On Being the Best You: An Interview with Wellness Coach, Dale Barr

Dale Barr’s passion for health and wellness began at a very young age, reinforced by her involvement in competitive gymnastics and a mother who used holistic health strategies. Dale was inspired to use her passion to help others master the wellness mindset and reach their wellness goals. Upon earning certifications in health and wellness coaching, wellness and nutrition consulting, personal training, and herbalism, she founded Wellness Rehab, LLC – an online wellness coaching service that helps clients make sustainable lifestyle changes and find more balanced states of well-being.

In your bio it states that you are a “survivor of the multisensory overload and consequent wellness burnout experienced by many business professionals.” Can you explain that in laymen’s terms?
The demands of working in Corporate America today are at an all-time high. The traditional 40-hour work week is a rare find. Forty-five, fifty and even sixty-hour weeks have become the new norm no matter which rung a person occupies on the corporate ladder, and those who fail to put in the hours are frequently penalized for it. To add to the expectations that workers physically be in the office for "X" number of hours per week, technology has enabled workers to also bring work home every night, connecting them 24/7 to their jobs and any associated stress.

And as if all that isn't enough, tools like instant messenger have forced people to multitask throughout the work day, half-listening to the conversation underway in the meeting they are attending, while simultaneously keeping one eye on the emails popping up on the lap top in front of them, and using the other eye to instant message a co-worker ...yes, all at the same time!

Scenarios like these are not uncommon and the life balance concept that was so heavily touted in the early 90s has all but been forgotten as companies try to do more work with fewer resources. Being able to manage the stress inherent in having a corporate job today, while also managing responsibilities on the home front, requires nothing short of super human powers! Trying to be everything and do everything and juggle everything eventually takes its toll on most mere mortals, resulting in physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual distress and illness, and all too often, victims of this overload and burnout don't even realize it's happening to them. Fortunately, I recognized the warning signs sooner rather than later and took steps to realign my career and life goals to achieve greater balance and harmony.

You got involved in gymnastics at a young age. I understand that competition, as relatives of mine run several cheerleader gyms and the demand keeps growing. Do you think it’s healthy to get so competitive at a young age with the potential for injury?
My answer would really depend on the child as well as the parents and overall circumstances. Being a fairly high-strung, type-A child, competitive gymnastics was an excellent outlet for my energy and I have nothing but positive things to say about my personal experience! Gymnastics taught me about focus and discipline. It taught me about winning and losing as well as setting personal goals while simultaneously working with a team to achieve team results. I made friendships that I still have today and memories that will last a lifetime.

That said, I think my experience represented ideal circumstances. I loved the sport and wanted to compete. My parents supported my interests but never pressured me and never set unrealistic expectations for me to become an athletic star. The entire experience was approached as an opportunity for me to learn and grow, and once I no longer wanted to participate, they allowed me the freedom to make that decision.

So back to your question... although I did compete and admittedly have a competitive spirit by nature, my personal experience with gymnastics fostered a spirit of healthy competition. Injury was always a risk, of course, but no more than in any other sport since I was never pushing myself past physical limits. Times have changed, I think, and children face more pressure when it comes to sports than I did back in the early 80s but for me, gymnastics was one of the most valuable activities I did as a child.

How do you define your wellness mindset?
In the simplest of terms, a wellness mindset is a way of thinking and living that makes a person feel grounded, healthy and as if they are performing at their very best! Different people can have different visions of wellness for themselves and can achieve those visions using different tools, but in general, embracing a wellness mindset means nurturing the body, mind and spirit as much as possible. My personal wellness mindset drives me to always seek a healthy balance in life: balancing healthy eating with the occasional indulgences to keep cravings at bay; balancing work and play and making time every day to get in some kind of physical activity; balancing time alone in meditation with social time. Keeping things in balance across the board fosters an overall sense of peace and tranquility for me.

What exactly does a wellness coach do?

Wellness coaching, also referred to as health coaching, is a method of guiding individuals to better understand their health and make sustainable behavioral changes to improve their overall well-being. By challenging the client to listen to his/her inner wisdom, identify personal values, and transform goals into action plans, a wellness coach provides a framework wherein clients are able to apply what they already know, along with new information delivered by the coach, to make changes that "stick." Wellness coaching isn't about the latest fad diet or fitness trend. It's about the client as an individual and helping him/her make behavior modifications that will promote lasting changes to live a healthier lifestyle.

Why do you think people have a problem balancing their lives? What is the most common problem that people come to you to resolve?
Our society today is very fast-paced and people play many more roles than they used to. For example, it used to be less common for mothers of very young children to work but today, that scenario is more common than not, and those working mothers are very often single parents to boot. Whereas women used to play the roles of wives and mothers, they are now wives, mothers and working parents, and those who are single parents may play the role of a father figure, too. Women who remarry potentially add the role of step-mother to their personal resume (as well as the role of "second - or third or fourth - wife," in cases where they marry a man who is also divorced).

