Avery’s story — Part 2

Picking up where we left off in Part 1, the latter part of my assessment with Avery, we talked about the goals she wanted to achieve. 

One goal, very important to Avery, was not participating in the diet culture. Instead, she wanted to figure out a way to authentically focus on weight management. The focus would be to manage her weight by managing her time around work, in a way that allowed more movement, primarily outdoors when possible. Further, as a remote employee, Avery wanted to take advantage of being out and about in her community, which was a great launching point for her goals.

In our next session, we revisited her weight management goals in relation to her initial intent for coaching — to manage her hypertension and put into place behavioral strategies, in an organic way, which would be central to her agency. 

We discussed the notion of her weight management journey not being about deprivation. The focus would be to identify the benefits of certain foods, eat those specific foods, and create meals that would support her nutritional plan, while lowering her sodium intake. 

Making strides in her journey, Avery started to look at the bigger picture of managing her weight. She has implemented grocery delivery, in tandem with, experimenting with different recipes, prepping meals in advance, and charting out her physical activities and progress, making sure to note any variance in what she wants and what is happening. All of these activities will allow her to live in her power. 

Additionally, she has incorporated the use of Cardi Health, the cardiovascular health app, to give her support outside of our coaching sessions. 

Avery also shared how traveling outside the U.S. gave her the opportunity to integrate her well-being strategies in a new setting. She detailed taking stock of her hunger cues, her energy level, and ways to incorporate opportunities for movement as a contemplative and relaxation practice. 

While her travels seemed to go well, upon her return, Avery experienced a life-changing event; she had to find another apartment quickly. As if having to uproot her life was not stressful enough, during her search for a new place, she experienced racism in the process. The combined stressors resulted in her forgetting to eat in a way that supported her well-being objectives. 

As she communicated the happenings, I posed this question to Avery, 

“How might you offer yourself grace in difficult situations, while staying the course of what is meaningful to you?” 

One strategy she came up with was to have food on-hand that would support her blood pressure management objective, to make sure that she had visual cues to engage in physical activity, and to drink water. At the same time, she would honor and acknowledge any feelings that emerged, without labeling them bad or good.

In a continued pursuit to craft a well-being vision for herself, Avery is encouraged to think about her baseline habits that can be maintained and drawn upon when she feels stressed, along with a sustained effort to healthfully navigate her hypertension diagnosis.

From my point of view, Avery is on the pathway of figuring out the cadence of how she cares for herself authentically, being in her own power. 

Thanks for taking time to follow Avery’s story and be sure to stay tuned as I share more client stories.