons of coaches that focus on that
fitness aesthetic outcome, which would involve, you know, fat loss phases and diet breaks
and maintenance phases and refeeds and all this stuff that I couldn't be bothered to do.
(04:03):
But which is very, very beneficial for the person who wants and needs that kind of attention,
right?
I just love that we have this opportunity to do whatever we want to do. So this whole idea of like
rising tide lifts all boats, I'm here for it, because there's all kinds of people who want
different kinds of weight loss. And I'm so grateful that there's somebody like Ellen Aragon, or there's
macro coaches or bikini prep coaches that do this kind of stuff, because I don't want to do it.
(04:25):
And I don't have to. That's amazing. I don't want to have to do stuff I don't want to do.
Let me say that again, I don't want to have to do stuff I don't want to
the benefit of being in practice for yourself and being an online sort of health and wellness
entrepreneur is you get to do whatever you want and you don't have to do what you don't want.
(04:48):
So anyway, Ellen Aragon, absolute pioneer in the industry, more in the fitness space than I am.
And what I like about him is that he's so reasonable. He just is a reasonable guy.
There's a lot of unreasonable people on the internet. You know what I mean? They're kind
of argumentative and they're dunking on other people and doing lots of takedown content and
(05:10):
they're snarky and mean and rude. And I just don't vibe with that personally. It works for some people
and for some folks, that's their whole brand identity. And if that's like, if you're listening
and you think, oh, that's kind of my vibe, I'm kind of a snarky takedown debunker. Cool. I mean,
that's an amazing voice to have. And lots of people have tons of success with that. It's just
(05:32):
not mine. It's just not my vibe. And Ellen Aragon also doesn't really play that way.
So I do like his, what I would consider to be very considered rational take on things.
He posted this. This was on about the 20th of September. So whenever you're watching,
(05:53):
they're listening to this. This is about the 20th of September. So you can scroll through his feed
didn't find it. He kind of posted it with no comment. But he called it the dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. Now, I'm a weight loss coach. Alan Aragon's a
weight loss guy. Maybe you're not. And you're thinking I'm out. I don't do weight loss. No
(06:17):
problem. I think you should stick around, though, because I do think there's some stuff you can
extrapolate from this. And what I really liked about this was that he he calls it the biggest
mistakes made by the general public. So he's kind of just saying for every person out there trying
to get a handle on their body composition, these are some of the mistakes he's seen in his long
(06:37):
history in this industry. So I just want to run through them and kind of like dissect it a little
bit and put a little extra thinking onto it. And by the way, I literally just had a coaching call
with my clients where I shared this post. This is my second time talking about it today, which I'm
delighted. But a minute ago, I spoke about it with my clients. And I was able to use this as a
teaching moment for them and give them a lot of ahas. I said, listen, this is a pioneer in the
(07:03):
health and wellness space. This guy's been on Diary of a CEO. He's been on Huberman. He's a big deal.
And here's what he says about fat loss. And a lot of what he says is what I've said.
But there's something about having your own point of view corroborated by an absolute boss like
Alan Aragon that feels pretty cool. So anyway, I'm going to read this to you and dissect it a
(07:25):
little bit with you. Absolutely off the cuff, unscripted, just for fun. And hopefully you can
use this in conversations with your clients too. All right, the first of the 12 dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. Number one, oh, by the way, this is in no particular
(07:46):
order of magnitude. Number one, unrealistic or unsustainable progress expectations.
I mean, so like this goes for, I would say everybody, and this is a big part of the
conversation my clients and I just had. So we already know in coaching that we have these two
(08:07):
kinds of goals. We have outcome goals and process goals. I talk about this all the time,
because I'm an active coach. It's coaching clients, clients who have outcome goals,
the top of the staircase. And the process goals are the little tiny, tiny, tiny action steps that
get them moving toward the top of the staircase. And for whatever reason, our conditioning,
our sort of maybe it's the quick fix, instant gratification mentality we have, who knows what
(08:31):
it is. Or maybe it's just the natural part of the human condition. We want the outcome without
having to do all the dang process. Everyone wants to jump to the top of the staircase,
but you can't, you'll hurt yourself. You won't get there. You can't jump that high.
You have to take the stairs and insert other staircase analogies here.
But this is the kind of thing that you're going to talk about with your clients all the time,
(08:55):
because no matter what kind of coach you are, maybe you're a weight loss coach like I am,
maybe you work on athletic performance, or maybe you work on autoimmune symptom,
you know, support, stuff like that.
Maybe it's postpartum, whatever it could be.
The same factor is at play.
They're not going to get the outcome quickly.
(09:16):
They're not going to get the outcome at all if they don't take the steps up the staircase.
And one of our jobs is to hold the patient space for our clients while they're walking
up that boring staircase because those little tiny steps feel very unexciting.
They're not as exciting as the outcome.
If they quit, they won't get the outcome.
(09:37):
We know that.
But they want to figure out the hack, the cheat code to get to the top of the staircase without doing the work.
And this, to Ellen Aragon's point, is one of the biggest mistakes the general public makes with weight loss, but I would say with almost any health outcome or any kind of outcome.
I mean, we could take all the money we've invested in lottery tickets.
(10:00):
We could have put that in an index fund and probably have, you know, a hefty little retirement plan.
But no, we're looking for the lottery win.
Give me that $47 million in my bank account.
I don't like to think about how much money I spent on lottery tickets.
It seems exciting to just get, you know, win the lottery, but it seems less exciting to
invest in an index fund.
(10:20):
You know, make 7% interest, you know, compounding interest.
It's kind of boring, but it would pay off if we had done it.
Number two on Alan Aragon's list is underestimating the negative impact of insufficient sleep
on both appetite and training productivity.
So again, this is the mistakes that people are making.
(10:42):
Underestimating the negative impact of sleep.
I mean, we know this, right?
Health coaches, we know this.
I'm pretty excited because I think health consumers are starting to really appreciate
and value the health, the direct health implications of sleep, the direct health implications of
a bad night's sleep and a good night's sleep.
Alan Aragon references appetite.
(11:04):
It is just harder to make supportive food decisions when you're tired.
You wake up in the morning with decision fatigue already.
Your brain is already tired.
Now you're asking your brain to make supportive food decisions for a whole day.
It's too tired to do that.
It just feels easier to hit the drive-through.
And then there's also this idea of like this mild insulin resistance that occurs metabolically
(11:28):
when we have a bad night's sleep kind of triggers a bit of a sugar craving cycle that's hard
to ignore.
So sleep is really powerful for all health behaviors, but especially around food.
And he references training productivity as well, which probably makes sense too.
So he's definitely in the fitness space.
And maybe you are as well.
Maybe you're a fitness coach.
If your clients had a bad night's sleep and they come into the training session, they're
(11:51):
not quite as resilient as they could be.
I think it'd be worthwhile having that conversation.
How do you feel today?
How was sleep last night?
Like putting some coaching into the fitness training paradigm would be really cool.
Like if your client has like heavy deadlifts on the agenda, but they slept like crap last night,
I would say maybe postpone the deadlifts.
They're not in a nervous system state where they can handle that.
(12:16):
I think that's a really powerful one.
Number three on the list of dirty dozen biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public,
according to Alan Aragon, an absolute boss in the industry.
