Benefits of Digital Health Coaching for Your Weight Loss Diet Plan
Key Takeaways
Health coaches play a pivotal role in guiding you towards achieving your health and weight loss goals.
Personalized health coaching is a collaborative partnership to help you improve your health and achieve your weight loss goals. This approach focuses on tailoring advice, guidance, and strategies to your unique needs, preferences, and circumstances.
Now, even busy individuals, constant travelers, and those working odd hours can reap the benefits of personalized health coaching from health coaches and dietitians through digital health coaching.
Digital health coaching combines the power of technology with personalized guidance to enhance individuals' well-being, making weight loss goals more achievable than ever before.
Your Weight Loss Diet Plan: Where to Start
Let’s start by understanding how one starts to lose weight. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. When you consume less calories than you usually burn (through exercise or your day-to-day activities), your body uses up stored energy sources such as fat or muscle to fuel your normal body function. Using up these stored energy sources results in weight loss.
Sounds easy? In theory, yes. When you look at it, there are two primary ways to lose weight:
Reduce the calories you consume
Increase the calories you burn
Reduce the calories you consume
Most of the food and drinks we consume have calories. To reduce the calorie intake, you need to be mindful of the quantity of food that you consume. Most people consume a diet that is high in fats or carbohydrates, which eventually leads to weight gain.
Increase the amount of calories burnt
Physical activity increases the amount of calories burned. You increase your calorie expenditure by increasing your intensity and duration of physical activity. Adding up extra movements like taking the stairs daily instead of the lift can add up to a higher energy expenditure.
Recommended Reading: How do I begin to lose weight?
Some Effective Weight Loss Diet Plans
Various weight loss diet plans have gained popularity as people seek effective ways to shed extra weight and improve their overall well-being. Some weight loss plans have shown promising results in aiding weight loss, including:
Keto Diet. The Ketogenic (or Keto) diet is a high-fat, extreme low-carbohydrate (almost entirely removing it) eating plan that forces the body to enter a state of ketosis. In a state of ketosis, the body burns stored fat for energy instead of carbohydrates.
Paleo Diet. The Paleo diet revolves around the concept of eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, focusing on whole foods, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. By eliminating processed foods and grains, the diet aims to reduce inflammation, stabilize blood sugar levels, and support weight loss.
Intermittent Fasting (IF). Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of eating and fasting. The most common IF methods include the 16/8 method (16 hours fasting, 8 hours eating) and the 5:2 method (eating regularly for five days and drastically reducing calorie intake for two non-consecutive days). IF has been associated with improved metabolism and enhanced fat burning, leading to successful weight loss. In addition, there has been some evidence to suggest a link between intermittent fasting and type 2 diabetes remission. In a small study, insulin-dependent diabetics were able to improve their insulin resistance and cease diabetes treatment.
Plant-based Diet. Plant-based weight loss plans emphasize consuming predominantly or exclusively plant-derived foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. It discourages the consumption of meats, dairy products, and eggs. A plant-based diet helps you lose weight the same way any calorie-restricted diet does: helping you eat fewer calories than your body burns.
Exercise Supports Weight Loss Diets
While these diets offer effective strategies to promote weight loss, combining them with regular exercise can help accelerate and optimize results. Here's how different forms of exercise contribute to the success of weight loss diets:
Cardiovascular Exercise. Cardiovascular exercises, such as running, cycling, and swimming, elevate heart rate and increase calorie expenditure. When combined with any of the mentioned weight loss diet plans in the previous section, cardio helps create a calorie deficit, essential for shedding pounds.
Resistance Training. Resistance training, also known as strength or weight training, involves activities that work and strengthen muscles. While dieting can lead to muscle loss along with fat loss, resistance training preserves lean muscle mass during weight loss.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT encompasses all the energy expended for activities other than sleeping, eating, and exercise. It includes daily tasks like walking, standing, cleaning, and gardening. Incorporating more NEAT into daily routines can significantly impact calorie expenditure and weight loss, especially when combined with one of the effective diets mentioned above.
To achieve the optimal results from your weight loss diet plans, it is best to combine them with regular exercise. Remember to consult with a healthcare professional or health coach before starting any weight loss diet or exercise program to ensure it aligns with your individual needs and health conditions.
Personalized and holistic nutrition and fitness plans such as NOVI Optimum offer continuous digital support from dietitians and fitness coaches to help you achieve results that last.
How do I put together a weight loss diet plan?
You can put together your own weight loss diet plan and set your own fitness goals. Here’s an easy way to put together your own weight loss diet plan:
Establish Clear Goals. Before diving into any weight loss plan, it's crucial to set clear and realistic goals. Determine how much weight you want to lose and in what timeframe. Remember that sustainable weight loss is gradual and health-focused.
Calculate Your Caloric Requirements. Understanding your caloric needs is essential for weight loss. Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – the calories your body needs at rest – and factor in your activity level using the Harris-Benedict equation. This will give you an estimate of your daily caloric expenditure.
