Faith-Based Coaching: 2 Essential Tips for Achieving Health Goals Without Sacrificing Spiritual Wellness

Title: Faith-Based Coaching: 2 Essential Tips for Achieving Health Goals Without Sacrificing Spiritual Wellness 

Podcast Date: January 13, 2026

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Description

Are you ready to kick off your year by finally pursuing health goals—without sacrificing your spiritual well-being in the process? In this powerful episode, Heather Creekmore shares her two most effective coaching tips to help you transform your journey toward better health. If you sometimes feel stuck between your desire to improve physically and the need to stay spiritually rooted, this episode will speak directly to your heart.

You’ll also hear Heather unpack the difference between coaching and counseling, and why the approach she uses at Compared to Who? is so unique—especially when it comes to body image, food, and faith. She explains how her biblically grounded, practical coaching can change how you approach your goals, your mindset, and your motivation.

Tune in to discover:

• The questions that can radically shift your motivation for pursuing health goals
  
  
• The truth about accountability—and who you’re really listening to on your journey
  
  
• The practical, grace-filled approach that can help you break free from shame and comparison
  
  

Don’t miss these tips—they could change everything about the way you set and chase after health goals this year! Listen now and be inspired to seek true wellness that includes your whole self.

Ready for a new perspective? Press play, and get ready to stop comparing and start living!

Learn more about the 40-Day Body Image Journey and find resources mentioned in the episode at improvebodyimage.com

If this is the year you’re longing for real breakthrough, this episode is a must-listen!

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and has not been edited for accuracy or clarity.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:02]:

Life Audio. Hey, friend, Heather Creekmore here. I'm glad you're listening to the Compare to you podcast today. Today I'm going to give you my two best coaching tips. As you may know, I coach women all the time around body image issues, how they relate to food, pursuing their health goals without sacrificing their spiritual goals. We dig into all the things here and today I just as we start a new year, I want to give you my two best tips for free. Because I want this to be the year when you feel like you can pursue health from a spiritually healthy place. There's nothing more important than your spiritual health.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:48]:

And so often I see women sacrificing their spiritual health or thinking it's okay to put their spiritual health on pause while they pursue physical health in front. It just doesn't work that way. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be added to you. So today I'm gonna give you my two best tips. Before I do, I wanna invite you one last time. Our 40 day journey starts January 20th, one week from today. If you're listening to this in real time and friend, I need you to be there because you are gonna get so much out of it. And if you're a little scared, if you're like, I don't do things like that, I get it.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:23]:

I don't know that I did things like that. But you can go back and listen to the last two episodes where you'll hear from real women like you who started their journey to freedom on the 40 day body image journey. And you'll hear their stories, you'll hear how it went and they'll tell you, yeah, they were a little scared at first, but oh, it was so worth it. And you can stay as quiet or be as chatty as you want to be in the 40 day journey, but I think it just may change something for you if this is where you're stuck. So you can learn everything you need to learn about the 40 Day Journey at improvebodyimage.com and look for the 40 Day Journey tab. Now let's get to today's episode. So a question I get all the time is what is coaching? I mean, there's a zillion coaches out there. You can have a coach for anything or you can have a life coach for everything, I suppose.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:32]:

But there's some confusion around what's the difference but between coaching and counseling. And so before I give you my two tips, I just want to explain that to you. So we're all on the same page, what we do here at compared to who could be considered something called noothetic counseling. And that might sound really fancy, but really what it is is a biblical way to guide women through their struggles, like body image, self worth, feeling stuck in habits or thoughts. So the word noothetic means to lovingly guide or gently correct. So in practice, what this means is, as coaches, we don't just listen to you. Like, maybe a counselor would just be, like, just talk. Maybe you've done counseling sessions like that where you just do a lot of the talking and they do a lot of listening.

Heather Creekmore [00:03:24]:

And there is, you know, something that feels good about just being listened to. But we're going to walk with you and apply God's word to the areas of your life where you're struggling. In real practical terms, we are going to apply scripture to what we hear you saying. And so that means we're gonna push back a little bit. It's not all listening on our end. We are going to coach you. I don't know, maybe you were on a sports team as a child and you had a coach that was like, hey, your tennis swings a little off. Like, do it this way.

Heather Creekmore [00:04:00]:

Or your kick could be better if you, you know, stood on your back leg more. I don't. Obviously, I didn't play soccer. But we're going to coach you. We're going to say, hey, have you thought about this? Do you think you could be stuck because of this? What about the fact that God's word says this? Wow, it sounds like there's a lot of fear here. What does scripture say about this? And unlike other counseling that may rely on psychology or advice, noothetic counseling points you back to God's truth every single time. It's not Heather's truth, it's God's truth. And we're going to explore thoughts, habits, behaviors together, and then we'll work out practical steps, baby steps.

