How To Stay Active With IBD Featuring Sean Lochran - About IBD Podcast Episode 187

How To Stay Active With IBD Featuring Sean Lochran – About IBD Podcast Episode 187

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Sean Lochran, who lives with IBD and an ileostomy, describes his IBD journey, including complications such as blood clots and adrenal insufficiency. Sean shares advice for staying active on difficult days, including the importance of personalization, hydration, and tracking health data. He debunks misconceptions about exercise with IBD or an ostomy and describes his client-centered approach to fitness coaching, grounded in empathy and lived experience.

This episode sponsored by Fathom Care! Fathom is an AI-powered wellness companion made for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Over 2.4M people in the United States are navigating IBD alone and Fathom is here to change that. Learn more at: https://fathom.care.

Topics covered on this episode:

  • Sean Lochran’s personal journey with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ileostomy.
  • Challenges faced during diagnosis and complications related to IBD, including adrenal insufficiency and blood clots.
  • The impact of long-term steroid use on health and the management of side effects.
  • The importance of fitness and physical activity in managing IBD symptoms and mental health.
  • Strategies for staying active during flare-ups, including listening to one’s body and adjusting expectations.
  • Nutritional advice for managing IBD symptoms, including hydration and dietary adjustments during flare-ups.
  • The significance of monitoring health through regular blood tests to track inflammation and nutrient deficiencies.
  • The role of personalized coaching in supporting individuals with IBD in their fitness and nutrition journeys.
  • Addressing misconceptions about fitness and body image for those living with IBD or an ostomy.
  • The importance of gradual progress and individualized care in managing chronic illness effectively.

Find Sean Lochran at:

Find Amber J Tresca at:

Find Mac Cooney (mix, sound design, and theme music) at:

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Transcript (Machine Generated)

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 00:00:04  I’m Amber Tresca, and this is About IBD. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis as a teen and had pouch surgery ten years later. Now I help people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis understand their disease and feel seen on about IBD. You’ll get real talk on symptoms, treatment, and life with IBD straight from patients, caregivers and experts. You’ll learn, feel less alone, and even have a laugh along the way. My guest is Sean Loughran, a fitness and nutrition coach who lives with IBD and an ileostomy. He uses his personal experience and professional training to help others with IBD, build strength, feel more confident, and take control of their health no matter what kind of day they’re having. Sean’s approach is practical, empowering, and rooted in the belief that fitness should work with your body and not against it.

Sean, welcome to About IBD.

Sean Lochran 00:01:07  Yeah, thanks very much for having me on. It’s a pleasure.

Amber Tresca 00:01:11  Absolutely. I’m really excited to dig into this topic. It’s one that I have not covered very extensively on about IBD.

Amber Tresca 00:01:20  So I am just thrilled to get your thoughts and your advice. And the topic is fitness and IBD and strategies to keep our bodies moving, even on the more difficult days. So but Sean, I really want to get started first, learning more about your journey with IBD. I wonder if you would start by talking a bit about how you were diagnosed.

Sean Lochran 00:01:48  Yeah, so it was many, many years ago now. it was about 15 years ago, I think I was diagnosed about 15, 17. Or. Sorry. That’s when I kind of…I mainly hide my symptoms now. It took about five years. I’ve gone through several tests and several trips to the doctor before I was officially diagnosed. I thought it was IBS. She was just told that you’re eating the wrong thing. Go back and change her diet, etc, whereas obviously nowadays it’s a lot more common so that the doctors pick up on these things. So I think it’s kind of more readily available that they will diagnose, you know.

Sean Lochran 00:02:27  It doesn’t really seem to take as long. And then obviously I can have a bit of weight for years. Tried several, several medications, several biologics. None really worked for me. Which then obviously led to the ileostomy. but within that as well, obviously a lot of people don’t realize that within IBD. You obviously then have other things. So I then suffered blood clots and adrenal insufficiency, which was all driven through the IBD side of things.