Every role we assume in society comes with expectations and responsibilities. Balancing these expectations and responsibilities can be daunting and finding time to take care of ourselves amidst everything else can be challenging, to say the least. In fact, that's probably the number one complaint I hear from my clients: I don't have time to be healthy! The idea of making healthy meals and finding time to work out seem overwhelming to a lot of people but once I begin working with them to break down their goals into bite-sized pieces, we begin to gain traction and suddenly they see that living a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to be another chore or burden.

How is your book different from other diet books?
Most diet books focus on the food and/or exercise aspects of weight loss but neglect the importance of the mindset element. My book focuses solely on the mindset element and teaches readers how to get their heads in the game to achieve lasting results!

How long did it take you to write your first book?
Approximately 3 months.

How many rewrites did you do on it?
I spent at least two solid weeks editing and revising. I didn't do any complete rewrites, per se, but I definitely spent more time on certain chapters than others!

What did you learn from writing your first book that helped you with the second one?
My second book is a prequel to the first. It provides guidance about eating and exercise, which my first book doesn't cover. Having an understanding of the publishing process helped me significantly when writing the second book. I didn't have to spend nearly the amount of time formatting as I did with my first book because I knew the format to use from the start.

Was it harder or easier to write your second book?
From a formatting and technical perspective, it was easier to write the second book. The second book is also much shorter than the first and has a very specific intent, so it was easier to write from that perspective as well.

How much does social media play in your promotion of your books?
I'll be honest ... I am still trying to figure the social media angle out! I do think that Twitter can be helpful in building awareness about a book if the "right" person tweets about it.

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?
I think it's important to build an author platform even before a book is released. I am doing some "catch up" in that area right!

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?
The world of self-publishing has opened doors of opportunity to writers everywhere! If you have a message, don't be afraid to speak your voice. Resources abound to help you along the way and the satisfaction of pushing the "publish" button once your work is written and ready to go live is unlike any feeling you can imagine!

That’s all for our interview today. If you would like to learn more about Dale’s writing or coaching, here’s some options to do that –  Facebook   Website

 

Improving your Life and Health: An Interview with Roland Denzel

Thinking about making some changes in your life for the New Year? Read on and get some tips and ideas on how you can improve your health and your life.                          
You’ve now written (or co-written) multiple books on fitness and eating right. How did it all begin? You were not always a fitness expert.

I grew up chubby, and I was rarely passionate about anything other than Dungeons and Dragons and girls. ...and there was only one of those where I had much experience. Any guesses?

I'd tried many diets over the years, and non really clicked with me, but one day I realized that it wasn't the diets, it was me. I didn't really want it. Once I figured that out, I figured myself out, and started. I won't say it was easy after that, but it gave me the power to keep going.

What caused you to change?

There were a couple of problems going on with me. One, I just wasn't a happy person, and I used food for comfort. I still struggle with those urges from time to time, but they're under control. They are there, though, just controlled. Two, I was losing weight to GET happy. I was just sure that after losing weight, I'd get a girlfriend, but I'd lose 20lbs and realize that I'm still shy, and I still wouldn't be able to talk to my dream girl. Once I realized that, I'd just subconsciously give up.

So, I got happy, and I stopped thinking that weight loss was going to make me happy (or bring me more than health and smaller pants). Once those were out of the way, it was easier, but still not easy. Losing weight is rarely 'easy,' just because of all the hunger and changes you're going to make, (although people tend to make it harder than it has to be).

What keeps you motivated?

Motivation to lose weight is a little more simple when you know what you're in for and you know what the weight loss will mean to you. If you've convinced yourself that you'll win the lottery, or the girl you've had no chance with, down deep you know better, and it doesn't take much to derail you.

As to how I came to help others to lose weight and get fit? I started to ask questions on internet forums, found an online home and settled in. Pretty soon, people were asking for my help, and I found a lot of satisfaction in helping them.

At the beginning of a new year, lots of people make a resolution to get more fit. Why do you think the motivation goes away so easily?

They rarely have a good plan, and often decide to eat less and move more, which is basically the slogan at the USDA; that hasn't been working any better than any of the government's other plans...

Other mistakes are going with a cleanse or fast, or something like the HCG diet, which are not sustainable, teach you nothing, and end up frustrating you when you gain a lot of it back as soon as you stop starving yourself.

What do people need to do to stay motivated?

What they need is a solid plan that's not extreme. It either needs to be sustainable in their lives from day one OR start off slow and ramp up, so they learn as they build the diet. Our book, Man on Top, is the latter. It gives you a new habit each week or so, and you only have to add new ones when you need to. Simple and sustainable.