Heather Creekmore [00:04:48]:

Not all at once, but baby steps to help you realign those areas of your life where maybe you've kind of gotten off track with the life that God created you to live. Now, listen, I am all for counseling. In fact, a lot of our coaching clients have spent some time in counseling, and that's fine. But what we do here is different. And you may find that you have a counselor who doesn't really understand your body image issues or doesn't really understand your relationship with food. And that's another advantage to working with us, is we get it. We've been there. All of those crazy thoughts that you think you're the only person who has.

Heather Creekmore [00:05:26]:

And you might feel a little embarrassed to even say to anyone, try, trust me, friend. I've thought them, I've lived by them. So that's what we do here in coaching, and it is different than counseling. And I work with a lot of women who have a counselor and then they work with us. If you've never done anything in that realm, it's okay to start with us. And we will be honest and tell you, like, if there's something that is like, kind of outside of the scheme of things that we do, we'll be like, hey, friend, like, we need to send you somewhere. But there's a lot of things that we can work through, talk through, help you, guide you in a newest setting, counseling way through. And we'd love the opportunity to do that.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:07]:

And that's one reason why I love the 40 day journey, because it kind of gives you the opportunity to maybe observe what it would look like to work with us in coaching. Because in the 40 day journey, the participants get to ask questions about the content of the book. And a lot of times those questions are personal because the book's about body image issues. And so you'll hear how I respond and answer the very personal questions that come up there and you'll get a feel for whether or not, like, that's something that would help you. If you have similar questions about your life and how things apply to you, you can just kind of observe and then you'll know whether or not the best next step for you would be to do coaching. So let's get to those two coaching tips that you've been waiting for. Okay? Number one, do all things out of love. Okay, friend, there's a bajillion verses that instruct us in this way, right? Walk in love.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:07]:

Show the world what love really is. Love God, love others. It's a way of obedience to God, following Christ. Let's just go through a couple of them. First Corinthians 16:14. Let all that you do be done in love. Colossians 3:17. And whatever you do, in word or deed, deed, action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:28]:

Colossians 3:23. Whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for men. Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. Ephesians 5:1 2. Through love, serve one another. Galatians 5:13 and 14. First Corinthians 13:1 3. If I have not love, I am nothing.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:48]:

And so my first coaching tip for Your friend is ask yourself, why do I want to be healthier? Why do I want to change my body? Often women will tell me that their motivation is love because they want to be able to live longer, love their children or grandchildren better as they're older, and those aren't bad goals at all. But we have to be very careful that it's actually the love of God and others that's motivating us on our health journey and, and not love of self or love of our own life. Because if we're driven to exercise or eat a certain way, because we're paralyzed with fear about what may happen if we don't, then that's not love motivated, that's fear motivated. That's fear driven. That's not having faith that God is sovereign and according to the Bible, already knows exactly how many days you are going to have on this earth. And then remember, Jesus also says you can't actually add to them. I'm sorry, no matter how hard you work and what you eat. Matthew 6:27 says, and which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan? Oh, friend, like I live in Austin, near the best longevity expert in the world.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:07]:

And even though he is the best longevity expert in the world, he has no power to add to your lifespan. And, and you don't either. We're not in control. And friend, you can do everything right and still live a shorter life than you'd hope. What is most important is not you trying to preserve your life. In fact, it kind of makes me think of that verse that if you try to save your life, you lose it. And now the newest buzz that I've heard replacing longevity is this word health span. Like you're not actually trying to expand how long you live, but you're trying to expand the number of years that you are healthy and independent and can take care of yourself.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:48]:

And that makes sense to me. I don't have any problem with that. That's a noble goal. Go for it. But here's my caveat. If that's your primary goal, if that's the first thing on your to do list, if you can't serve at church or even go to church because you've got health goals to take care of, to pursue. If you can't tithe because all of your money is going to your personal trainer and your health equipment and your special foods, and you don't have any money left for God, that's a problem. If you can't be in God's word every day because the gym has to come first and then you've got work responsibilities and families.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:20]:

You are missing the point of life, friend. You are storing up treasure here in vain. You're investing in something that's fleeting. Even if you end up being the most mobile 99 year old the planet has ever seen, friend, that's still just a speck in the realm of eternity. Don't gain the whole world with your health goals and lose your soul. It does matter what comes first. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and then all these things will be added to you. And if it's too scary to think about releasing some control in this area, or maybe on the opposite side of the spectrum, maybe it's too scary to think about doing something proactive in this area.