Number three is underestimating the power of resistance training for preserving or gaining
lean mass during the fat loss process. I mean, very specifically, I work with women
(12:40):
who are in their sort of midlife, quote unquote, and they're feeling like their metabolisms have
slowed down. And that's just because they've lost all their lean body mass. They have not
been working to preserve it because that just wasn't part of our upbringing. But that aside,
That specific niche audience aside, I mean, we know that muscle is metabolically active tissue and muscles that are trained are more insulin sensitive.
(13:04):
So they're better at using and partitioning fuel.
And I think, too, because, you know, Alan Aragon's in the body composition space, fat loss space.
It's just resistance training is kind of a secret weapon for that.
Because the person, the client is trying to get a body shape and size change outcome.
(13:28):
and training the muscles helps to literally change the shape of your body so they get this sort of
aesthetic bonus do you know what I mean like obviously strength training helps to sculpt and
build the muscle I'm trying to use the word tone because we think that's dumb even the word sculpt
is dumb but I talk about this with my clients a lot like one of the things my clients obsess about
(13:49):
a little bit too much sometimes is like I used to look so good in my 20s and 30s and it's like yeah
well, you know, we all kind of did then. I wish I could look like that now. Okay, well, let's work
on that. The thing that they seem to forget is that when you were in your 20s and 30s, you were
effortlessly preserving your lean body mass, you had muscle under your skin a little bit,
(14:10):
just a little bit that gave you that sort of full, cute toned look, right? So I'm really trying to
encourage my clients to see that that's what they need. But again, I don't want to necessarily go
down the rabbit hole talking about my ideal client, because your ideal client, everybody's ideal
client needs to be strength training. And according to Alan Aragon, it is one of the most underestimated
(14:31):
elements of a fat loss program. Number four, underestimating the multiple benefits of optimal
protein intake. I mean, protein is so popular right now, so hot. It obviously has that ability
to help us preserve lean body mass.
(14:52):
You know, we have to have the strength training.
We have to have the nutrition stimulus.
We have to have it both in order to get that muscle protein synthesis going.
And depending on who you work with, again, I'm trying not to make this all about my client
who is a woman who does not eat enough protein at all.
But, you know, I would say probably a good chunk of the weight loss industry is mostly
(15:15):
women.
So if we're working in weight loss, like Alan Aragon is talking about here,
consuming more protein is kind of a front burner activity.
That's literally what I start with with my clients.
I have a method of doing this with my clients where I get them to eat more protein in the
daytime without measuring it by just changing their breakfast.
That's it.
(15:35):
And I consider that to be a pretty cool little process goal.
Like all you have to do for the next little while is just kind of make your breakfast
look like this.
You don't have to measure it.
You don't have to track it.
And sort of the unwritten secret there is I'm going to get your protein a little higher
And then you're going to have all the amazing downstream metabolic benefits to that and body
composition benefits that you want.
I'm not necessarily saying that.
(15:55):
This is a good example of, again, process goals.
It's one of the first things I start with with my clients to get them on that first step
of the staircase to the top of their goal.
And I think protein is really pretty popular in the narrative right now for good reason.
You know, I always tell my clients it's a really good metabolic helper because it
(16:19):
protein itself isn't a fuel per se. But when you consume adequate protein, your appetite changes
immensely, because this is satiety power of protein. So now your snack urges and your cravings
and the mindless eating all kind of dampens. And to me, calorically, that's where things get away
(16:40):
from people is all the little snacks they eat. So putting a little emphasis on protein, however you
want to do it. Maybe you are a macro coach and you want your clients to hit a certain number.
By the way, in Alan Aragon's post, he posts some math. He says 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target
body weight. That's a really common calculation you've heard. So maybe you're the kind of coach
(17:00):
who measures this stuff and gives your client a target to aim for. Cool. That data point's really
nice and easy to track. It gives the client a really clear touchstone, you know, an actual data
a point, it's good. I don't do it that way. I don't do any food tracking. So instead, I've got a
different approach. I try to get them to just create a breakfast that looks generally like this.
(17:22):
But either way, we know our clients probably need to eat more protein, especially if they're trying
to recompose their body. Hey, it's Erin. Let me ask you something. How's your coaching business going?
Are you struggling to get consistent clients? Or maybe you've got a few, but you want to grow more
predictably? Well, that's why we created the Health Coach Client Blueprint. It's a step-by-step
(17:43):
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(18:05):
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Number five on the list of Dirty Dozen,
biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public.
Unawareness.
(18:26):
Okay, this is a mouthful, so stay with me.
Unawareness of the importance of a predominantly nutrient-dense food selection
tailored to personal preference for maximizing satiety and adherence.
Okay, so we've got nutrient density.
Yes.
(18:46):
We've got maximizing satiety.
Yes.
We've got personal preference.
Yeah.
And adherence.
There's lots of things in this bullet point.
So I love this because I do feel like, especially in the fitness sort of bro-y kind of world
that maybe Alan Aragon plays in, there's a lot of supplementation, a lot of yogurt bowls
(19:11):
and protein pancakes and things that have protein in them, but like it's not a whole
food.
And I'm such a whole foodie.
I just love me some whole food.
I'm like, why would I have a protein pancake when eggs and chicken and beef and fish exist
already?
There's already protein foods.
I don't have to concoct one in my kitchen.
So I like this that he's talking about nutrient density, whole foods.
(19:35):
That's how I'm interpreting it anyway.
I would like to see more people getting their protein from food.
But he also talks about this idea for maximizing satiety, which protein does, fiber does, right?
So nutrient-dense food, all nutrients, the nutrient density of food is what triggers the satiety signal.
(19:56):
like the totality of nutrition, I think about this all the time, like, okay, yeah, we need more
protein, but we also need minerals and hydration and fiber and vitamins. And we need a lot of
things. The body's going to cue up hunger when it needs something. And protein isn't the only
thing it needs. So we have like foods that have an entire food matrix with water and fiber and
micronutrition and macronutrients in it. Then we get, then we're getting everything. We're sending
(20:21):
that maximal satiety signal, the body says, thank you for feeding me, you're done. And as I touched
on a second ago, I really, really lean on the power of satiety in my weight loss program, because if
you're satiated, you're not mindlessly snacking. But he also talks in this bullet point, which about
something that I think is so great, personal preference and adherence. So gang, this is where
(20:43):
coaches come in clutch, because you might have a point of view on nutrition, for example.
And you might dispense it to your client, which makes sense to do that. Here's what you're going
to do. Then the client gets to negotiate on that with you because they're in a co-leadership role
with you. They're not just blindly following you. They're not, you're not the boss of them.
(21:05):
You're in partnership with them. So they might say, I mean, yeah, I can do this, but I'm plant-based.
So how am I going to get protein? You mentioned on your meal plan, fish and beef, I don't eat that.
Or they might say, yeah, I can do this, but I'm a nurse.
I can't just bring a food scale to work with me.
I don't really have a lot of time.
(21:25):
I don't have time or I'm a single parent.
I have this stuff going on in my life.
I need this to fit into my life.
The program has to fit into your client's life for the purpose of adherence.
Adherence is probably the number one reason why people fail on their health attempts.
Without question, it's adherence.
So I just think this is the chance for health coaches to shine because you're in relationship
(21:50):
with your clients.
So you can have the conversation around adherence.
Can you do this?
Why or why not?
How can we adjust it so that you can get closer to it?
Like this idea of the granular goal, right?
The granular gettable goal that was partly the client's idea.
