Best friends makeover: Month 1

Fitness
Meet the coach: Shelly Stranaghan is the fitness centre coordinator at Mount Royal Recreation in Calgary. She coordinates both the personal-training programs and the fitness centre. She has a physical education degree in active living, health and well-being, and supports a wide range of clients including students and employees from Mount Royal College, as well as members of the general public.

Tanya
Coach's comment:
"Tanya has never been active, so making fitness a part of her lifestyle will be challenging. But a fitness program with lots of variety will help her see how easy and fun it can be, especially when she works out with Tracy."

Objectives:
• Get involved in regular fitness to increase energy, improve self-esteem, reduce stress and improve overall fitness so she can keep up physically with her son.
• Lose weight, as a side-effect of becoming more physically active.

Action plan:
• Familiarize herself with the fitness centre (both weight and cardio machines) and discover what type of exercise she enjoys.
• Use fitness buddies for motivation (for example, take a class with Tracy).
• Work with Shelly regularly to review exercise program.

Strategies:
• Weights and cardio program in the fitness centre on Sundays with Tracy.
• Three different weekly classes: Fire and Water class (combination of Pilates and yoga) with Tracy, Deep H2O (in the pool) and BootCamp.

Tracy
Coach's comment:
"Tracy's not a stranger to the gym; however, getting back in a daily routine may be where the challenge lies. Taking a variety of classes will remind her of how great it feels to be fit, and Tracy and Tanya will use each other for motivation."

Objectives
• Make regular fitness part of her life once again.
• Improve overall fitness to have more energy.
• Increase weight-bearing activity to decrease risk of osteoporosis.
• Increase lean body mass and become more toned.

Action plan:
• Emphasize resistance training.
• Use fitness buddy motivation.
• Work with Shelly regularly to review exercise program.

Strategies:
• Weights and cardio program in the fitness centre on Sundays with Tanya.
• Three different weekly classes: Fire and Water with Tanya, CardioLatin dance fitness class and BodyBlaster class.

Life
Meet the coach: Cathy Yost is a certified professional life coach with Coaching Insights Inc. in Calgary. She is accredited through the International Coach Federation and is a board member of the Calgary Association of Professional Coaches. Cathy coaches clients to dramatically improve their quality of life by helping them make changes in their personal and professional lives.

Tanya
Coach's comment:
"Tanya's life is very busy. She's a single mom with a busy 11-year-old; she manages the house and meals and still tries to find time for herself. She feels overwhelmed. As a result, she procrastinates a lot, and her home is disorganized."

Objectives:
• Get more organized.
• Make sure she is spending quality time with her son as he gets older.
• Strengthen confidence.
• Stop procrastinating.
• Find time for herself.

Action plan:
• Meet with Cathy for at least one hour twice a month.
• Develop a personalized program to understand her personal motivation needs, simplify her life and achieve her goals.
• Use Tracy as a support and sounding board.

Strategies:
• Do a clean sweep of her apartment to be more organized at home.
• Make a "needs" list, and identify barriers to achieving those needs.
• Identify and enhance strengths.
• Contemplate values.
• Explore stress reduction methods.

Tracy
Coach's comment:
"Tracy does everything for everyone, and now it's her turn. By putting her needs first, she'll let go of many of the 'shoulds' that drive her now and be more in control of her life."

Objectives:
• Strengthen relationship with her son, who is going through the normal challenges of male adolescence and is still upset that he had to give up skating.
• Make herself a priority.
• Improve her social life.

Action plan:
• Meet with Cathy for one hour twice a month.
• Develop a personalized program to understand her personal needs, simplify her life and achieve her goals.
• Use Tanya as a support and sounding board.

Strategies:
• Develop better communication skills.
• Remove limitations and barriers.
• Block "me time" on the calendar and honour that sacred time.
• Find inner peace and harmony.
• Pursue hobbies, such as salsa dancing, cooking classes and interior design.

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Photo by Roth and Ramberg