Amber Tresca 00:02:59  Right? So the adrenal insufficiency, I…when we were talking prior to turning on the recording, we talked a little bit about prednisone. What how did that prednisone use play into the adrenal insufficiency?

Sean Lochran 00:03:16  I think that was a kind of a major thing. But because obviously that’s one of the things that can cause, that but at that point you’re in a catch 22 because do you take the medication to try and calm your body down or do you leave it? Your body’s obviously just in a bad state. So I was on that for I think it was another year straight.

Sean Lochran 00:03:37  Obviously in varying doses. It kept going up and down. It was the only thing that really helped me at the time, and it became a point where it didn’t actually really do anything for me just because my body was was that used to it. But I believe that’s probably one of the main factors that caused the adrenal insufficiency that had just been on it for so long.

Amber Tresca 00:03:55  Is adrenal insufficiency something that is persistent? Is it something that you’re still dealing with today or did it improve at all when you were…I’m assuming you’re off the prednisone now. Hopefully.

Sean Lochran 00:04:08  Yeah. Yeah. Well I’m obviously not on that at the moment. In terms of is it improved yet: it has improved now. So I went for obviously a couple of tests and I get tested regularly. So just now it’s improved on my day to day. So they should be fine. But if my body comes under any sort of, duress, so like, if anything really happens. Well, I’ve obviously had to have operations because I got a blood clot in my leg.

Sean Lochran 00:04:36  So before I would go down and obviously you go to sleep, etc., I need to let them know because they need to give steroids, give cortisone, and stuff like that inside that to make sure that my body fights if anything happens, because my body obviously doesn’t really know when it’s under duress, it’s time to fight or flight. It will just kind of sit there and chill out. If that makes sense.

Amber Tresca 00:04:57  Yeah, yeah it does. Yeah. That’s really…Well, that bakes your brain, doesn’t it, that the idea that the thing that caused the adrenal insufficiency is also the thing that you need to have when you know you’re going to be under stress and you’re not going to have the adrenaline that you need.

Sean Lochran 00:05:16  Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a bit baffling. Yeah. But you know, it’s like anything in life, but you need to look at it to a point of view. Hey, what do you need help with more now. Because everything that we do has some sort of side effects.

Sean Lochran 00:05:29  it’s just how it’s just going to be a kind of a look at how it affects you.

Amber Tresca 00:05:34  Right, right. That’s a very good way of looking at it. So I also want to understand more about the blood clots. And one of the reasons I want to dig into this a bit more is because I think that it is something that a lot of people with IBD aren’t really told very much about that it’s a possibility, especially when you are hospitalized, that you might be dealing with a blood clot. So I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what the symptoms were, how it started, did you know what was going on and how did it get diagnosed and treated?

Sean Lochran 00:06:13  Yeah, so I’ve had a coupla major blood clots now. So the first one was on my lung, I have a high pain threshold. So I was taking the pain for a couple of days before it got so bad. So it was like a pain at the, at my back, and it came to a point where I thought, you know, I need to go to a hospital here.

Sean Lochran 00:06:36  The pain isn’t coming down. When I went into the hospital, they did a few tests and then realized there was a blood clot on my lung. So I was given medication there to obviously let the blood clot [break up], then given medication to take for six months after it. It wasn’t warfarin, which I’m on now, so I’m on lifelong warfarin now because of the blood clots.

Amber Tresca 00:07:00  Right.

Sean Lochran 00:07:01  And it was a new medication that they were testing. So I had to stay on that for six months at the time, because at that time I still wasn’t aware that blood clots was a thing. I thought this was just a kind of an antidote because I’ve had a blood clot. Nobody mentioned anything. So I kind of I went on my way and carried on as normal. The main one that they then started thinking was I had a blood clot in my brain.

Amber Tresca 00:07:24  So, oh my gosh.

Sean Lochran 00:07:25  What happened was that as I was going about, I get in, I got my eyes tested.