So this is exciting to me as a health coach educator, health coach podcaster, because it
(22:13):
speaks exactly to what health coach does. We help our clients with adherence by making the goal mean
something to them. The process goal means something to them and it's doable for them in the context of
their unique life. So you enter the relationship as the expert who has the nutrition protocol for
whatever your problem you're solving. Nutrition or wellness or lifestyle protocol for whatever
(22:36):
problem you offer to solve for clients. They also enter the relationship with an expertise of what
their schedule is like, their preference, like the way their family eats, the way their work schedule
goes, what they will and won't do. And you co-create the plan together for maximal adherence, which is
the way people get results. And we get to help them do that. How lucky are we? Oh my gosh.
(23:00):
Number seven on this list. And just to refresh your memory, the list is the dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. And we're extrapolating this to kind of all health
improvement. So if you don't work in the weight loss space, but you work in some other category,
I think this stuff still kind of applies. It's extrapolatable. Number six is unawareness of the
(23:21):
tendency of dichotomous views, like good and evil, allowed or forbidden, to sabotage long-term
adherence. So these are the dirty dozen mistakes people make. And he started this one by saying,
the mistake is a lack of awareness. So the mistake is not realizing that categorizing your
(23:41):
health behaviors into these good, bad, virtuous, naughty categories is setting you up for long-term
adherence because you're going to feel like you're self-sabotaging when you're not, and everything's
not fitting into that virtuous column. You have one little misstep, you enjoy a piece of birthday
cake on your birthday or champagne at the retirement party. And now you're bad. And when
(24:04):
you think you've done bad, you're going to burn the ships. And I think what he's saying here is
it's the all or nothing mindset that trips people up. One thing I love to do with my
clients, and this speaks again to the boringness of long term lifestyle change,
is get them to just be real comfortable with the boring gray area between good and bad. It's like,
(24:28):
I don't need you to be perfect. I don't really want you to be bad. Can we find something in the
middle? Like what's the middle ground that feels again doable? So we're talking again about adherence.
It's good enough. What's the good enough fist we can get? I'm inventing a lot of words here. So
you got to stay, keep up with me on the vernacular. What's the good enough fist we can do?
(24:52):
That's how I'm interpreting this one. I like it a lot. But the fact that Alan Aragon mentions
sabotage. It's very near and dear to me because I think my clients probably say this to me weekly.
I self-sabotage. I always sabotage myself. It's so sinister. Like, relax. You just had
some Halloween candy. You're not that evil. It's not that big of a deal.
(25:17):
But we make these things mean so much. And then the failures feel insurmountable. And I think
I think dampening the amplitude of good and bad, just making these sort of waves a little more
gentle is one of the things that, again, coaches can help their clients with.
Number seven. I wonder how polarizing this one's going to be. Unawareness that long-term
(25:43):
substantial weight loss, so beyond water fluctuation, so fat loss, long-term substantial
fat loss requires a sustained net calorie deficit, not magic foods that burn fat.
So this could be polarizing depending on what your point of view is nutritionally. I'm not going to
linger on this one too long because I know there's a lot of people listening who are very staunchly in
(26:07):
the calories camp and a lot of people who are staunchly not in it and people like me who go
back and forth between the two. Like I think there's a, I think there, I think, you know,
All roads lead to fat loss.
We have to kind of borrow from both camps a little bit.
But one thing I do agree with on this point for sure is that there's no magical, there's
no magic.
(26:27):
Like, I just don't think there's any magic.
There's no magical, no magical fat burning food or supplement.
There has to be this general global change in eating, moving, living has to occur.
And some, you know, some medications can help with that.
And some eating strategies could help with that.
(26:48):
Like, for example, a ketogenic diet, I don't think is fat loss magic.
It just makes the body metabolically operate a little differently, but also affects how
you eat.
So maybe you're snacking on highly palatable, overly bingeable carby snack foods.
And so now you're getting the weight loss because you've changed the way you eat.
Same thing when people go plant-based, they lose weight because they've changed the way
(27:11):
they eat substantially enough to encourage weight loss, but there's no magic. And I'm of the point
of view that maybe it's because of, again, the people that I deal with who are kind of
miracle hopping sometimes. They're going to try this supplement or this shred program or download
that meal plan or join this app, hopping from miracle to miracle, looking for some magical
(27:36):
thing that's going to magically work. And unfortunately, that's a lot of time wasting
and they're not getting results and there is no magic.
The magic is in, again, these tiny little steps on the staircase,
process goals that get you to the outcome goal.
Number eight.
Again, we're getting into calorie language here because Alan Aragon is a calories guy.
(28:00):
So number eight is unawareness that a weekly caloric deficit is a practical and sustainable
alternative to a daily one.
So he says, let's stretch out the time horizon.
Instead of focusing on daily, daily macros, daily calories, what if we just like stretch
it out to a week?
That's way more practical and sustainable, right?
It goes back to kind of the good, bad, black or white paradigm I mentioned earlier, which
(28:27):
is like, if you hit your calorie or macro target on Monday, but you don't on Tuesday,
you're going to feel like you just failed.
But if it's like, wait, in the context of the week, here's your goal.
And then there's a little flexibility baked in there.
And that can help people feel more successful.
When they feel successful, they're more likely to adhere.
And adherence is the main factor to get people to a wellness outcome of any kind, weight loss or otherwise.
(28:55):
Number nine, unawareness that regular maintenance phases minimize the psychological and physical
fatigue of the dieting process.
So now we're getting kind of a little bit more into the fitness dieting realm.
And in the fitness sort of body recomposition realm, there's these sort of strict dieting
(29:16):
phases, fat loss phases, and there's diet breaks, and there's like a reverse phase,
a maintenance phase, all these different phases.
But even if you don't operate that way, because I don't, I don't do that kind of fat loss,
but this bullet point still tracks.
We have to minimize the psychological and physical fatigue of the dieting process,
(29:36):
of the wellness process.
Like change is hard.
So I always think like, how can we make it feel as easy as possible?
And again, I'm going to reiterate this again.
the way to make it feel as easy as possible is to create granular attainable goals that you and
your client both agree on are moving them in the general right direction of their desired outcomes.
(30:01):
So in Alan Aragon's case, he's like diet hard for a while, then we'll give you a diet break. And
then diet hard, we'll give you a diet break. So you're kind of like these little sprint sessions,
right? That might work for you in your methodology. Or you might take an approach like I do, which is
more of an endurance approach. Like let's just make sure that every single day this feels pretty
maintainable. The maintenance is built in on the daily. But either way, you have to factor in
(30:24):
the psychological and physical fatigue that's present when someone's trying to change their
health. And as health coaches, we get to hold that space. Number 10, the list of dirty dozen
biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public. I really had a good time sharing this one
with my clients. But I think health coaches, you're going to love this one too. Being reactive
(30:49):
instead of proactive about stocking or modifying the food environment at home and at work. So this
is like, oh, I just wasn't prepared. I hear that from clients from time to time. I had a bad weekend.
Oh, really? What happened? Yeah, I just wasn't prepared. Why not? Because then they come into
the call and they're like, oh my gosh, I had this bad weekend. I binged on McDonald's and ice cream.
(31:12):
And I'll say, okay, no problem. But why? Oh, I just didn't have groceries in the house. I wasn't
prepared. We were running around. I wasn't ready to be prepared for that. It's like, well, you knew
that was happening. You knew you were going to have a busy weekend. So how could you have prepared?
Is there a way that you could have prepared instead of reacting and coming to the coaching
call saying, oh my gosh, I ate at McDonald's. What should I do? I don't have any antidote to that.
(31:35):
There's no way to go back, like press the undo button on that. It's done. So that's reactive,
right? Oh, I need some kind of hack to, you know, burn off all this McDonald's I ate.
