After these initial meetings, your time with a coach—whether it’s 15 minutes or an hour—will likely be spent checking in on how you are working towards your goal(s).

You’ll be asked to share how you progressed over the last week(s), and talk about any challenges you faced. The coach is there to listen, ask questions, and offer support as needed.

“We as coaches want to be talking the least amount possible,” says Hanshaw. “We want the client to be really talking about what’s coming up for them and what they want to focus on… My role is really to support them in the ‘doing.’ I’m not giving them answers.”

All this talking may feel funny at first, but it’s meant to help you gain confidence and self-efficacy. (Your coach won’t be there when the temptation strikes to skip a gym day or stay out late drinking, after all.) Ideally, you’ll be able to get a place where you can be your own health coach.

Once you do, you may taper your coaching sessions to meet less often or graduate from coaching altogether.