#94 - Hiring A Coach Gives You Clarity Not Happiness

Coaching won’t make your life easier in the way people secretly hope it will. If your job is draining you, your stress is through the roof, or your routine is chaos, paying a fitness coach doesn’t switch that off. We say it plainly: coaching doesn’t buy happiness, and it doesn’t solve your problems for you. What it can do is give you direction, clarity, support, and the kind of external accountability that helps you stop drifting and start acting.

We dig into the unsexy truth behind weight loss coaching and body composition change. Fat loss still comes back to a calorie deficit, plus the basics that make it sustainable: steps, training, sleep, food prep, and repetition. We talk about why the industry sells “instant transformation” stories, why that’s misleading, and why the real “secret sauce” is simply doing the work consistently. Even when you have the perfect plan, you’re still the one who has to get to the gym, put your hands on the bar, and make the choices when nobody is watching.

We also give a practical framework for real life: setting expectations based on your stress levels and extending timelines when needed, instead of trying to force perfection. Then we share the traffic light system for managing weeks that go green, amber, or fully red, so you can reduce friction, keep adherence high, and avoid the stop-start cycle. If you want a grounded, no-nonsense take on online coaching, accountability, and sustainable fat loss habits, this is for you. Subscribe, share it with a mate who needs the reality check, and leave a review with the one habit you’re committing to this week.

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Website https://www.larrydoylecoaching.ie
Coaching with us https://www.larrydoylecoaching.ie/1-1-premium/
Email : info@larrydoylecoaching.ie

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Claim

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey guys, you're listening to the Gen Pop Podcast with me, your host, Larry Doyle. Each week, I'm gonna bring in friends, guests, and experts to help enhance your health, fitness, and wellness journeys. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversations.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

You are welcome back to another episode of the Gen Pop Podcast, where this week, co-host Daniel and I, we're gonna discuss that coaching doesn't buy you happiness. It's not gonna solve all the problems in the world, it's not gonna get rid of all your stress and anxiety and fucking whatever issues are at home. I don't know. Let's jump into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah, I think when we were kind of brainstorming topics, this idea came up of coaching doesn't make it easier. And a lot of people might be kind of a bit shocked by that, but like thinking, but don't I sign up for a coach so that actually can make things easier, that I can reach my goals. But if you look at it, it's very easy to kind of like lose weight in the grand scheme of things. You just need to be in a deficit. It's like, but like why would you pay someone so to tell you that? It's like, no, you're kind of you're paying someone so they can help you kind of navigate things, but it doesn't kind of remove all these things. If you're working a job you hate and you're going to work every single day almost in tears, or you're happy to do lines of coke to kind of cope with things, or you've got a fucking shit family life going on, or whatever. Coaching doesn't help with all these things. We can only do so much, and it's more often than not, it's these kind of situations are what's kind of like holding people back. It's that they have some stress coming from their home life, they have some stress coming from their job, they have got