Sean Lochran 00:07:30  There is like a shadow [on my eye] and she’s like, not saying anything and I went about, when I thought about it, another I would say six weeks after that. And it was just getting worse, progressively worse and worse. And it got to a point where I went back to my doctor and says, listen, this, this is getting worse. Like, it’s starting to affect my vision. They said get your eyes tested again, but at the same place. Because they’ve seen the way your eyes are before.

Amber Tresca 00:07:56  Yes.

Sean Lochran 00:07:57  When I went there and they tested my eyes, obviously put the scanner on, on my eyes and stuff like that. They’re like, you need to get to the hospital right now. And so then when I went to the hospital. Obviously they tested again, then found that it was a blood clot. After a few scans, again giving me the medication.

Sean Lochran 00:08:17  And since then, I’ve been on warfarin, since then. So, yeah, not the best experience because that was obviously twice I was told that basically if I waited another kind of a 24 hour, I probably wouldn’t be here. The blood clot would have kind of took me out, and I wouldn’t have been here.

Amber Tresca 00:08:36  That’s terrifying. How do you parse that out? I know that you’re now taking medication that will hopefully prevent having any more blood clots. But how do you mentally wrap your brain around that?

Sean Lochran 00:08:52  I think it’s one of the things where I kind of, I used to get myself years ago, really annoyed with IBD, and I still do. You know, there’s no doubt that it doesn’t annoy the life out me, but I think sometimes I just have to step back and think, you know, I’ve got a 13 year old daughter now. I’m still here for her. If these things didn’t, didn’t you know, if they weren’t caught in time, then then I might not have been here.

Sean Lochran 00:09:16  So I tried to look at it for that point of view and try not to let it annoy me as such. but I would like more awareness around IBD. It is gastro, but what else does IBD bring along with it? And that’s where I think the world lacks, because there’s nothing out there to tell you that these things are a real possibility and nobody really thinks of them. So you’ve got to think how many people go about their day to day with, but they’re not really thinking about it because they’re not aware of it.

Amber Tresca 00:09:50  Yeah, 100%. Although I maybe think about it a lot. Every time one of my legs hurts, I’m like, oh my gosh, it’s a blood clot. Yeah.

Sean Lochran 00:10:00  So my blood clot was actually on my leg and I was on one at the time when that happened. Funnily enough.

Amber Tresca 00:10:07  That’s terrible. Oh my gosh. So as you have shared with me and you share on your social media that all of these experiences changed, it sounds like so much of your life, but we want to focus on fitness. So I’m wondering though, before you were diagnosed, what was your relationship with with fitness and health and taking care of yourself?

Sean Lochran 00:10:33  So before my diagnosis, I was kind of into fitness, but not into the way I was now. But I was only into it for a short period of time. And again, it was because I used to be somebody that didn’t bother with fitness, you know. You know, I kind of drank and my younger years went for takeaways. I didn’t really care what I ate. As such, when my partner fell pregnant with my daughter, that’s when I thought, I need to sort things out. I need to get to the gym. But as you can imagine, there was only a couple of years then. Before then, I started to have the issues with. I didn’t know what it was at the time. For a while I went about not really telling them that I was having problems because I didn’t know what to do because as a guy or female, obviously females will be the same, but you don’t really want to discuss it with them.

Sean Lochran 00:11:25  You think you’ll just stay quiet, it’ll pass, but it never passes. But then as my diagnosis started to come out, I clutched more onto the fitness because it was my way of releasing my stress, my frustration. I just always felt better after a workout, if that makes sense.

Amber Tresca 00:11:44  100%, that makes sense. I know for myself, it’s the same. I don’t always want to go, you know, to the gym and do something for some formal exercise. But once it’s done, I feel so much better. And honestly, I have more energy, too, which also sounds a little counterintuitive. You think, okay, you’ve done a workout, now you’re going to be more tired. But truthfully, I’ll have more energy during the day if I get that morning workout in.

Sean Lochran 00:12:12  Yep, totally. It’s something that a lot of people don’t realize until they start getting into fitness, and then they start to realize and feel the weight. And I’ve actually got a bit more, a bit more energy.

