Goodbye, PHB

Project Healthy Body (PHB) -- 5 months, lots of homework, weekly phone conversations, great coach, new connections and one ape-shit crazy founder.

Here we go ...

Sitting on this side -- knowing what it's all about, I can't say I'd do it again (if I had that choice).  It was a boat ton of money once you "see" the entire program and assess it's value.  If you see prices of other programs, it's a bit of sticker shock.  That said, the other programs I've priced don't give you as much personal time, feedback and accountability, but these "bigger" programs have better content.  Jennifer's program is a little garage start-up like with the content.  Nothing is really original (ideas from the big names slightly reworded and claimed as her brainchild), but she "finds" sources that I wouldn't have necessarily noticed myself.

Most of the actual learning came from the stuff I did outside of the program or from extra sources from Holly.  I credit PHB with a six-degrees of separation though.  I wouldn't have found that path without a starting point from somewhere within the program itself (i.e. someone mentioned a good podcast which led me to a good book which led me to a good lesson -- that kind of thing).

My coach, Holly is fantastic and I wouldn't hesitate to hire her again or recommend her.  My accountability partner, Darcie is also great and a lot of the program's value came from our conversations and connection (others weren't so lucky - so that's a bonus, not a given).

Hands down the best part of PHB is the ACCOUNTABILITY.  It forced me to stay the course, do the work -- even if I didn't feel like it -- even if I didn't feel I needed it.  Lots of my OWN work, but still the stuff I needed to do and couldn't seem to get any traction.

Most of the content was TED talks on YouTube, articles and some podcasts.  Homework was lots of journaling on the week's topic.  There's value in writing stuff down, reading it out loud and getting feedback.  Some of the journal assignments were helpful (some didn't resonate with me) and that's true of most personal growth coaching.

What I learned during these 5 months:
   Feel my feelings (even the ugly ones are okay)
   Keep doing the work.  Little things done daily add up to a changed life.
   Ability to direct my thoughts - stop negative thought-loops (Brooke Castillo)
   Accept what IS (Byron Katie)
   The Universe works for me, not against me
   Problem solve - even the littlest of "problems" -- be a FIXER
   Podcast junkie!!
   Reminder to ALWAYS think for yourself.
   "Hearing" other people's inner dialog is eye-opening.  Personal struggles are universal.

Now the downside.  I've talked about the founder, Jennifer before in another post and my personal interaction with her was shocking, given her profession especially.  She's done a number of things that didn't sit well with me, but I thought it WAS me.  She's a personal coach and no way she'd act with malice over simple things -- but she did and does.  LESSON - follow your gut and never follow blindly!  It pinged me from very early on and turns out, it was right (and I'm not the only one with shocking experiences or pinging guts).

Her latest drama involved "bringing down Melissa Hartwig Urban" (of W30 fame).  Melissa wrote an Instagram post about how people should find other things to compliment women on rather than only weight loss.  Her intention was to say -- we are all more than our weight.  A few of PHB coaches (and some other people) took offensive to the suggestion and interrupted this to mean weight loss isn't worthy of a compliment.  There was a respectful conversation, including Jennifer, and it seemed like it smoothed out.

BUT, Jennifer posted on our private network that "she took Melissa down" and needed to unfollow her on social media.  Jennifer is a Whole30 certified coach and is currently offering a Whole30 (for a fee) through PHB.  No reason to post that to her PHB clients (and BTW, too chicken to post that on Instagram publicly).  And, if you remember, the big issue Jennifer had with me was unfollowing her on Instagram.  Wow.  She be crazy as shit!!  And unprofessional and not a person I want to know.

This leaves me with a bad taste for the program, the branding, etc.  I wouldn't have recommended the program regardless (specifically because it's too expense for what it is), but I certainly won't now.  I need to decide if I should delete the network from my computer.  I had to stick with it until the program was over -- and now it's finished!  I might lose some connection with my small circle group, but it's probably necessary.  I only want to look at it to hate on Jennifer.  Not exactly higher level intentions by me.  I'll probably stay on it for a little bit to see if there are updates, etc and then sever the final bit from Jennifer.

The bottom line ... I'm glad I went through the program.  I think it was a good start on a better path and I credit this experience for starting that process.  Holly is a rockstar coach and a great person.  I learned a lot about myself -- in ways I never expected -- from the coaching and from the experience with Jennifer.  You can learn a lot from an ANTI-HERO too.

Later gators.