Nutrition Coaching: Part 1

Doing something new for the first time is kinda scary, isn't it?

You don't know if you'll fail or succeed, but you never know until you go for it,

This past February, I was a part of revamping the nutrition program at DEUCE Gym with Logan (it's weird he my boss now). In short, we offer a 101 program which had a weekly call with students and coaching them through their nutrition journey and reaching their goals. We also offer a 202 program, which all-digital based where everything is done via SEISMIC, the digital partner the gym has formed with to use for the nutrition program. Both those programs is a 3-month commitment to make sure that they can be time for room to learn and grow knowledge. As I was a fresh and new nutrition coach, for my first program, 5 clients signed up for DEUCE Nutrition 101 to be coached by me. I was nervous and scared, but also excited all at the same time.

I'm not going to lie, those first 3 months was really tough for me. I would wake up early for calls and either some students wouldn't show up to the calls or had to cancel the call minutes before we were supposed to have our check-in. In the end, 1 of those 5 clients decided to continue on with DEUCE Nutrition 202 as they kept up with their goals, which was to have a healthy relationship with food and increase their health & well-being, then eventually got to tracking macro, and an added bonus was that this student lost 10 pounds without even realizing!

I was a bit discouraged when 4 of the 5 clients didn't want to continue (one wanted to but was making a life-changing move and didn't have the capacity). I thought to myself, "Am I really cut out for this?" But I did have one client who trusted me in the process and they were extremely excited to still continue on with their journey with food.

I did get 5 more clients for my second program with DEUCE Nutrition 101 but I felt down on myself because of my success rate of my students continuing was at the Mendoza line. With my Nutrition 101 clients, if time allows and stars align, I try to schedule a "Get-To-Know-You" call to talk to them about goals and their background. It gave me more confidence that they had the "All-In" mentality with their nutrition journey with their specific goals they wanted to meet.

As I went through the 3-months with the group of my second Nutrition 101 students (and my one 202 student), I gain more confidence and leading them to closer to their goals every week and I couldn't be more proud of those students reaching goals they had told me at the beginning of the program, whether if it was to have a healthier relationship with food, lose weight, increase in performance at the gym. Shoot, two students even lost weight for the first time in a long time, one was about 17 years! At the end of the second program, 3 are now enrolled in 202 and 1 wanted to do the 101 program again.

As I started my first week of my third DEUCE Nutrition 101 stint, I have 7 students who are enrolled in the program and I couldn't be more excited to see their progressions and helping the reach their goals!

It's only been a short 8 months of being a nutrition coach, but it all goes back to one of my first students I had in my DEUCE Nutrition 101 program that stuck it out, continued onto 202 and writes me the most, detailed summary of their week as we call it the TED Talk. I cannot thank this student enough for keeping me going throughout my nutrition coaching journey and making it worth while from the start. The day this student graduates from the program and goes off on their own, it'll be a bittersweet day for me, selfishly.

If you are reading this, you know who you are...Thank YOU!

Keep going.

Jun

Unexpected News.

I don't really write on here as much anymore, but when I do now, I used this as an outlet to let my thoughts out. Most of the times (or I should say 99% of the time), I'm afraid to express my thoughts and feelings to people, so I usually keep it to myself...

Other day, I went to go get dinner with my mom since I really never get to spend time with her besides the 15 minutes I see her in the morning and maybe 30 minutes when I get back home from work.

On the drive back home, out of no where, she brought up my dad.

My parents got separated when I was in middle school and they don't meet eye to eye at all.  My dad didn't live the healthiest lifestyle, smoking cigarettes and drinking every night (like about a 2-3 glasses of whiskey), never went to go workout but went to go play golf once or twice a week as his physical activity he does, which I guess is better than not.

The last time my mom talked to my dad was when he had a stroke back in November of 2018. Last time I talked to my dad was in 2020 sometime where he called me out of no where in the middle of the night saying he's looking to move back from Japan, where he moved back to after the strike, and asked me if I would buy a house under my name so he can live in it. I haven't spoken to him after that day...

Mom asked me if my dad had reached out to me. I was thinking to myself I haven't heard from him about 3 years, and I lost all my expectations of him reaching out. 

I told my mom I haven't heard from him. 

She explained to me that a mutual friend my mom and dad told her that my dad quit drinking, smoking and most surprising of all, golf.

I was in bit of a shock when I heard about this news. My sister's and I would tell him for years that he should stop smoking all together and to also stop drinking every night. He always told us, "One day I will."...

For starters, the reason why he's quitting golf was he was finishing towards to bottom every week when he goes out and plays with his friends. I guess losing that many time would do that to you. I still surprises me even now because growing up, he LOVED the game of golf. He lived, breathe and bled golf. He would tell me when I was younger to stop playing baseball and start to swing golf clubs instead. Every Sunday, he would turn on ABC or NBC to tune into the final round of whatever tournament the PGA was playing. So to hear that was a bit of a shock.

Secondly, the reason why my dad is quitting and smoking is because one of his friends, is hospitalized and is getting fed via enteral nutrition. My dad most likely realized that he doesn't want to be in that state ever, after already having 2 strokes in his lifetime...

I really never talk about my dad with anyone, but I just felt like writing this today because I hope this change brings some good to him. My dad and I weren't that close, but I do miss him and wish I could go to him to ask for advice, to ask for help when I need it, and have conversation I can't really with my mom.

Tell the ones that you love that you love them and hold onto them dearly. Forgive them for their mistakes, we're all prone to make them. Whatever thing you have wrong in life with a person, small or big, let it go. Life's too short not to love, to be holding grudges and being mad at someone, because you never know when the next time you'll see or talk to them.

Keep going.

Jun