Liz lost 30 pounds in under a year, despite an extreme setback. During my second pregnancy, I experienced weight gain of more than 45-pounds. After the birth of my second son, at my heaviest weight, I decided that I wanted a change. I wanted to improve my health and wellbeing not only for me, but my two young sons. After speaking with a coworker about my weight concerns, she suggested I enroll in Health Coaching. I was very apprehensive at first, feeling like I could make the changes necessary to accomplish my goals on my own. I’m independent in that way, often thinking, “I can do it myself.” After another friendly nudge (or two!) from my coworker, I contacted Amanda, my Health Coach. I’m thankful that I did. I’m sure I’m not alone in this thought process: When I began working with Amanda, I wanted to see immediate results. Instead, Amanda helped me understand how a slow and steady course of weight loss would be more sustainable in the long-term. She encouraged me to evaluate how my daily habits either aligned or misaligned with my health goals and helped me learn how to change unhealthy habits and misaligned actions over time. Now, I make nutritious choices daily, while indulging now and then. I’m confident in preparing healthy meals for my family and am prepared for healthy, quick alternatives on busy weeknights. In addition to making significant nutrition changes, through Health Coaching, I went from living an inactive lifestyle to participating in a consistent exercise program. I was feeling great! I needed to overcome many obstacles on my journey to achieving my health goals. One obstacle being low back pain and back spasms that came on out of the blue. I was thrown for a loop. The pain and spasms impacted me in my daily life, I could hardly do anything let alone commit to food prep and exercise. It was frustrating, just as I was beginning to see real results and make good progress, I experienced this setback. Amanda and I shifted from focusing on nutrition and exercise to simply nutrition as I worked with my physicians and physical therapist to address my back issues. I came to learn that I have degenerative disc disease. Now that I know where the spasms and back pain are coming from, I’m able to manage with fewer spasms and stay on top of any pain that comes my way. Once I was able to return to my normal exercise routine, Amanda worked with me to help me learn exercises that would help me get results without putting my spine at increased risk of another spasm. I knew I was in the right place with her professional and knowledgeable approach. She not only was there for me during this setback, but helped me optimally cope and address it, too. When I faced other obstacles, I used overcoming the obstacle of degenerative disc disease to fuel my motivation to continue pursuing my health goals despite, well, life! A third pregnancy, unexpected life circumstances, and job changes were a few obstacles I successfully navigated all while keeping my health goals in mind. Ordinarily, those things would bring back some unhealthy habits, but with my newfound motivation, I’m able to stay on track, being flexible when necessary, and recovering my healthy lifestyle habits when I notice them starting to fall to the wayside. With the tools and strategies that my health coach, Amanda, helped me discover, I achieved a weight loss of nearly 30 pounds in just under a year. I felt better in my own skin, more like myself. I noticed I had more energy, felt stronger, acted more confident, slept better, and was more motivated to stay the course of living my Healthiest lifestyle! Sure, it was tough. Old habits truly die hard, but I could not be more satisfied that I pursued Health Coaching with Amanda. If someone is considering Vos Wellness, I’d tell them to go for it! You’ll be surprised at just how much is possible when you have a high caliber coach by your side equipping you with the drive, grit and motivation to live your healthiest life. -Liz C