Coaching Cannot Fix Your Stress

SPEAKER_00 1:36

you know a circle of friends that they want to tell them that they don't want to go out, they don't want to drink anymore, but they can't do it. Um so that is gonna cause a lot of friction, and coaching can make it easier in the sense of like, okay, here's my advice in this situation, whatever, but it's not going to remove these things. We can have discussions with people, and like you probably have to do the same as most coaches do, where a lot of the time you're kind of talking clients off of ledges, they're like, I'm the fucking edge here, what am I supposed to do? Blah blah blah, and we have to just give them our opinion or just even listen. That's one of the best things we can do, is actually just listen to them because that might be something missing their life. But it doesn't remove all these complications from your life, and it's not until you take action on these things to try and make them less complicated that you actually will be able to navigate perfectly through them. Because there's only so many times that we can have discussions around you still need to be in a deficit to lose weight, you still need to hit your steps, you still need to do X, Y, and Z. But like if your life isn't set up like that, you're the one that's in control of that. If you're the one that is work your job, you hate, if you're the one that's in a relationship that you're not happy in, you're the one that's ultimately gonna have to make the decision to make those changes. We can't do it for you.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Yeah, like I always say to people, I was like, this isn't a transactional thing. You don't pay me money on a hand you back absent happiness. Like it's not a, you know, like a it's like putting a band-aid on a shotgun room at times for people, it's like they think it's just gonna cure all their stuff. Yes, we can get you a lot more direction and clarity on what you need to do in terms of managing a lifestyle, in terms of managing your training, in terms of managing recovery, in terms of managing the food, in terms of managing all that crack. But you still have to do it. You still have to do the work. It's like irrespective of that, you're still gonna have to make sure that you're the one that's prepping the food, eating the food, doing the sets, getting to the gym, uh, making sure you're hitting your steps, making sure you're just doing the stuff. Yes, it is easier to do it when you've got that external accountability that I know I'm checking in with Larry or Daniel on Monday, I know I need to have my shit together for that, or I know I need to send in some kind of response here that's going on with it. And yes, that's making it easier now for me to get it done. Because if no one is watching me, if no one's keeping an external eye, which I don't really have to do it because who knows who cares, but you still have to do the work, and ultimately that's what has to be done, and we're just ensuring you're getting it done and getting it across the line and keeping you accountable to that point. Um, because again, a lot of people just think, well, that's it. I have a coach now. Oh, my fucking problems are solved. I don't need to do anything else. They're gonna do all the work. No, we are not AI, we are not ChatGPT. We are here to guide, we are here to support, we're here to listen, like we said, 100%. We're not agony ants, we can't solve all the problems, we're not genies, we don't have a uh, you know, an infinite amount of rub the lamps and you get your wish to come true kind of stuff. You still gotta do the work, and we're just gonna give you more directional clarity on what work you need to do to get there that little bit sooner, maybe to talk you down off that ledge, maybe to give you that beer bit of reassurance, that bit of guidance, the bit of this is okay this week. Yes, you've had a really stressful, shitty week, but here's how we can navigate it now going forward if that does pop up. Yes, we can guide you through it, but ultimately you have to do the work that we're telling you to do to get to the place you want to go. And we have to be that direct with people again, because you know, we talk about this time and time, it's like we're kind of the coaching industry now at the minute is guilty of selling these false dreams that you know they'll put up a testimonial video of like, oh yeah, all my problems were solved immediately when I hired the coach, you know, it just all all my dreams came true and everything was so easy. The fuck were they doing? Like, what was the result and the outcome that those people got? Because like they still had to do the work. It's like, yes, they're just following a script that that coach has given them to actually read off the ad read for it or whatever it might be, but it's like anyone who's got that result had to show up, had to do the work. Yes, everyone's in different circumstances, different situations. Some people get it that little bit easier because they don't have as much on their plate. But regardless, and irrespective of that, the work has to be done. So, what is that work ultimately,

Accountability Helps But You Act

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Daniel? Like, let's cover over that and make it a bit more realistic for people to understand, you know, that let's say they've got 10, 15, 20 kilos to lose, what have they got to do to get that done? What is the stuff they need to continually show up and make sure is ticked off and boxed off?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