Well, we can't do that. So instead, let's try to be proactive and prepare for next time.
So to me, it's just like, I really work on this with my clients a ton. Like what,
(31:57):
when can you go to the grocery store? What will you buy? How will you cook it? When will you eat
it? Like when I get into goal setting with my clients, I'm into the absolute weeds.
What food is available, thawed out in your fridge, ready to cook? And when are you going to cook it?
And what gadget are you going to use to cook at the air fryer, the barbecue, the Traeger
smoker, what slow cooker, what are you doing?
Are you going to take it to work with you?
Do you have a fridge at work?
Is there a microwave at work?
When are you going to eat it?
(32:18):
Are you going to eat it in your car on the way to work?
Is there a lunchroom?
I just need to understand and get them thinking a little bit ahead.
Like just have a plan.
Just have a basic plan to feed yourself or whatever.
Take care of yourself in whatever way.
Maybe in your health coaching practice, there's a supplement regime or a workout program and
the clients are blowing them off because they just don't feel ready. How can we get them
(32:41):
getting ready? How can we get them thinking proactive instead of reactive?
Once again, I think health coaches shine here. There's almost an element, and I'm just going to
use this language, and I know it's not the most respectful way of saying this, but there's almost
an element of training our clients to become proactive rather than reactive people by modeling
for them what this looks like. And we model that inside the coaching relationship. Watch how I
(33:06):
You set a goal to feed yourself for the next three days when you're at work or on this road trip or whatever you're doing.
Watch how we dissect the plan to the most granular detail.
Watch and learn how to be proactive rather than reactive.
Number 11 on the list is thinking short term without maintaining perspective of the big picture.
(33:29):
So literally, this is the outcome versus process goal paradigm.
I already talked about this at the beginning of this talk, but it's hard objectively to be excited
about process goals because they're just not that sexy. And you know what? Many of us have had our
own health transformations. For example, I had my own health transformation. I've been walking my
(33:52):
own health transformation for about 15 years and maintaining it. So I can say to my clients,
listen, 15 years from now, you're going to be just like me, effortlessly maintaining your body
decomposition, blah, blah, blah. But that's, it's just not that. They want it now. They don't really
care what's going to be happening in 15 years. And I can't say that I blame them. One thing that
I've done in my practice is I've created this list of what I call leading indicators. I call it the
(34:20):
it's working rubric. And I've got this Google sheet with just line items of things that might
improve. Your sleep gets better. Your cravings go away. Your pants get a little looser. Your skin
clears up, I don't know, your knee stops hurting. All these little things that can improve when you
reduce inflammation and start to get, you know, appetite under control, maybe a little water
weight loss as a bonus, like here's the leading indicators that we're on the right track. Let's
(34:42):
practice celebrating these. So I've kind of got this little list that says, hey, look, you're,
it's working. If you keep going, the lagging indicator is whatever outcome it is that you
promise. For me, it's fat loss. If you keep going, the fat loss is coming for you. And the unspoken
parenthetical is, if you quit, it ain't. So once again, we're in the business of process goals as
(35:08):
health coaches, and we're in the business of outcome goals. Clients think outcome oriented.
We have to bring them along and support them as they stumble their way through appreciating
what is ultimately kind of a boring, unsexy process.
(35:29):
Number 12, neglecting to implement a system of accountability for developing habits and rituals
within a plan that facilitates achievement and maintenance of the goal.
Okay, I'm going to decipher this one. So in terms of top 12 mistakes people are making, this one says,
(35:50):
You're not implementing a system of accountability for developing habits
to facilitate maintenance, achievement and maintenance of the goal.
I'm really working to figure this one out.
So a system of accountability would be, well, that's what we help our clients with in the
(36:11):
moment.
So when you're in the coaching relationship, you are, in a sense, you're the client's
accountability partner, but not really.
I've talked about this on previous episodes.
You are, but you aren't.
essentially what you want to do is foster the idea of self-accountability in your clients,
because that's the gift that keeps on giving. I mean, you're a stranger from the internet on some
extent, right? So fostering a self-accountability, I think is one of our opportunities.
(36:38):
For the client, the health consumer trying to achieve the outcome goal,
skipping over this part, this developing the skill of accountability,
that probably results in temporary outcomes. I mean, anybody can do something for a little while,
but if you're going to do this for the rest of your life, you have to know what to do and how
to do it and how to navigate the ups and downs of life. And you get that through practicing.
(37:02):
And so we can help our clients practice that by holding that accountability container for them
in the coaching relationship. Anyway, I thought this was a really cool list.
the dirty dozen biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public by Alan Aragon,
an absolute hero. Maybe I'll get him on the podcast one day to give it to us straight. And
(37:23):
maybe we can elaborate on a little bit more. But, you know, give it a listen, think about how you
can maybe take these items and maybe start, you know, teaching your clients or bringing your
clients along on buying into some of these factors, many of them are baked into the coaching
(37:46):
relationship already. So you're in a good place. If you're a health coach, you're in a good place
to really help your clients make lifelong change. As evidenced by one of the absolute heroes and
legends in the business, Alan Aragon. This podcast was brought to you by Primal Health Coach Institute.
To learn more about how to become a successful health coach, get in touch with us by visiting
(38:07):
primalhealthcoach.com forward slash call. Or if you're already a successful health coach,
practitioner, influencer, or thought leader with a thriving business and an interesting story,
we'd love to hear from you. Connect with us at hello at primalhealthcoach.com and let us know
why we need to interview you for Health Coach Radio. Thanks for listening.
Hello, health coaches, Erin Power here, and I'm dropping in with a solo episode today
that is actually kind of in the realm of an unscripted riff because I was literally just
scrolling my phone in a productive way, okay, not in a low vibe way. You know, I run my business
on Instagram. I get most of my clients and my audience through Instagram. So I kind of have
(00:21):
to be on Instagram for my job. And, you know, for better or worse, I do spend a fair bit of time on
that app, but I also learn stuff. And I actually kind of love it for that reason. I mean, we have
access to more information than ever before, which is a blessing and a curse. But I think maybe a lot
of folks listening, if you're like me, you are hungry for knowledge and information. And especially
(00:41):
in the wellness world where there's so much constant evolution and changing ideas, it feels
kind of like part of our job to, I consider it part of my job to be aware of some of the different
narratives that are all over the place. So for example, I take it upon myself to listen and
follow people who I disagree with, not because I want to argue with them. I have no interest in
(01:06):
arguing with people on the internet, but because I want to hear how they justify their perspective
in much the same way I justify mine. I mean, we're all drawing a line in the sand in terms of our
expertise and our point of view. And we're very convicted of our own points of view. And other
people have totally different points of view that they're equally convicted on. And I love to
(01:26):
experience that both sort of both sides of the aisle, if you will. So anyway, I follow a lot of
people who are in my space and not in my space and whose beliefs align with me and whose beliefs
don't align with me. And I end up learning a lot. I end up learning a lot through my social feed,
and I'm grateful for that. Hi, I'm Erin Power. I'm a health coach, a health coaching educator
(01:47):
and mentor and your host of Health Coach Radio. This podcast delves into the art, science,
and business of health coaching. Whether you're aspiring to land a coaching dream job or to embark
on your own entrepreneurial adventure, we cover it all. Our mission is to help you grow your career,
elevate your income, change the lives of the clients who need your help, and leave a lasting
(02:09):
mark in this rapidly growing field. It's time for health coaches to make an impact.
