Let’s talk about motivation, challenges + needs for different T1Ds. Because we’re not all the same, right?!

Currently, our client base is 100% female, but I have coached a handful of male T1D’s over the past 5 years, which has helped me draw distinctions between how different groups want and need to be coached.

As you read the differences below that I’ve put together, you might be nodding your head saying “yep, that’s me!”. You might also possibly see yourself in opposite categories too. Read with an open mind and then you decide!

FEMALES:

Motivation = primarily INTERNAL

• Doing it to fulfill a feeling of confidence, self-love, acceptance, control, and success.

Challenges:

• Anxiety with food
• Taking up mental energy
• Hide struggles because they don’t want to be a burden or worry family and friends.
• Emotionally reacting to blood sugars
• Trying to control numbers too tightly but backfiring and feeling like a failure
• Fear of trying new foods

Wants: “To feel like I’m doing everything I can to live my best life.”

Needs: Emotional nurturing, connection and relatability with their coach, feeling less alone in their struggles, in-depth understanding of self and body with diabetes through inner exploration

MALES:

Motivation = primarily EXTERNAL

• Wanting to gain control because they’re becoming a dad soon, it’s interfering with work too much, living longer for family, pressure from family to make change

Challenges:

• Stressors increasing insulin resistance
• Don’t see value in slowing down
• Late night eating/drinking
• Less cooking at home, more grabbing take out
• Focused on quick solutions to blood sugar fluctuations (not always the right solution)

Wants: “Give me a plan, hold me accountable, and I’ll do it.”

Needs:To have quick-success suggestion in the beginning, to catch momentum, build consistency of healthy habits early on, potentially introduce intermittent fasting as a tool to increase insulin sensitivity, implementing boundaries for sleep and stress reduction, nutrition re-education.

This is one of the many reasons why we don’t deliver a one-size-fits-all approach to T1D coaching, since we’re looking for real transformation and that requires understanding each person holistically.Do you relate to the wants and needs for your gender above? Or do you see yourself in some of the opposite categories, too?

Let me know by sending me a DM on Instagram!

P.S If you’re a woman with T1D who is feeling overwhelmed and isolated with your diabetes, you can learn more about the Decide and Conquer Group Coaching Program HERE.