Heather Creekmore [00:11:05]:

Reach out to us. We'd be honored to walk with you and dig into why you felt like you needed to retain such tight control and work with you on ways to gently surrender to our good God who gives us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us so we don't have to rely on our own wisdom or our own strength. And we'll walk with you in a grace filled, loving way. We're not trying to beat you up with the Bible. We just want to encourage your heart and bring you back to the only place you really will find life. And that's in Jesus. So what is your motivation for getting healthier? It has to be love. You need to be rooted and grounded in love.

Heather Creekmore [00:11:44]:

Then that filters all of your decisions through a process. You can ask yourself the question before you make every health related decision. Is this loving to God and others? If I attend this dinner that my friends made for me and I choose not to eat, the gift of food that they prepared is that loving now for sure. You don't have to clean your plate, you don't have to eat foods that make you sick, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm talking about your heart posture. Are you more concerned about the size and shape of your body than anything else? Like, let's be honest friend, like I've done this and there's no shame coming from me. But there are ways that the pursuit of me and my goals make me unloving to others. Perhaps it's never eating dinner with my family because I had to prepare a special meal with my special foods and I would prepare my special meal with my special foods while everyone else is eating.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:37]:

And then I eat alone later after everyone's done. Like, friend, if that's what you're doing, oh stop, please Stop. There is copious amounts of data out there around the importance of family dinner and how that is literally the variable that all these studies show will keep your kids out of drugs and risky behaviors. Eating family dinner together is so, so important. And if you're choosing not to eat with your family to meet your weight loss goals, you've got to decide if that's loving them. Well, yikes. I know I stepped on some toes there. If you feel like you have to have your special food, figure out a way to eat it with everyone.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:17]:

Don't sit there not eating either because that will communicate dangerous messages to your children about who deserves to eat and who doesn't. So as you pursue a healthier lifestyle, just ask yourself, with every decision, is this loving to God and others? And it's going to be case by case. There's no hard and fast rule about what is loving and what is not loving. It's not necessarily loving to go to the gym at 6 and not loving to go to the gym at 7. Like it's going to vary depending on your situation and week to week and day to day and. And who is God putting in front of you to love? Right now you're going to have to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you, not what influencers say you should do. It's not going to be rigid. Most of the suggestions that you are getting online are going to be self focused.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:07]:

Put self first. Like sacrifice everything for your own routine so you can meet your goals. But friend, that's not a spirit guided life. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to be loving in all things, including your health goals. Now my second coaching tip. That's a doozy. It's coming up right after this quick break. Coaching tip number two is get a new accountability partner.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:33]:

And I'm not talking about your friend that you walk with or that you talk about macros with. I'm gonna shock you with this one. Okay, so let me back up just a second. Set the stage for this. Why are you pursuing your health goals? What drives you to do that workout or eat that spinach and kale salad over the burger that you wanted to order? And we already talked about asking yourself, is it love? But if it's not love, then let's go a little deeper here. Let me speculate. Is it shame and condemnation that's driving you now? See if this sounds true for you. If I don't go work out, then I'm going to have to deal with this voice in my head that's going to Shame me all day long for skipping that workout.

Heather Creekmore [00:15:19]:

It's going to yell at me. It's going to be mean to me. It's going to tell me how awful I am because I didn't go work out. So I go work out so that I don't have to hear that voice. Or maybe it's like this. If I eat the thing that I said I wouldn't eat, like those Girl Scout cookies, what will torment me as I try to go to sleep is the fact that I ate the cookies. When I said I wasn't going to eat the cookies, I said, after Christmas, I'm not going to eat any cookies anymore. No more cookies ever.

Heather Creekmore [00:15:46]:

And then that little Girl Scout showed up and I got the thin mints and I ate the cookies when I said I wouldn't eat the cookies. Cookies. And you hate how those voices shame you. How you lay down in bed and that's all you hear. You ate those cookies. You're so awful. Why did you eat those cookies? You said you weren't going to eat those cookies. Where's your willpower? You don't have any willpower at all.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:05]:

You're so undisciplined. You're so out of control. I can't believe you ate those cookies when you said you weren't going to eat those cookies. Friend, if these are your motivators for pursuing your health goals, these voices of shame and condemnation, if these voices are so loud, friend, I want you to ask yourself, is this why you're pursuing health goals? And then ask yourself another follow up question. Do you actually believe that you can get healthy enough to make those voices shut up? Because if you believe these voices are helping you, and I hear this all the time, like I'm kind of afraid to make the shame and condemnation go away because those are the reasons that I exercise. Those are the reasons that I don't eat the cookies. Because I can't handle how loud and mean these voices are. I'm going to make them shut up by being quote, unquote good.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:56]:

Friend, if this is how you're living, then wait for it. You've made the devil the enemy of your soul. You've made him your accountability partner. You're saying I need his voice of shame and condemnation to meet my health slash fitness diet goals. You are saying Satan is your accountability partner. What? That's crazy. And yet. And yet.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:27]:

Oh, friend, I hear this all the time. Every week in coaching, I hear this. I'm kind of afraid to make those voices go away. It's A little scary to think about being nice to myself. It's a little scary to think about being guided by the Holy Spirit, whose voice is kind. Because it kind of helps me that these mean voices are going to be there unless I do the thing. And so I don't know if I want the mean voices to go away. What a friend track with me here, you know, that's not the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:58]:

Or maybe you don't know, right? Because I think sometimes we can have a distorted concept of God where we actually think he would speak to us in that mean, judgy way. I do meet clients who think that it's God telling them they're a fat slobber and it's God telling them that if they eat that cookie, they're bad. They maybe call it gluttony or something else, right? But friend, those are not the voice of the Holy Spirit, the comforter. He's the wise, guiding voice that helps us with every part of our daily lives, right? And maybe you've heard this said about Jesus, but it's good to remember it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. If you want to change, Jesus's way to change is through kindness, not through shame and condemnation and berating you. Those voices of shame and condemnation are the devil. And if you're trying to exercise or eat your way into being good enough to shut him up, let me assure you, he's not going to be proud of you when you accomplish your goals. He's not going to just let you go when you meet that weight loss goal, fitness goal.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:09]:

He just keeps going. In fact, that's why so many women have serious eating disorders. He starts them off on a health journey, but he wants to take them to their death. Remember, he's not on your side. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. John 10:10. There's no halfway about it. His voice of shame and condemnation isn't helping you.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:32]:

It may be motivating you, but not in a good way. Instead, it's stealing from you. It's quietly killing you. You are in bondage. If this is the voice guiding you, you're a slave to something. That's not Jesus. You are a slave to the enemy. And that's not good.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:53]:

Let's take it one step further. There's also, like a theology issue at play. Because if you believe that you can beat the enemy, like fighting in his way, like he says, you need to exercise more, and you exercise more, thinking, this is how I'm going to defeat him. Then that's you trying to defeat the enemy on his terms. This is you trying to prove to the devil that you are good enough. But friend, you're not only Jesus was and he's already defeated him. And the work is finished. And you can rest in that work.

Heather Creekmore [00:20:31]:

You cannot defeat fear or the devil by output working it. You cannot defeat shame by proving it wrong. You have to rest. You are invited to rest in what Jesus has already done to defeat fear and shame. Friend, you can't exercise or eat enough kale to get it done. And then once you can rest in that once you understand. Okay, wait. Jesus already took care of all of this.

Heather Creekmore [00:21:05]:

I don't have to live by fear and shame. Then when you try to achieve your health goals, then you can do it from a place of enoughness. Through Christ, and only through Christ are you enough. And then you don't have to prove that you're enough because you didn't skip that workout or you worked out really hard or you ate a certain way. Then you can pursue health goals knowing you're already accepted. You're already so much more loved than you ever could imagine. You are free from shame. You can turn off the conversation with the devil, who is the worst health coach ever, and turn on the conversation with the Holy Spirit.

Heather Creekmore [00:21:47]:

Ask him to gently convict and guide you in this area. When you don't feel like getting up off the couch to exercise, listen for a still, small voice to say, it'd be good to move your body, the body I gave you today. It will sound gentle and kind. It won't be, you big fat slob. You don't move your butt, you're going to get so fat that no one will love you and you'll be lonely and gross. Friend, that's not the Holy Spirit. And so, as we close today, I want you to just ask yourself two questions. How am I doing pursuing my health goals out of love? And number two, who's my accountability partner? Do I need a new one? Am I motivated by shame and condemnation and guilt? Do I need to change the way I'm pursuing my health goals? If you want this year to be different, these are the two most important questions you can ask.

Heather Creekmore [00:22:46]:

Because I promise you that devil is going to tell you that you cannot possibly get there without him. And let me remind you, he's a liar. He's a liar. So, friend, try a new way this year. Hey, maybe join us on the 40 day journey. This whole concept of is Satan. Your accountability partner came from my book, the 40 Day Body Image workbook. Even if you don't want to do a 40 day journey, you can grab that book on Amazon.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:15]:

You can work through the questions by yourself. I think it'll be more helpful to work through them in community because we go deep. But you can grab the book by yourself and get started. And maybe you'll want to join us on a future 40 day journey. The book's available everywhere. Books are sold, but don't wait. Friend, I'm okay with you pursuing your health goals, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God. I hope this has encouraged you today, and I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:45]:

Bye bye. The Compare To Podcast is proud to be part the of Life Audio Podcast Network. For more great Christian podcasts, go to lifeaudio.com.