It's time for Health Coach Radio.
So I'm scrolling today and Alan Aragon posts this carousel post.
He's jotted down some ideas in his notes app on his phone, took a screen grab, posted it
(02:32):
to his feed.
It sounds like I'm talking a different language, doesn't it?
What is this language I'm using?
Screen grab, notes app, Instagram feed, post, carousel.
Anyway, you're following, I hope.
And I absolutely love this post and I wanted to share it with you and like dissect it a little
bit. And by the way, just putting this out there, I would love to have Ellen Aragon on the podcast.
(02:53):
The wheels are in motion. We've invited him. We'll see if it happens. But he's a really
interesting guy because this is a good example of personally how he's not really in the space that I
would pay attention to. And by this, I mean, I mean, he does body composition, body recomposition
stuff and fat loss, as do I. I'm a weight loss, fat loss coach. But I do fat loss for women of my
(03:19):
sort of peer group, call it in their 50s, who don't really have any interest in being aesthetic,
you know, to that extent. We're not doing fat loss phases. We don't want to take on any crash diets.
We don't want to track our food. We're just not in that kind of fitness nutrition space. We're
just regular people trying to live our lives and feel great in our bodies. So a little bit different
And Ellen Aragon's in the fitness world.
(03:41):
The fitness world approaches fat loss a lot differently than I do.
And that's cool.
That's great.
Isn't that amazing?
So if you have like a fitness aesthetic goal, there are tons of coaches that focus on that
fitness aesthetic outcome, which would involve, you know, fat loss phases and diet breaks
and maintenance phases and refeeds and all this stuff that I couldn't be bothered to do.
(04:03):
But which is very, very beneficial for the person who wants and needs that kind of attention,
right?
I just love that we have this opportunity to do whatever we want to do. So this whole idea of like
rising tide lifts all boats, I'm here for it, because there's all kinds of people who want
different kinds of weight loss. And I'm so grateful that there's somebody like Ellen Aragon, or there's
macro coaches or bikini prep coaches that do this kind of stuff, because I don't want to do it.
(04:25):
And I don't have to. That's amazing. I don't want to have to do stuff I don't want to do.
Let me say that again, I don't want to have to do stuff I don't want to
the benefit of being in practice for yourself and being an online sort of health and wellness
entrepreneur is you get to do whatever you want and you don't have to do what you don't want.
(04:48):
So anyway, Ellen Aragon, absolute pioneer in the industry, more in the fitness space than I am.
And what I like about him is that he's so reasonable. He just is a reasonable guy.
There's a lot of unreasonable people on the internet. You know what I mean? They're kind
of argumentative and they're dunking on other people and doing lots of takedown content and
(05:10):
they're snarky and mean and rude. And I just don't vibe with that personally. It works for some people
and for some folks, that's their whole brand identity. And if that's like, if you're listening
and you think, oh, that's kind of my vibe, I'm kind of a snarky takedown debunker. Cool. I mean,
that's an amazing voice to have. And lots of people have tons of success with that. It's just
(05:32):
not mine. It's just not my vibe. And Ellen Aragon also doesn't really play that way.
So I do like his, what I would consider to be very considered rational take on things.
He posted this. This was on about the 20th of September. So whenever you're watching,
(05:53):
they're listening to this. This is about the 20th of September. So you can scroll through his feed
didn't find it. He kind of posted it with no comment. But he called it the dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. Now, I'm a weight loss coach. Alan Aragon's a
weight loss guy. Maybe you're not. And you're thinking I'm out. I don't do weight loss. No
(06:17):
problem. I think you should stick around, though, because I do think there's some stuff you can
extrapolate from this. And what I really liked about this was that he he calls it the biggest
mistakes made by the general public. So he's kind of just saying for every person out there trying
to get a handle on their body composition, these are some of the mistakes he's seen in his long
(06:37):
history in this industry. So I just want to run through them and kind of like dissect it a little
bit and put a little extra thinking onto it. And by the way, I literally just had a coaching call
with my clients where I shared this post. This is my second time talking about it today, which I'm
delighted. But a minute ago, I spoke about it with my clients. And I was able to use this as a
teaching moment for them and give them a lot of ahas. I said, listen, this is a pioneer in the
(07:03):
health and wellness space. This guy's been on Diary of a CEO. He's been on Huberman. He's a big deal.
And here's what he says about fat loss. And a lot of what he says is what I've said.
But there's something about having your own point of view corroborated by an absolute boss like
Alan Aragon that feels pretty cool. So anyway, I'm going to read this to you and dissect it a
(07:25):
little bit with you. Absolutely off the cuff, unscripted, just for fun. And hopefully you can
use this in conversations with your clients too. All right, the first of the 12 dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. Number one, oh, by the way, this is in no particular
(07:46):
order of magnitude. Number one, unrealistic or unsustainable progress expectations.
I mean, so like this goes for, I would say everybody, and this is a big part of the
conversation my clients and I just had. So we already know in coaching that we have these two
(08:07):
kinds of goals. We have outcome goals and process goals. I talk about this all the time,
because I'm an active coach. It's coaching clients, clients who have outcome goals,
the top of the staircase. And the process goals are the little tiny, tiny, tiny action steps that
get them moving toward the top of the staircase. And for whatever reason, our conditioning,
our sort of maybe it's the quick fix, instant gratification mentality we have, who knows what
(08:31):
it is. Or maybe it's just the natural part of the human condition. We want the outcome without
having to do all the dang process. Everyone wants to jump to the top of the staircase,
but you can't, you'll hurt yourself. You won't get there. You can't jump that high.
You have to take the stairs and insert other staircase analogies here.
But this is the kind of thing that you're going to talk about with your clients all the time,
(08:55):
because no matter what kind of coach you are, maybe you're a weight loss coach like I am,
maybe you work on athletic performance, or maybe you work on autoimmune symptom,
you know, support, stuff like that.
Maybe it's postpartum, whatever it could be.
The same factor is at play.
They're not going to get the outcome quickly.
(09:16):
They're not going to get the outcome at all if they don't take the steps up the staircase.
And one of our jobs is to hold the patient space for our clients while they're walking
up that boring staircase because those little tiny steps feel very unexciting.
They're not as exciting as the outcome.
If they quit, they won't get the outcome.
(09:37):
We know that.
But they want to figure out the hack, the cheat code to get to the top of the staircase without doing the work.
And this, to Ellen Aragon's point, is one of the biggest mistakes the general public makes with weight loss, but I would say with almost any health outcome or any kind of outcome.
I mean, we could take all the money we've invested in lottery tickets.
(10:00):
We could have put that in an index fund and probably have, you know, a hefty little retirement plan.
But no, we're looking for the lottery win.
Give me that $47 million in my bank account.
I don't like to think about how much money I spent on lottery tickets.
It seems exciting to just get, you know, win the lottery, but it seems less exciting to
invest in an index fund.
(10:20):
You know, make 7% interest, you know, compounding interest.
It's kind of boring, but it would pay off if we had done it.
Number two on Alan Aragon's list is underestimating the negative impact of insufficient sleep
on both appetite and training productivity.
So again, this is the mistakes that people are making.
(10:42):
Underestimating the negative impact of sleep.
I mean, we know this, right?
Health coaches, we know this.
I'm pretty excited because I think health consumers are starting to really appreciate
and value the health, the direct health implications of sleep, the direct health implications of
a bad night's sleep and a good night's sleep.
Alan Aragon references appetite.