I think that the first thing to do is actually look at everything as a whole. So, like before we talk about even like calories and deficits and stuff is actually look at right, what is your expectations? Like, are you looking to lose it in X number of weeks, X number of months? Um, because like that, if someone is living a life that's extremely stressful, that they've got a lot of different things that they need to kind of juggle, it's probably more realistic for them to kind of extend that time frame a bit longer because a lot of the time people that are living in these like high stress uh environments are going to be like, I need to do it now, I need to do it now because like this is causing me so much stress, I need to solve it now because I can't bear this anymore. Or you just need to scale things back a small little bit and extend that time frame and say, Okay, we're going to extend you know your expectations of losing you know that 10 to 15 kilos from 12 weeks, maybe up to closer to 20 weeks or something like that. So we can account for all these little things that are going to be encountering. But the thing is, like the same fundamentals as I said earlier still applies no matter what position you're on in life, no matter what stressors are present in your life, no matter who is in your life, what you do, it still is going to come down to balance at the end of the day in terms of like expenditure versus your end of the intake. So, like you need to kind of set up your environment, set up your life and stuff that's going to make that easier for you. And that doesn't mean that every day is going to be perfect because like we don't live in a perfect world. We just need to be consistently, you know, doing the thing. And doing the thing means tracking your food, get heating your steps, going to the gym, getting decent quality sleep, doing basically the basics that everyone talks about, that everyone doesn't seem to believe that actually is required, but that is actually what is required. It's not the fancy stuff, it's not the supplements, it's not the you know the fucking coal blunges, the red light therapies, all these things. It is the basics at the end of the day. And if your life is kind of set up in a way that's gonna make even the basics hard, then you're gonna struggle. So you need to look at what we can change within that that's gonna make it a lot easier for you.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Yeah, like yeah, I I was asked this yesterday by a client. He was like, you know, he was asking about building some muscle, and uh because ultimately he's dieting down at the minute and he's probably not all that happy with the amount of muscle mass that he's holding. That's the reality for many guys. Um, but he was like, what's the secret sauce to ultimately one being able to maintain and two then being able to get the extra muscle mass on? I was like, do the work. That's the secret sauce. It's like there is no well, okay, there is one very secret sauce, and that's like adding testosterone into the mix. But even if you had testosterone or if you had steroids in and want to build muscle, you still gotta do the work. It's like it does it it might make recovery easier, yes, it might get a little bit stronger, yes, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Still, it's like you still have to do the work. That isn't gonna get you up or prep your food, or it's not going to get your clothes ready for the gym in the morning, it's not gonna drive the car to the fucking gym, it's not gonna put your hands on the barbell, it's not gonna make you do the steps. You are the only person that's in charge of all those things. Now, again, when it comes back to, yeah, you're gonna have more shit going on in your life. And again, our point in that is just managing the expectations across the board with it. That people know that, okay, it's actually okay for me to get a couple of sessions in this week as opposed to four, as opposed to the fifth one, or I can't get as much walkers in this week, I can't get as much output and activity because I'm traveling, because of my work, because of life shit that's going on. Cool. I'm sick, someone's ill, I'm taking care of them. Cool. We're just going to again manage expectations.

