Behavioral Wellness for Weight Management

Coaching Your Clients to Making Behavioral Changes that Last

Weight loss and weight maintenance are achievable through a multi-disciplinary approach including behavior modification and continued management, proper nutrition, and physical activity and exercise. As a Board Certified Obesity Management Specialist, your weight management program should include all three factors.

Behavior management is the focus of changing or maintaining order. Behavior management , “can help manage why [your clients are] overweight or obese by understanding the behaviors that surround and cause it. If you change your behaviors around food and exercise, you can change your weight”.¹  It is important to have an understanding of behavioral management and the phases of change your clients will work through. Your role will be to coach, mentor, and monitor your clients, giving information and guidance towards achieving their goals. Goal-setting is necessary to create a path that breeds success. If success breeds success, how do you, as their coach, get the ball rolling with your clients? Begin with one behavior pattern and goal at a time. Goals should be used during all phases of change in order to work towards making changes that last. You will have to ask and evaluate, “What can your clients realistically do for life? What are they willing to do for maintenance?”  Have your clients list all the things they would like to change or manage. Pick out the most realistic or most attainable and start there. Small steps are manageable; reinforce their achievement, build confidence and allow your clients to gain control again.

How is the COMS Approach to Weight Loss Different?

Many programs are cookie-cutter systems that are not individualized. As a weight loss professional, you must individualize to each client’s needs. The art of listening is very important. What are your clients truly saying they want to change? Small steps towards goals, one by one, will help you lead your clients to emotional and physiological health and wellness. Emotional wellness encompasses the feelings and full range of emotions of your clients, from happy to sad or anger to forgiveness. Your clients will need you to be aware of the many aspects of emotional wellness.

Identifying Your Clients

Who are you treating? Ask questions that help you identify each client. Most likely your clients are going to have a combination of factors that you will have to address. Awareness of their weaknesses and barriers will assist in your treatment plan and coaching/counseling techniques. A procrastinator is going to need motivation and a sense of urgency. A client with low-self-esteem will need pats on the back and encouraging words. You will have to remind your low-self-esteem clients that they are good enough, important enough to change. Working with a pessimist or negative-self-talker can be trying. Redirecting thoughts and patterns with positive self-talk is recommended. The final type of client is the people pleaser. Scheduling time for appointments, workouts, and self-reflection may be this client’s biggest barriers. Slowing down your client’s thought process to include a busy schedule may be the first step. Many clients will have several of these factors to address.

Interviewing Skills

During your consults, asking open-ended questions will prevent your clients from simply answering with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers. The best way to have your clients answer their own questions is by making them think about and state the answer themselves. Instead of asking your clients if they are ready to make the changes necessary for weight loss, ask, “What are the changes you feel you will need to make to be successful at weight loss?” If a client says he has a barrier to exercise due to lack of time, ask him to find 30-minutes of time in his schedule instead of finding it for him. You can continue this type of questioning throughout the consult. Make your client answer without your guidance or interruption. Empower your clients to create their own strategies.

Get to Know Your Client

Know something specific about each of your clients. Ask them questions and take notes regarding personal information. Do your clients have children? Are they involved in any hobbies? Review your notes each session and follow-up with discussions to personalize your relationship. Your clients will appreciate the personal touch and feel more comfortable with you.

Past Approaches?

Ask your clients to come to your appointment with a list of the previous weight loss programs they have tried. What was the length of the program? Did they have success and for how long was it maintained? Were both exercise and diet incorporated? What did your clients like or dislike about the program? Why did the attempt end? How can your clients be helped to prevent an end to this attempt? How can that information be built upon for this attempt? Being mindful of these questions can assist you in guiding your clients through a new, successful attempt.

1. Day, J. A. Behavior modification for weight loss: The Johns Hopkins Digestive Weight Loss Center. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/digestive_weight_loss_center/services/weight_management_evaluations/behavioral_therapy.html