Your loved ones rely on you for assistance with their lives that would otherwise slip by unnoticed. You provide essential assistance that would otherwise go unseen.

Your role as an educator, helper, advisor and caregiver is multifaceted and vitally important to their wellbeing.

But who takes care of you?

Your answer could lead to one of two outcomes: either you will become healthier and fitter while decreasing stress levels; or it could keep you on a cycle of diet fads and failure.

Since late 2016, we’ve spent hours interviewing clients of PN Coaching for Women both face to face and on the phone.

We wanted to understand why they chose this particular program when there were so many other options available – such as hiring a personal trainer locally, enrolling at CrossFit gyms, or buying the latest diet book.

And their response was rather surprising.

Here’s what we found – and how it can help you become healthier, happier and less anxious about your body.

Women: Tireless caregivers In our interviews, similar stories kept emerging time after time.

Women care for elderly parents or disabled family members in their homes. It has been estimated that more than 60 million households provide caregiving assistance at home for an aging or disabled individual – at least 85% of these caregivers being women.

Caregiving costs both time and money, but it also costs women something else: self-care and taking into account their own needs.

As 70% of these women already arrive late to work or leave early due to family responsibilities, making time available for exercise and personal health a top priority can seem like the first thing that gets sacrificed.

At our interviews, this was something that kept coming up again and again.

One client had spent two years caring for her elderly father. Though they shared many happy times together, upon his passing she realized the toll these two years of caretaking had taken on both her body and wellbeing.

By sheer coincidence, she signed up for PN Coaching the following week.

Women care for children. Men are increasingly helping at home, yet moms still spend twice as much time caring for, teaching, and transporting their children than do fathers. This includes caregiving responsibilities like feeding them at meal times.

Moms know the joy of spending extra hours with their children; however, time constraints limit this pleasure and it is sometimes impossible to dedicate enough attention to exercise, meal planning and self-care activities.

Many new mothers feel overwhelmed just trying to fit a shower into their schedule, much less making time to attend a gym class!)

Again, this was a common thread throughout our interviews.

One client stands out in my mind: She had been driving her son twice per day to swim practice – at 4:30 AM in the morning and again after school – all while working full-time and caring for the rest of her family.

She was immensely proud of what her son had become and of how she’d helped him achieve success.

But once her son received his driver’s license and no longer required her constant care, she realized that all those years spent prioritizing others had made her heavier than she’d ever been before. Additionally, her doctor prescribed medications.

Within weeks she was coaching with us!

Women provide care to both partners and spouses.
Time can often slip away quickly when managing both work and housework responsibilities simultaneously.

As I’ve noted previously, housework or meal preparation alone does not pose the challenge; rather, it is all of the planning, thinking, and energy that goes into holding down two full-time jobs simultaneously that prove challenging.

One of our clients experienced this firsthand when her fiance was suddenly transferred to another city, forcing her to stay behind temporarily in her job due to limited options available to her.

Left with time to reflect alone, she came to recognize how often other things, including her relationship, had come before her own health.