(11:04):
It is just harder to make supportive food decisions when you're tired.
You wake up in the morning with decision fatigue already.
Your brain is already tired.
Now you're asking your brain to make supportive food decisions for a whole day.
It's too tired to do that.
It just feels easier to hit the drive-through.
And then there's also this idea of like this mild insulin resistance that occurs metabolically
(11:28):
when we have a bad night's sleep kind of triggers a bit of a sugar craving cycle that's hard
to ignore.
So sleep is really powerful for all health behaviors, but especially around food.
And he references training productivity as well, which probably makes sense too.
So he's definitely in the fitness space.
And maybe you are as well.
Maybe you're a fitness coach.
If your clients had a bad night's sleep and they come into the training session, they're
(11:51):
not quite as resilient as they could be.
I think it'd be worthwhile having that conversation.
How do you feel today?
How was sleep last night?
Like putting some coaching into the fitness training paradigm would be really cool.
Like if your client has like heavy deadlifts on the agenda, but they slept like crap last night,
I would say maybe postpone the deadlifts.
They're not in a nervous system state where they can handle that.
(12:16):
I think that's a really powerful one.
Number three on the list of dirty dozen biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public,
according to Alan Aragon, an absolute boss in the industry.
Number three is underestimating the power of resistance training for preserving or gaining
lean mass during the fat loss process. I mean, very specifically, I work with women
(12:40):
who are in their sort of midlife, quote unquote, and they're feeling like their metabolisms have
slowed down. And that's just because they've lost all their lean body mass. They have not
been working to preserve it because that just wasn't part of our upbringing. But that aside,
That specific niche audience aside, I mean, we know that muscle is metabolically active tissue and muscles that are trained are more insulin sensitive.
(13:04):
So they're better at using and partitioning fuel.
And I think, too, because, you know, Alan Aragon's in the body composition space, fat loss space.
It's just resistance training is kind of a secret weapon for that.
Because the person, the client is trying to get a body shape and size change outcome.
(13:28):
and training the muscles helps to literally change the shape of your body so they get this sort of
aesthetic bonus do you know what I mean like obviously strength training helps to sculpt and
build the muscle I'm trying to use the word tone because we think that's dumb even the word sculpt
is dumb but I talk about this with my clients a lot like one of the things my clients obsess about
(13:49):
a little bit too much sometimes is like I used to look so good in my 20s and 30s and it's like yeah
well, you know, we all kind of did then. I wish I could look like that now. Okay, well, let's work
on that. The thing that they seem to forget is that when you were in your 20s and 30s, you were
effortlessly preserving your lean body mass, you had muscle under your skin a little bit,
(14:10):
just a little bit that gave you that sort of full, cute toned look, right? So I'm really trying to
encourage my clients to see that that's what they need. But again, I don't want to necessarily go
down the rabbit hole talking about my ideal client, because your ideal client, everybody's ideal
client needs to be strength training. And according to Alan Aragon, it is one of the most underestimated
(14:31):
elements of a fat loss program. Number four, underestimating the multiple benefits of optimal
protein intake. I mean, protein is so popular right now, so hot. It obviously has that ability
to help us preserve lean body mass.
(14:52):
You know, we have to have the strength training.
We have to have the nutrition stimulus.
We have to have it both in order to get that muscle protein synthesis going.
And depending on who you work with, again, I'm trying not to make this all about my client
who is a woman who does not eat enough protein at all.
But, you know, I would say probably a good chunk of the weight loss industry is mostly
(15:15):
women.
So if we're working in weight loss, like Alan Aragon is talking about here,
consuming more protein is kind of a front burner activity.
That's literally what I start with with my clients.
I have a method of doing this with my clients where I get them to eat more protein in the
daytime without measuring it by just changing their breakfast.
That's it.
(15:35):
And I consider that to be a pretty cool little process goal.
Like all you have to do for the next little while is just kind of make your breakfast
look like this.
You don't have to measure it.
You don't have to track it.
And sort of the unwritten secret there is I'm going to get your protein a little higher
And then you're going to have all the amazing downstream metabolic benefits to that and body
composition benefits that you want.
I'm not necessarily saying that.
(15:55):
This is a good example of, again, process goals.
It's one of the first things I start with with my clients to get them on that first step
of the staircase to the top of their goal.
And I think protein is really pretty popular in the narrative right now for good reason.
You know, I always tell my clients it's a really good metabolic helper because it
(16:19):
protein itself isn't a fuel per se. But when you consume adequate protein, your appetite changes
immensely, because this is satiety power of protein. So now your snack urges and your cravings
and the mindless eating all kind of dampens. And to me, calorically, that's where things get away
(16:40):
from people is all the little snacks they eat. So putting a little emphasis on protein, however you
want to do it. Maybe you are a macro coach and you want your clients to hit a certain number.
By the way, in Alan Aragon's post, he posts some math. He says 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target
body weight. That's a really common calculation you've heard. So maybe you're the kind of coach
(17:00):
who measures this stuff and gives your client a target to aim for. Cool. That data point's really
nice and easy to track. It gives the client a really clear touchstone, you know, an actual data
a point, it's good. I don't do it that way. I don't do any food tracking. So instead, I've got a
different approach. I try to get them to just create a breakfast that looks generally like this.
(17:22):
But either way, we know our clients probably need to eat more protein, especially if they're trying
to recompose their body. Hey, it's Erin. Let me ask you something. How's your coaching business going?
Are you struggling to get consistent clients? Or maybe you've got a few, but you want to grow more
predictably? Well, that's why we created the Health Coach Client Blueprint. It's a step-by-step
(17:43):
that walks you through exactly how to attract and convert paying clients so you can finally build
the business you've been dreaming of. It gives you clarity, confidence, and structure,
whether you're landing your first clients or scaling your practice. I want you to check it
out at primalhealthcoach.com forward slash HCCB. Because you're a Health Coach Radio listener,
(18:05):
you can use the exclusive code HCR100 for $100 off your enrollment.
This offer is just for our listeners, so don't miss it.
Number five on the list of Dirty Dozen,
biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public.
Unawareness.
(18:26):
Okay, this is a mouthful, so stay with me.
Unawareness of the importance of a predominantly nutrient-dense food selection
tailored to personal preference for maximizing satiety and adherence.
Okay, so we've got nutrient density.
Yes.
(18:46):
We've got maximizing satiety.
Yes.
We've got personal preference.
Yeah.
And adherence.
There's lots of things in this bullet point.
So I love this because I do feel like, especially in the fitness sort of bro-y kind of world
that maybe Alan Aragon plays in, there's a lot of supplementation, a lot of yogurt bowls
(19:11):
and protein pancakes and things that have protein in them, but like it's not a whole
food.
And I'm such a whole foodie.
I just love me some whole food.
I'm like, why would I have a protein pancake when eggs and chicken and beef and fish exist
already?
There's already protein foods.
I don't have to concoct one in my kitchen.
So I like this that he's talking about nutrient density, whole foods.
(19:35):
That's how I'm interpreting it anyway.
I would like to see more people getting their protein from food.
But he also talks about this idea for maximizing satiety, which protein does, fiber does, right?
So nutrient-dense food, all nutrients, the nutrient density of food is what triggers the satiety signal.
