I’m a life coach. I’m a personal trainer. And I am always learning as I continue working with people.

Here’s some stuff I’ve learned lately:

People really, really don’t know what to eat or how to lose weight.

I adore reading about health and nutrition and even I feel overwhelmed and confused sometimes, so I get it.

Tonight I worked with a client who was not quite 13 and already weighed about as much as my husband does. Her parents brought her to the appointment and had provided the drink she brought with her during our workout: A 20 oz. bottle of blue Gatorade.

After our session I took them aside and told them that was no bueno. Unless you’re really working out, hard, for 60 minutes or more, water is sufficient. In fact, if my client drank that whole bottle during our session (she didn’t), she probably would have consumed more calories than she burned. That is definitely not the way to lose weight.

Although they understood, the mother asked me if Sobe Tea was any better. She went on to say that water makes her nauseous. I said Sobe was less calories, but really still not necessary. Sigh.

Health professionals aren’t always healthy.

A few weeks ago I read this article by John Taylor called “Nurses Mean Well.” When I first read it, I thought it was in bad taste for him to call out the overweight nurses who cared for his fiancée and their newborn baby, but a recent experience has changed my mind.

You see, earlier this week I went for a physical. The nurse who took my vitals was lovely to work with but very, very overweight. Okay, she was obese. Then my doctor (this was our first meeting) walked in, and she, too, was quite heavy.

Looking over my stats and history she complimented me on my regular exercise and other health habits, and told me whenever a patient made an excuse about not having time for exercise, she told them there was no excuse that was good enough to skip exercise. Yet she didn’t look like she’d participated in any regular exercise regimen in at least the last decade.

There are so many reasons why people are overweight, some physical, some emotional, all complicated. I don’t think worse of my doctor for being overweight, but I do think it makes her less effective for helping patients lose weight. People are looking for guidance, recommendations, and encouragement. I’m not sure how good someone who isn’t living the life he or she recommends is at convincing people to change their health habits.

People treat you the way you teach them to treat you.

On the life coaching front, I’m learning, for the millionth time, that people are treated the way they ask to be treated, whether they know it or not.

I have a client who is just a wonderful woman. Smart, spiritual, a born healer. And yet she lets various people in her life treat her like crap. She grew up being treated like crap and I think she just never quite realized that she deserves to be treated like the amazing human she is.

If someone in your life is treating you badly, ask yourself why you’re not standing up for yourself, and why you’re allowing that behavior to continue.

Also, notice if you’re also treating yourself badly That means putting yourself down, beating yourself up, and generally thinking thoughts that make you feel unworthy of love and respect and a good life.

Chances are if someone else is treating you poorly, you’re also treating yourself poorly. You’ve decided that it’s okay for you to be put down, both by your own thoughts and by others.

I’m hear to tell you it’s not okay. It happens, sure, but the kindest thing you can do for yourself, starting right now, is notice the negative thoughts you have about yourself. Write them down. Notice them. Start changing them. Once you treat yourself with kindness and respect, you won’t accept anything less from anyone else.

What have you learned lately?