Sean Lochran 00:12:22  But it’s trying to get people to kind of take that leap of faith in the step to actually start it, and then that’s when they rise up.

Amber Tresca 00:12:29  Absolutely. And so, gosh, you’re dealing with a lot. You’re dealing with, of course, the IBD and all these extra-intestinal manifestations and the adrenal insufficiency. And so how do you manage it? Because movement is part of your job. So how do you deal with fatigue and flare ups when those things hit you?

Sean Lochran 00:12:52  So flare ups. You know, it’s one of the ones. I’ve been doing it for that long now. My mentality is I just I just kind of get on with it as such. but I’ll make, kind of a on a day to day basis. I just think, what can my body do today? Because tomorrow might not be able to do it. I might not be able to eat the same food tomorrow because something might irritate me. So I just always thinking day by day, what can my body do today? So if that’s a gym workout day, then I go and do it.

Sean Lochran 00:13:22  If I feel as if I’m not 100%, you know, I might have, you know, eight exercises, seven exercises, whatever it is, I would maybe be scheduled to do 2 or 3 sets of that. I might just reduce the volume so that I’m still doing the workouts, but I’m just reducing the overall volume and stress on my body. But it’s not allowing me to go get movement and obviously helps with my head as well. Because a lot of people don’t think about it’s mentally draining. Obviously, having IBD really affects your mental health, so if you allow to get into that and then you don’t want to go and do these things because I’m a fitness coach myself, you know, sometimes I wake up and I don’t want to get up out of bed and I don’t want to go to the gym, but I don’t let let how I feel dictating what I’m going to do. Sometimes you just need to get up and do it.

Amber Tresca 00:14:15  I love that. That’s great advice. Taking it day by day.

[MUSIC: About IBD Transition]

Amber Tresca 00:14:23  This episode is sponsored by Fathom Care. Fathom is an AI powered wellness companion app designed for patients with IBD by patients with IBD. Fathom helps you track all the aspects of your life with IBD, including your diagnosis, the medications you take, what you’re eating, your symptoms, your mood, and more. What sets fathom apart from other health trackers is the AI companion the AI tailors to you, helping you record everything related to your health on a day to day basis. It identifies patterns in your health data, alerts you to them, then offers insights. This can help you design a healthier lifestyle that fits your needs and preferences. Fathom prompts you to check in a few times a day based on a schedule you set up, and creates a weekly overview. It also summarizes every chat so that you can get to the main points. If you’re not sure how to get started with your check ins. Fathom has built in prompts to guide you. Prompts can help you uncover aspects of your disease journey that you may not have considered or fully explored yet.

Amber Tresca 00:15:20  For example, I’ve been struggling with some joint pain. I work a lot, and sometimes I’m not good about taking breaks. Fathom suggested some gentle stretches for me to do during the day. Plus, it helped me structure my workday to take regular breaks. I told it that I have a J pouch, so it remembered that and took it into account, which is more than I can say about some of my doctors. Everyone deserves clarity about their personal health, journey, and meaningful support to navigate it successfully. To get the fathom iOS app or learn more, visit. That’s F-A-T-H-O-M.

[MUSIC: About IBD Transition]

Amber Tresca — Sean, I’d like to learn more about your work as a fitness coach. Can you tell me how do you help your clients understand just what you were talking about? How to listen to your own body so that you know when you need to prioritize rest?

Sean Lochran 00:16:15  So the biggest thing that I try and get them to understand is what is tiredness and what is fatigue. Because they’re different. Fatigue to myself is something that’s always going to be there.

Sean Lochran 00:16:28  So that doesn’t really matter. If you have six hours sleep, ten hours sleep, that’s that’s not going to change the fatigue of your fatigue, your fatigue. So you need to then look at as a ways that we can minimize the amount of stuff that you are going to do over the course of the coming days to try and drop the fatigue off your body. if it’s that kind of a sleep posture, then we need to look at how we can rest better for sleep. But it’s all it’s all sometimes about pulling back slightly but still doing what you can do. And then other times it is just a case of taking a couple of days complete rest, and then it allows you then to come back into your groove again.