Realistic Timelines For Weight Loss

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Here's what we can do for those weeks to navigate them. I'll use the traffic light system again all the time. And everything is green, it's go, it's good to go, it's crack on, do all the things. It's amber approach with caution. How can we make the amber week a little bit more green? That's the thing I'm looking at all the time. Reducing the friction to doing the thing. If it's a red week, everything has gone to shit, it's gone wild, it's gone off the rails completely. How can we make that a bit more amber as opposed to trying to make it green? People are guilty, I guess, of trying to have a green week all the time when the reality of it is there's gonna be some red weeks, there's gonna be some ambers. So again, it's looking at just upgrading them to that next level, that little bit more. And ultimately, that is the secret sauce because now instead of going constant red, we're blending that in that little bit more. Instead of going green, red, green, red, green, red, pulling it all amber, it's gonna be a little bit more consistent as well, too, right? So ultimately, you're getting the thing done all that more consistently. It's not this stop-start approach, and that's it. That's just the reality of showing up and getting it done. Not every week is gonna be perfect. And again, people think that you know, they hired a coach, and all of a sudden that 6 a.m. in the morning, Larry's gonna call around the house and beat the door down and get me dragging out to fucking go do my steps or go get my food ready or go do whatever. It's like, I can't do that. We're not there 24-7. We can't be in your pocket, even though people say PT in your pocket, it's like I'm in bed or I'm up with the girls or I'm doing whatever at that hour of the morning. I'm not checking in on clients at that time of the day. You know, we can give that support, we can give that guidance, we can give the reassurance, but ultimately for the other 23 hours of the day, or for the other six days of the week, or the other whatever, you've got to show up, you've got to keep on doing the thing to get the thing right. Um there's so like so many different ways that you could look at kind of reframing this, but it's ultimately like do the thing. It's like, how can I reduce the friction to doing the thing? That's what's gonna get it across the line that little bit more. Um, yes, hiring a coach can speed the process up for you. Yes, having support and guidance and reassurance there can be an amazing thing because you mightn't have that externally or internally within your environment, and that you have that extra bit of reassurance, that bit of a safety blanket to guide you, to give you the reassurance to tell you it's okay that yeah, the weight spiked up this week, or yeah, you missed a couple of workouts, that's cool. This is what we can do to navigate and work around it, or you've got an event, here's what we can do to navigate around it. But it's ultimately sticking to the thing then that gets put in place for you to reduce that friction, to increase the adherence to make the red week that little bit more amber. We can't really give it in any more simple terms as well, too from that. Um if you were to give a main takeaway, if you were to kind of summarize the whole thing back up in one small piece, I don't know if what would you say to people just to really focus on when it comes to that? Uh, that you know, it's not that kind of ultimate thing, getting a coach and that it's going to solve all the problems.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yeah, I think like as you said, Dick, it's it's not like transactional, it's not that you pay for something and you get the results. Like it's the same as if you went to your accountant and said, like, for some reason, like my money's not going up. I can't save money for whatever reason. And they look at your finance and they say, Well, you're earning this much, but you seem to be

The Traffic Light Week System

SPEAKER_00 11:52

spending this much all the time. You need to change that. You need to like change the balance so that you're not spending as much. Then you go away and you just keep spending the same amount, and you're like, I still can't understand why I'm not saving money. It's it's not changing. It's like because you haven't changed anything. The accountant can give you the best system in the world, they can give you all the spreadsheets, and here's your finance tracker, and here's how much percentage of your wages you'd want to save each week to kind of you know hit your target by the end of the year. But if you don't make those changes yourself, you're not going to get the result you're actually looking for. So it doesn't matter what kind of, you know, if it's a coach, if it's an accountant, whatever it is, you're still the one that ultimately is making the decisions at the end of the day. You're the one that is required to take to make the actual changes. We can only give you the advice, we can give you the tools and everything. But at the end of the day, you're the one that's actually required to put in the work and make the change.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Like again, to pull back that uh the finance analogy. Like if you're the one that's saving for the mortgage and you're trying to get that across the line, you're the one that's going to be living in the house. That's the end goal.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

And if if you're not doing the things, you are not getting to that end goal. You're not going to be sitting in that house, like looking back over. Jeez, that was hard, that was tough, but we got it across the line, it was worth it. So the same crack with your body. Uh again, people kind of pull the emotional card into with that little bit more when it comes to exercise and food and nutrition, but ultimately it's doing the thing to get the result that you're looking for and uh ensuring that you're doing it frequently enough to actually get it across the line. So again, come back to finances. If you're only saving once a once a week and once a month, not going to get you across the line,

The Accountant Analogy And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 13:20

right? And again, we can't play the pity party, we can't play you like the the child card here of like, I didn't know. It's like we know we need to do it, so let's just get it done and get it across the line. Uh, Danielle, I think it's been a really fruitful episode. Again, we're kind of keeping the this short, sharp uh reality podcast, I guess if you want to call it, just like hitting people with that dose of reality. Um, that's what we're here for because again, there's so much wishy-washy bullshit that's out there at the moment, and uh it's just not really getting people to get them across your line. It's like, yeah, it's getting them more coaching, but it's not really better coaching as well. Too, so uh we're almost here for that. If it is something that is of interest to you, hit us up with a DM. Let us know if you want to ask questions, feel free. Again, uh, we're open for any discussions, any conversations at all. Hit us up in the uh DMs. We'll have a chat back. Daniel, it's been an awesome episode.