184. A Holistic Approach to Weight Loss: Helping Your Clients Connect Mind and Body with Dr. Priyanka Venugopal

Today, we’re talking about something so many of our clients struggle with: weight loss. Truly, this goes beyond losing weight–it's about guiding our clients towards figuring out how they can feel good in their bodies. How do we do this? By using a holistic approach to weight loss. When our clients focus on counting calories and following trending diets, the journey to better physical health often stays rooted in mindset. Skilled coaches know that thought work can be a great entry point, but if we only focus on the mind, we miss a huge piece of successfully helping our clients. When we can help our clients connect to their bodies and emotions, it reduces stress and overwhelm so they can make choices about what they eat instead of staying dysregulated and feeling out of control. 

I recently got to talk with Dr. Priyanka Venugopal, the master of Burn Stress, Lose Weight and an OB-GYN physician turned life coach. Her mission to help women feel better from head to toe–with science-based information, not fads and gimmicks–helped inspire this blog, and I can’t wait for you to hear her wisdom. This blog and podcast episode center primarily around helping your clients who have a weight loss goal, but it will provide helpful strategies that will allow you to serve any of your clients better. We discuss building awareness, regulating the nervous system, and self-connections–ideas every single coach needs to have tools for in order to help our clients make the transformation they seek.

Priyanka is passionate about helping women and supporting moms. Most coaches are, right? Having these roles is an amazing thing, but it can be stressful–that’s why our clients come to us. They can have all the information about what would help them feel better, but it's not always easy to know what you truly need to make it happen without the help of a coach. Today, we’re diving into the best strategies to help your clients connect their brains to their bodies so they can build awareness and follow through on what they need to feel good.

Help your clients transform using a holistic approach to weight loss

So many people hear stories about incredible weight loss transformations, but it's easy to feel disconnected if that is a journey they have not been on yet. As coaches, we know that lasting change is possible for anyone. So how do we remove this block that our clients have and help them finally feel good in their own bodies and minds?

Priyanka talked about how, when she first started receiving coaching, the idea that our thoughts create our feelings was so profound for her. Many of us have this same experience–it’s a simple concept, but we don't have the awareness of it yet. 

Why a holistic approach to weight loss is essential

Our thoughts genuinely do influence our feelings, which is one of the many reasons why a holistic approach to weight loss (and coaching in general) is so important. As coaches, we need to look at our clients' mindsets, but it is equally important to understand where we need to address emotions that are rising in the body. This practice will help them separate their internal experience from what is happening on the outside. That separation is powerful as I help my clients attend to the imprints on their nervous systems or emotions. We could talk about this every week with our clients and ourselves, and it would be a lightbulb moment every time. It’s our job to help them see that their circumstance does not have power over them so we can attend to what's going on in their mind.

How to help your clients