(19:56):
like the totality of nutrition, I think about this all the time, like, okay, yeah, we need more
protein, but we also need minerals and hydration and fiber and vitamins. And we need a lot of
things. The body's going to cue up hunger when it needs something. And protein isn't the only
thing it needs. So we have like foods that have an entire food matrix with water and fiber and
micronutrition and macronutrients in it. Then we get, then we're getting everything. We're sending
(20:21):
that maximal satiety signal, the body says, thank you for feeding me, you're done. And as I touched
on a second ago, I really, really lean on the power of satiety in my weight loss program, because if
you're satiated, you're not mindlessly snacking. But he also talks in this bullet point, which about
something that I think is so great, personal preference and adherence. So gang, this is where
(20:43):
coaches come in clutch, because you might have a point of view on nutrition, for example.
And you might dispense it to your client, which makes sense to do that. Here's what you're going
to do. Then the client gets to negotiate on that with you because they're in a co-leadership role
with you. They're not just blindly following you. They're not, you're not the boss of them.
(21:05):
You're in partnership with them. So they might say, I mean, yeah, I can do this, but I'm plant-based.
So how am I going to get protein? You mentioned on your meal plan, fish and beef, I don't eat that.
Or they might say, yeah, I can do this, but I'm a nurse.
I can't just bring a food scale to work with me.
I don't really have a lot of time.
(21:25):
I don't have time or I'm a single parent.
I have this stuff going on in my life.
I need this to fit into my life.
The program has to fit into your client's life for the purpose of adherence.
Adherence is probably the number one reason why people fail on their health attempts.
Without question, it's adherence.
So I just think this is the chance for health coaches to shine because you're in relationship
(21:50):
with your clients.
So you can have the conversation around adherence.
Can you do this?
Why or why not?
How can we adjust it so that you can get closer to it?
Like this idea of the granular goal, right?
The granular gettable goal that was partly the client's idea.
So this is exciting to me as a health coach educator, health coach podcaster, because it
(22:13):
speaks exactly to what health coach does. We help our clients with adherence by making the goal mean
something to them. The process goal means something to them and it's doable for them in the context of
their unique life. So you enter the relationship as the expert who has the nutrition protocol for
whatever your problem you're solving. Nutrition or wellness or lifestyle protocol for whatever
(22:36):
problem you offer to solve for clients. They also enter the relationship with an expertise of what
their schedule is like, their preference, like the way their family eats, the way their work schedule
goes, what they will and won't do. And you co-create the plan together for maximal adherence, which is
the way people get results. And we get to help them do that. How lucky are we? Oh my gosh.
(23:00):
Number seven on this list. And just to refresh your memory, the list is the dirty dozen biggest
weight loss mistakes made by the general public. And we're extrapolating this to kind of all health
improvement. So if you don't work in the weight loss space, but you work in some other category,
I think this stuff still kind of applies. It's extrapolatable. Number six is unawareness of the
(23:21):
tendency of dichotomous views, like good and evil, allowed or forbidden, to sabotage long-term
adherence. So these are the dirty dozen mistakes people make. And he started this one by saying,
the mistake is a lack of awareness. So the mistake is not realizing that categorizing your
(23:41):
health behaviors into these good, bad, virtuous, naughty categories is setting you up for long-term
adherence because you're going to feel like you're self-sabotaging when you're not, and everything's
not fitting into that virtuous column. You have one little misstep, you enjoy a piece of birthday
cake on your birthday or champagne at the retirement party. And now you're bad. And when
(24:04):
you think you've done bad, you're going to burn the ships. And I think what he's saying here is
it's the all or nothing mindset that trips people up. One thing I love to do with my
clients, and this speaks again to the boringness of long term lifestyle change,
is get them to just be real comfortable with the boring gray area between good and bad. It's like,
(24:28):
I don't need you to be perfect. I don't really want you to be bad. Can we find something in the
middle? Like what's the middle ground that feels again doable? So we're talking again about adherence.
It's good enough. What's the good enough fist we can get? I'm inventing a lot of words here. So
you got to stay, keep up with me on the vernacular. What's the good enough fist we can do?
(24:52):
That's how I'm interpreting this one. I like it a lot. But the fact that Alan Aragon mentions
sabotage. It's very near and dear to me because I think my clients probably say this to me weekly.
I self-sabotage. I always sabotage myself. It's so sinister. Like, relax. You just had
some Halloween candy. You're not that evil. It's not that big of a deal.
(25:17):
But we make these things mean so much. And then the failures feel insurmountable. And I think
I think dampening the amplitude of good and bad, just making these sort of waves a little more
gentle is one of the things that, again, coaches can help their clients with.
Number seven. I wonder how polarizing this one's going to be. Unawareness that long-term
(25:43):
substantial weight loss, so beyond water fluctuation, so fat loss, long-term substantial
fat loss requires a sustained net calorie deficit, not magic foods that burn fat.
So this could be polarizing depending on what your point of view is nutritionally. I'm not going to
linger on this one too long because I know there's a lot of people listening who are very staunchly in
(26:07):
the calories camp and a lot of people who are staunchly not in it and people like me who go
back and forth between the two. Like I think there's a, I think there, I think, you know,
All roads lead to fat loss.
We have to kind of borrow from both camps a little bit.
But one thing I do agree with on this point for sure is that there's no magical, there's
no magic.
(26:27):
Like, I just don't think there's any magic.
There's no magical, no magical fat burning food or supplement.
There has to be this general global change in eating, moving, living has to occur.
And some, you know, some medications can help with that.
And some eating strategies could help with that.
(26:48):
Like, for example, a ketogenic diet, I don't think is fat loss magic.
It just makes the body metabolically operate a little differently, but also affects how
you eat.
So maybe you're snacking on highly palatable, overly bingeable carby snack foods.
And so now you're getting the weight loss because you've changed the way you eat.
Same thing when people go plant-based, they lose weight because they've changed the way
(27:11):
they eat substantially enough to encourage weight loss, but there's no magic. And I'm of the point
of view that maybe it's because of, again, the people that I deal with who are kind of
miracle hopping sometimes. They're going to try this supplement or this shred program or download
that meal plan or join this app, hopping from miracle to miracle, looking for some magical
(27:36):
thing that's going to magically work. And unfortunately, that's a lot of time wasting
and they're not getting results and there is no magic.
The magic is in, again, these tiny little steps on the staircase,
process goals that get you to the outcome goal.
Number eight.
Again, we're getting into calorie language here because Alan Aragon is a calories guy.
(28:00):
So number eight is unawareness that a weekly caloric deficit is a practical and sustainable
alternative to a daily one.
So he says, let's stretch out the time horizon.
Instead of focusing on daily, daily macros, daily calories, what if we just like stretch
it out to a week?
That's way more practical and sustainable, right?
It goes back to kind of the good, bad, black or white paradigm I mentioned earlier, which
(28:27):
is like, if you hit your calorie or macro target on Monday, but you don't on Tuesday,
you're going to feel like you just failed.
But if it's like, wait, in the context of the week, here's your goal.
And then there's a little flexibility baked in there.
And that can help people feel more successful.
When they feel successful, they're more likely to adhere.
And adherence is the main factor to get people to a wellness outcome of any kind, weight loss or otherwise.
(28:55):
Number nine, unawareness that regular maintenance phases minimize the psychological and physical
fatigue of the dieting process.
So now we're getting kind of a little bit more into the fitness dieting realm.
And in the fitness sort of body recomposition realm, there's these sort of strict dieting
(29:16):
phases, fat loss phases, and there's diet breaks, and there's like a reverse phase,
a maintenance phase, all these different phases.
But even if you don't operate that way, because I don't, I don't do that kind of fat loss,
but this bullet point still tracks.
