Elyse Warnecke

I worked as a scientist for 7 years, and realizing how much I missed and enjoyed classes (and how stressful my career had become!), I decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in Exercise Science.  After completing my studies at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), I became a certified Health Fitness Specialist (HFS) through American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in June 2011 and a Wellness Coach.  I am currently instructing fitness classes at UCSB, as well as personal training and Health and Wellness Coaching. 

I have always been interested in health, exercise, nutrition and well-being, and noticed that as much as we all would like to take great care of ourselves, most people have a difficult time maintaining a healthy lifestyle over the long term.  It’s not always easy or fun to maintain good eating habits, exercise regularly and engage in healthy behaviors, so I became curious as to what could motivate people to make their health and well-being more of a priority, and frankly make it easier and more joyful to maintain!  I wanted to rediscover that child-like excitement I used to feel about going outside to play (essentially exercise), instead of feeling apprehensive at times, like I had to drag myself to the gym because “I should”, or force myself to cook a healthy meal because “it’s good for me”.  I have always enjoyed being active and eating healthy, so if someone like me felt a lack of motivation at times, I struggle to imagine the dread those who do not enjoy healthy behaviors must feel!  This got me curious; there must be more pieces to this puzzle than just exercise and diet, and I wanted to discover those pieces!

This is where Wellness Coaching came in; it has provided the “missing pieces” to the health and well-being puzzle!  I’ve learned there is so much more than just the desire to be healthy, because truthfully that’s important to us all, but so few consistently maintain good health (current statistics reveal that about 1/3 of US adults are obese, and another 1/3 are overweight, and 7 out of 10 do not exercise regularly!!!).  It’s more than just knowing how to eat and exercise: it’s about discovering what truly motivates you that will encourage you to continually make healthy choices lifelong.  My goal as a health and fitness professional is to help people (and myself!) discover those deeper motivations that are compelling enough to keep us engaged in healthy behaviors!  :-)