Using Behavior Analysis for Health and Fitness Coaching: Session 280 with Sarah Burby

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Sarah Burby joins me to discuss using her Behavior Analytic training to help people reach their health and fitness goals. Sarah is the owner of Mind Body Behavior, and she is not only a BCBA, she holds many other health and fitness certifications as well.

These include holding credentials as a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and a Certified Barre Instructor. She is also Precision Nutrition Certified and an Adjunct Professor. As you'll see, she wears many hats.

During this conversation, we talked about the various fitness certifications that are out there, and we spent a good amount of time going over the difference between holding a board-certified credential - like having a BCBA credential, vs. other types of certifications that are out there.

We also discussed some practical questions about how to avoid packing on the pounds as we go through the fall and into winter, the importance of learning one's hunger and satiety signals, whether restricting macronutrient categories is helpful, and whether coaches in the health and fitness space actually need to become Board Certified Behavior Analysts.

We also talk about the program that Sarah developed specifically for BCBAs who are looking to become Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches. As such, if this is something you're interested in, go ahead and check it out.

Lastly, I wanted to give a hat tip to Dr. Christine Barthold of George Mason University. Like Sarah, she holds many certifications in the health and fitness world, and she was kind enough to link me up with Sarah to have this fun conversation.

Here are some of the resources we discussed: 

This show is brought to you with support from the following:

  • If you are looking for a fitness and sleep tracking device, I've been using the Whoop Strap for the last few years. I've lost 30 pounds over the last six months. It's not entirely due to the Whoop Strap... there's a lot more to it than that. However, it does provide me the day to day feedback on things like sleep metrics, calories burned, Whoop's proprietary metric they refer to as Strain, workout and step tracking, and much more.
  • The University of Cincinnati Online. UC Online designed a Master of Education in Behavior Analysis program that is 100% online and asynchronous, meaning you log on when it works for you. Want to learn more? Go to online.uc.edu and click the “request info” button.
  • HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.
  • ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving (maybe even this episode!), walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests!
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