We have to minimize the psychological and physical fatigue of the dieting process,
(29:36):
of the wellness process.
Like change is hard.
So I always think like, how can we make it feel as easy as possible?
And again, I'm going to reiterate this again.
the way to make it feel as easy as possible is to create granular attainable goals that you and
your client both agree on are moving them in the general right direction of their desired outcomes.
(30:01):
So in Alan Aragon's case, he's like diet hard for a while, then we'll give you a diet break. And
then diet hard, we'll give you a diet break. So you're kind of like these little sprint sessions,
right? That might work for you in your methodology. Or you might take an approach like I do, which is
more of an endurance approach. Like let's just make sure that every single day this feels pretty
maintainable. The maintenance is built in on the daily. But either way, you have to factor in
(30:24):
the psychological and physical fatigue that's present when someone's trying to change their
health. And as health coaches, we get to hold that space. Number 10, the list of dirty dozen
biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public. I really had a good time sharing this one
with my clients. But I think health coaches, you're going to love this one too. Being reactive
(30:49):
instead of proactive about stocking or modifying the food environment at home and at work. So this
is like, oh, I just wasn't prepared. I hear that from clients from time to time. I had a bad weekend.
Oh, really? What happened? Yeah, I just wasn't prepared. Why not? Because then they come into
the call and they're like, oh my gosh, I had this bad weekend. I binged on McDonald's and ice cream.
(31:12):
And I'll say, okay, no problem. But why? Oh, I just didn't have groceries in the house. I wasn't
prepared. We were running around. I wasn't ready to be prepared for that. It's like, well, you knew
that was happening. You knew you were going to have a busy weekend. So how could you have prepared?
Is there a way that you could have prepared instead of reacting and coming to the coaching
call saying, oh my gosh, I ate at McDonald's. What should I do? I don't have any antidote to that.
(31:35):
There's no way to go back, like press the undo button on that. It's done. So that's reactive,
right? Oh, I need some kind of hack to, you know, burn off all this McDonald's I ate.
Well, we can't do that. So instead, let's try to be proactive and prepare for next time.
So to me, it's just like, I really work on this with my clients a ton. Like what,
(31:57):
when can you go to the grocery store? What will you buy? How will you cook it? When will you eat
it? Like when I get into goal setting with my clients, I'm into the absolute weeds.
What food is available, thawed out in your fridge, ready to cook? And when are you going to cook it?
And what gadget are you going to use to cook at the air fryer, the barbecue, the Traeger
smoker, what slow cooker, what are you doing?
Are you going to take it to work with you?
Do you have a fridge at work?
Is there a microwave at work?
When are you going to eat it?
(32:18):
Are you going to eat it in your car on the way to work?
Is there a lunchroom?
I just need to understand and get them thinking a little bit ahead.
Like just have a plan.
Just have a basic plan to feed yourself or whatever.
Take care of yourself in whatever way.
Maybe in your health coaching practice, there's a supplement regime or a workout program and
the clients are blowing them off because they just don't feel ready. How can we get them
(32:41):
getting ready? How can we get them thinking proactive instead of reactive?
Once again, I think health coaches shine here. There's almost an element, and I'm just going to
use this language, and I know it's not the most respectful way of saying this, but there's almost
an element of training our clients to become proactive rather than reactive people by modeling
for them what this looks like. And we model that inside the coaching relationship. Watch how I
(33:06):
You set a goal to feed yourself for the next three days when you're at work or on this road trip or whatever you're doing.
Watch how we dissect the plan to the most granular detail.
Watch and learn how to be proactive rather than reactive.
Number 11 on the list is thinking short term without maintaining perspective of the big picture.
(33:29):
So literally, this is the outcome versus process goal paradigm.
I already talked about this at the beginning of this talk, but it's hard objectively to be excited
about process goals because they're just not that sexy. And you know what? Many of us have had our
own health transformations. For example, I had my own health transformation. I've been walking my
(33:52):
own health transformation for about 15 years and maintaining it. So I can say to my clients,
listen, 15 years from now, you're going to be just like me, effortlessly maintaining your body
decomposition, blah, blah, blah. But that's, it's just not that. They want it now. They don't really
care what's going to be happening in 15 years. And I can't say that I blame them. One thing that
I've done in my practice is I've created this list of what I call leading indicators. I call it the
(34:20):
it's working rubric. And I've got this Google sheet with just line items of things that might
improve. Your sleep gets better. Your cravings go away. Your pants get a little looser. Your skin
clears up, I don't know, your knee stops hurting. All these little things that can improve when you
reduce inflammation and start to get, you know, appetite under control, maybe a little water
weight loss as a bonus, like here's the leading indicators that we're on the right track. Let's
(34:42):
practice celebrating these. So I've kind of got this little list that says, hey, look, you're,
it's working. If you keep going, the lagging indicator is whatever outcome it is that you
promise. For me, it's fat loss. If you keep going, the fat loss is coming for you. And the unspoken
parenthetical is, if you quit, it ain't. So once again, we're in the business of process goals as
(35:08):
health coaches, and we're in the business of outcome goals. Clients think outcome oriented.
We have to bring them along and support them as they stumble their way through appreciating
what is ultimately kind of a boring, unsexy process.
(35:29):
Number 12, neglecting to implement a system of accountability for developing habits and rituals
within a plan that facilitates achievement and maintenance of the goal.
Okay, I'm going to decipher this one. So in terms of top 12 mistakes people are making, this one says,
(35:50):
You're not implementing a system of accountability for developing habits
to facilitate maintenance, achievement and maintenance of the goal.
I'm really working to figure this one out.
So a system of accountability would be, well, that's what we help our clients with in the
(36:11):
moment.
So when you're in the coaching relationship, you are, in a sense, you're the client's
accountability partner, but not really.
I've talked about this on previous episodes.
You are, but you aren't.
essentially what you want to do is foster the idea of self-accountability in your clients,
because that's the gift that keeps on giving. I mean, you're a stranger from the internet on some
extent, right? So fostering a self-accountability, I think is one of our opportunities.
(36:38):
For the client, the health consumer trying to achieve the outcome goal,
skipping over this part, this developing the skill of accountability,
that probably results in temporary outcomes. I mean, anybody can do something for a little while,
but if you're going to do this for the rest of your life, you have to know what to do and how
to do it and how to navigate the ups and downs of life. And you get that through practicing.
(37:02):
And so we can help our clients practice that by holding that accountability container for them
in the coaching relationship. Anyway, I thought this was a really cool list.
the dirty dozen biggest weight loss mistakes made by the general public by Alan Aragon,
an absolute hero. Maybe I'll get him on the podcast one day to give it to us straight. And
(37:23):
maybe we can elaborate on a little bit more. But, you know, give it a listen, think about how you
can maybe take these items and maybe start, you know, teaching your clients or bringing your
clients along on buying into some of these factors, many of them are baked into the coaching
(37:46):
relationship already. So you're in a good place. If you're a health coach, you're in a good place
to really help your clients make lifelong change. As evidenced by one of the absolute heroes and
legends in the business, Alan Aragon. This podcast was brought to you by Primal Health Coach Institute.
To learn more about how to become a successful health coach, get in touch with us by visiting
(38:07):
primalhealthcoach.com forward slash call. Or if you're already a successful health coach,
practitioner, influencer, or thought leader with a thriving business and an interesting story,
we'd love to hear from you. Connect with us at hello at primalhealthcoach.com and let us know
why we need to interview you for Health Coach Radio. Thanks for listening.
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