Table 11.

Corroborative Quotations for 6-Month Follow-Up Themes and Sub-Themes (Intervention Group).

Overall Impact of Coaching
● Positive
“It was an interesting experience having a life coach, as it made you realize how much all the aspects of your life are correlated. So that made a big difference.”
“I loved the start of [the program] I don’t think I would’ve done as well if I hadn’t had someone to talk to. Personally I probably would have loved [coaching] to go on a lot longer. But I think that’s why people who join programs are successful, it’s because they have someone they are accountable to for a longer period of time. … I felt like I could talk to somebody about what my struggles were, who was going to not just listen but help me overcome some of them.”
● Improved mindset
“I think [coaching] was probably the best part [of the program]. I think just working on that mental stuff really helps translate into everyday life. … Like, after the sessions, you feel better. And so then you’re more inclined to … eat something healthy and go for a walk as opposed to come home and sit and eat chips on the couch, you know? … More motivated.”
“[My coach] had me actually walk away from a fitness company that wasn’t serving me… the relationships I had built with this fitness company were harming my mental health more than helping my physical health. So, she had me walk away from that, which, for mental health was really good … [I began] at-home workouts …which, with my busy schedule, worked really well for being able to fit that in at home.”
“My friends can see the struggle of ‘I don’t want to eat that’ or ‘I want to lose weight,’ but [my coach] was able to take me to a deeper level of why I was so enamoured with food … and you know … the other things I needed to deal with and heal to stop replacing them with food. … So, [coaching] was probably the best part of that entire thing.”
● Change in perspective
“[My coach and I] talked a lot about happiness and what does that weight really mean and the end of it… [I realized] ‘you know what, I’m just as happy whether I’m 5 pounds up or whether I’m 10 pounds down.’ … I don’t stress [about weight] nearly as much as about it as I did before.”
“It’s hard to keep [behaviour change] going and that was something that my life coach sort of helped drill into me, that just because you’re not doing it exactly the way you want to do it now doesn’t mean you should stop, right? So, I think that’s something that I keep in my head, you know, just because you haven’t gone to the gym in 2 weeks doesn’t mean that now you can never go again. … you can start again.”
“[My coach] allowed me to see that I can get healthier, but still love who I am. It doesn’t mean I don’t love myself or the size I’m at, or the person I am, currently.”
● Long-term strategies for behaviour change
“I still will sometimes force myself to go back and look at things the way [my coach] would have made me look at it. … I’ve gone back and read my notes about things that we’ve talked about… she has changed my thinking on so many important things [which] has really helped …going forward. And then that does change things like the physical aspect and the nutrition, because I’m looking at it from a different lens.”
“The main thing that the life coach kind of instilled on me [was] that you have to kind of put yourself first because if you don’t then everyone else kind of suffers too, so it’s the biggest thing that I took away from it.”
“[My coach] encouraged me to do some journaling… and I’ve continued to do that. And then she just gave me some just tips on how to, how to get that motivation going again so when it starts to get to a low period, what to do to kind of kick start that.”
Impact on Own and Family’s Nutrition
● Meal preparation
“[Meal preparation] saved me a lot of time and energy just making things simpler, knowing my family’s eating better. I’m not running to the grocery store every other day trying to grab stuff to eat. So, [the program] just improved our life in a lot of ways.”
“We go grocery shopping on Saturday and buy everything we need for the week, so there’s no stress that way. … And it is something that I’ll just continue, because it works well for our family. … We know exactly what’s there, and some of the things I will prep on the weekends, and so it’s easier to then cook on the weekday.”
“We were a big granola bar family or cookies or chips, the things that are really super high in carbohydrates, and quick to grab. But if we do meal prep, then we’re a lot faster to grab like a salad or some vegetables that are already cut, or fruit.”
Barriers
● Stress
“Probably more than 6 months ago I was going to the gym more often, and making a better effort with my diet, and making sure my daughter was getting more activity as well. And now it just, because of time constraints, and probably a bit of stress, and probably a bit of anxiety, it’s sort of slid back a bit. … Eating has been a challenge and we’ve definitely been relying a little more on restaurants than we want to.”
“I still notice when I’m stressed, I do eat a lot and then it doesn’t help and then when I get sick … I use that as an excuse to like not do anything. … It’s … that habit-forming thing, you have to do it for um at least 21 days before it sticks. And so, I have to just get back in to that and stick with it.”
● Motivation
“As I’m watching the leaves start to change I can feel … excuses starting, like, ‘Oh, well I could put something in my lunch time so I don’t have to go for that walk.’ …[T]hose excuses … won’t better myself, but it’s a pattern I’ve always done and it’s very normal for myself. But I’m trying to go against those and work against what my natural inclination to continue those walks.”
● Time
“One of the biggest challenges is now [my children] have something every single evening, and we are literally flying from where I pick them up at their after-school program, home, eat dinner, and then out to something for them. They continue to stay active. … But that forces me to go and be sedentary most of the time, at their things, watching them be part of those fun activities.”