Evaluate Your Current Habits. Take a close look at your current diet and exercise routines. Identify habits that are contributing to weight gain and those that support a healthy lifestyle.
Develop Your Diet Plan. Creating a balanced and sustainable diet plan is a key component of successful weight loss. You can make use of these 3 principles for reducing caloric intake: Reducing portion sizes, swapping food items, and modifying your meal.
Develop Your Exercise Plan. Physical activity plays a significant role in your weight loss plan and your overall health. Choose activities you enjoy and set realistic goals. In addition, include both cardiovascular exercises such as running or aerobics, and strength or resistance training. Finally, remember to give your body time to recover.
You can also use this weight loss planner.
To reach optimal results, it would be best if you can seek support from healthcare professionals, or health coaches to ensure your plan is safe and tailored to your needs.
Personalized Coaching for Your Health and Weight Loss Diet Plan
Personalized coaching with specialist health coaches, with training in fitness and nutrition, offer a tailored approach.
Health coaches play a pivotal role in guiding individuals towards achieving their health goals. They offer expert knowledge, support, and motivation, helping individuals navigate the complexities of making sustainable lifestyle changes - including creating a tailored weight loss diet plan just for you. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), some key roles of health coaches include providing education, setting achievable goals, offering personalized strategies, and fostering accountability.
Personalized health coaching is a collaborative partnership between a trained specialist or professional and an individual seeking to improve their health and well-being. This approach focuses on tailoring advice, guidance, and strategies to the individual's unique needs, preferences, and circumstances.
Through the integration of technology and ongoing communication, personalized coaching is a dynamic approach that empowers individuals to make sustainable changes. In today's world where technology is seamlessly woven into our daily lives, it's no surprise that healthcare and wellness are also being transformed through digital innovation.
Digital Health Coaching: Changing the Landscape
Digital health coaching utilizes technological tools to provide guidance, support, and resources for individuals seeking to improve their health and support for their weight loss diet plan. Among the tools used are mobile applications such as NOVIFY, virtual platforms, and wearables.
Benefits of Digital Health Coaching
These are just some of the many benefits of digital health coaching:
Accessibility and Convenience
Digital health coaching breaks down geographical barriers, making wellness guidance accessible to anyone with the necessary hardware and an internet connection. This is particularly beneficial for individuals in remote areas or those with busy schedules.
Personalization
Through advanced algorithms and careful data analysis, digital health coaching tailors recommendations to each individual's unique characteristics, preferences, and weight loss goals. This personalized approach enhances engagement and outcomes.
Continuous Support
Unlike traditional coaching sessions that are limited by time and location, digital platforms used by digital health coaches to communicate provide continuous support. Users can access resources, track progress, and receive guidance whenever they need it.
Data-Driven Insights
With the integration of health tracking apps and wearables, digital health coaching can utilize real-time data to offer valuable insights into users' habits, progress, and challenges. This data-driven approach enables more informed coaching strategies.
Engagement and Motivation
Interactive features, asynchronous messaging, and regular reminders keep users engaged and motivated throughout their wellness and weight loss journey – and at their convenience.
Digital health coaching is a promising field, especially with continuous advancements in wearable technology and machine learning, digital health coaching platforms will likely become even more sophisticated in understanding and addressing individual health and wellness needs.
In a 2021 study, after NOVI’s three-month chronic disease management program with digital health coaching, participants from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) with starting BMI ≥ 27.5 saw an average, clinically significant reduction of 5.2 kg (11.5 lbs) or 5.8% of their body weight.
Is digital health coaching for you?
Engaging a digital health coach and dietitian may be the way to go, especially if:
You have a busy schedule
Individuals with demanding schedules often find it challenging to prioritize their health - and even harder to stick to their weight loss diet plan. Personalized coaching offers flexibility, making it feasible for those juggling various commitments.
You are constantly traveling
Frequent travelers can struggle to maintain healthy habits while on the go. Digital health coaching offers adaptable strategies that accommodate travel-related challenges. You can just leave your digital health coach and dietitian questions on how to adjust your weight loss diet plan using an app, and they will guide you on how to work around your new timezone, available food options, or recommend alternative exercise routines.
You are working odd hours
For individuals working irregular shifts, maintaining a consistent routine can be tough. Digital health coaching can devise strategies that align with their work hours and optimize their health and adjust their weight loss diet plan.
NOVI Optimum offers a personalized weight loss diet plan. From eating to exercise, your health coach and dietitian will develop a holistic weight loss plan just for you. You will receive ongoing support and expert guidance from NOVI’s specialist dietitians and fitness coaches via NOVIFY, NOVI’s mobile app, that will help make it easier for you to be on track, tweak your program as you progress and stay motivated constantly.
Learn more about our remote personalized and holistic support sustainable weight loss with NOVI Optimum.