The popular TV diets rely on pre-packaged products that I’ve been told taste like government rations, which is why I’ve never tried them. What is your take on these types of products?

Some can taste good, but they can be expensive, and unless you plan to pay them forever, you're going to fail when you come off the diet.

Instead, learn to cook simply, and plan out your week. We typically do some mass cooking on Sunday night, so we have our work week pretty set. After that, all it takes is reheating and maybe making a salad or steaming some fresh veggies as a side dish to the chili, stew, or slow cooked beef that you made on Sunday.
 

You also write a lot about getting fit. Many people shudder when they think of exercise and say they are too busy. Short of getting up at dawn or going to sleep at midnight, how do you fit an exercise plan?

People think you have to train a lot to lose weight, but it's not true. If you keep eating too much (or too much of the wrong things) it's true you'll have to burn that stuff off, but that's really not a good plan.

If you have a combination of resistance training (weights, bands, etc) and 'cardio' you can be pretty efficient. Cardio doesn't have to be jogging, either. it can be a little sprinting, walking, or even just lifting weights fast. Traditional cardio is overrated as a health aid and a weight loss tool; it can work, but you can't rely on it alone.

What is your personal exercise plan?

Personally, I train 2-3 times per week at the gym or in my garage (which has just dumbbells and a few kettlebells). On top of that, I walk a lot. My wife and choose to walk to the store a few times per week, and carry back what food we can. We use the time to talk, too. We work together writing, but we don't see each other most of the day, so walking meetings keep us synced up on our projects.

When did you decide you wanted to write your first book on fitness and food?

I met Galina in 2008 at a fitness conference, and she had the idea to write Man on Top together. I had 'been there' myself, and she had already helped many clients succeed in her own gym, which was the biggest gym in Bulgaria.

How long did it take you to write the first book?

The book took forever. Four years, in fact. It was written in our spare time, on weekends and after hours. She still lived in Bulgaria for much of that time. We kicked the book writing off with a month long meeting in the USA, divided up the sections, and then kept working via the magic of the internet.

How many rewrites did you do on it?

I don't know how many rewrites we did. We rewrote some chapter several times, deleted others entirely, and frantically added new chapters right at the end.

Who helped you with the editing?

We had beta readers for much of the editing. We have some fitness friends who are passionate about reading and grammar, and they eagerly read the book before we sent it off to be edited.

 

Our editor was a friend and long time fitness compatriot who edits non-fiction and manuals for a living, so it was a good fit.

How did you go about finding a publisher to handle your book?

We decided to self-publish because most traditionally published fitness books are written by people with huge platforms. There was a barrier to entry (blog reader numbers, specifically) that we simply couldn't hit. We looked into it, and we would have had to spend a few years building up a reader base just to get interest in the book.

We are constantly writing, so when one day the right people will publish the right book at the right time. I'm confident of that. In the meantime, we get to write exactly what we want, and we've gotten great feedback from readers who've tried our training plans, lost weight, and gotten healthy. One couple even told us that our Real Food Reset helped them get pregnant after years of trying and failing. I'll take that.

Are all your books eBooks only?

We do offer programs and workout plans that are eBook only, but our true books are in print. Fitness books need to be available to all readers, and many people simply don't like eBooks. That being said, we offer printable charts, forms, and workout logs on our website, because neither print books or eBooks are great for keeping track of a diet or exercise plan!

Our print books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and our ebooks are found on all the ebook sites all over the world. I got an email from a reader in India just yesterday!

How do you write? Did you do an outline first?

Galina and I write non-fiction together, and we do full outlines before we really get going. We have a lot of overlapping skillsets, but there are some things that we are each more passionate about, so we divide and conquer.

After it's 'done,' I typically put the final product together and do a polish on it, then hand it off to her for fresh eyes. She's better at English than most native speakers, so she finds and fixes a lot!

What type of publicity do you do to promote your book? What has worked best for you in generating sales?

We sent out review copies (eBook and print), and asked clients and friends to spread the word. With fitness, the marketing is to people who want to be healthy or lose weight, so there's a lot of people interested.

Some of our friends in the fitness industry were very supportive and reviewed it and suggested it to their readers, too.

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?

I was so worried about making it perfect the first time that it took a lot longer to write than I ever thought. A book will never be perfect, and worrying about 'perfect' means you delay the next book or project.

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?

Write every day, even if it's a few hundred words. Once you get out of the habit, it's that much harder to get back into it.

That's it for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Roland and Galina's fitness tips and plans, here's some optinion

TheFitInk.com        TheFitInk.com/Books        littledoglost.blogspot.com.