Amber Tresca 00:17:09  Right. That makes a lot of sense. I think that that understanding I think it takes time, especially for anyone who’s newly diagnosed. You need to understand what your limits are and what, and listen to what your body is telling you.

Amber Tresca 00:17:25  And there’s times that maybe you can push through, but then there’s maybe times that you shouldn’t, that it might be worse for you if you did.

Sean Lochran 00:17:32  Yes. definitely. So the way I’ve kind of I’ve watched stuff. So I do a lot of the coaching through Google Sheets. So I’ve got kind of a spreadsheets there, and everything obviously for the feedback on calories consumed and also the breakdown of what they’re eating and things. But a lot of the data that I’ll track is how the stressors, how their sleep is. But it’s kind of a numbers game, between 1 and 5. But it also highlights if it’s bad, it goes red, which then means that it’s more than likely that they’re probably burning out a bit too much. It’s okay to maybe have one day where it’s red, but if you’re having consecutive days, it’s maybe  staring you in the face like you need to. You need to chill, but so it’s time to then then pull back. And obviously I’m looking at that data weekly and also having check ins with clients.

Sean Lochran 00:18:20  But apart from that they obviously get me on WhatsApp. So WhatsApp supporting, they can message me at any point. So sometimes obviously I’ve changed stuff off the cuff, kind of in the middle I check Or whenever the feeling that something’s not right.

Amber Tresca 00:18:34  Sure, that makes sense. Sean, you’re speaking my language. I love a good spreadsheet. Yeah, I love it. So. All right. I’d love for you to give some practical advice. Some tips. So what kinds of advice do you have to help people understand how they can stay active during an IBD flare up?

Sean Lochran 00:18:55  Yeah. So one of the first things would be hydration. it’s something that a lot of people don’t really consider. but if you’re not properly hydrated, you know, you’re not going to feel very good at moving about. yeah. The thing that’s slightly different for people like myself with all my bags in that as well, is sometimes that it’s not about increasing the amount of water. It’s increasing the electrolyte balance because sometimes having too much fluid causes too much output.

Sean Lochran 00:19:27  So what we need to do is then increase the kind of sodium and potassium. So whether that is a kind of a homemade version of an electrolyte drink that you take or whether you can have a buy a supplement and do that, and it’s just finding the balance of what kind of suits your body. But, you know, when you’re properly hydrated, you’ve got a better chance of moving up, moving about. Basically, the next step I would give would be is what I say clients is lessen the load. And there is what I mean by that is through the diet. So we don’t want volume because when you’re in a flare, the last thing you want to do is be filling your tummy with so much that it’s not really probably going to sit well. So that could be kind of bringing the volume of our meals down, and it could be reducing fiber, but we just need to watch that. We don’t reduce fiber too much because fiber does play a vital role, obviously. The way I try and get people to think about food is imagine if you have a blender.

Sean Lochran 00:20:29  Then that blender blends the fruit easy or is it going to make it work hard? If it makes it work hard, the chances are if we’re on a flare-up, we don’t really want that food at this moment in time. We want stuff that the blender would blend up easily. That’s the way I tried to think of food at that point. I think that normally hits home when you when you explain the blender to people.

Amber Tresca 00:20:51  Yes, yes, I love it.

Sean Lochran 00:20:53  It’s trying to stay active even in a flare. so even trying, you know, if you would normally go for maybe a 30 minute walk, maybe you can’t manage a 30 minute walk. So can you go and do 10 to 15 minutes and then maybe get another 10 to 15 minutes later on when you feel a bit better, just so that you’re still getting that movement in. Because obviously that will play a vital role in helping your digestion as well, because the more you move, the more it pushes your food through your digestive system.

Sean Lochran 00:21:22  One other major thing is obviously prioritize rest and sleep. So if there’s a case and somebody’s having fatigue and a flare, they go and do their workout. Or do they leave that and have an extra couple hours? Some people are better having the extra sleep. Some are better just pushing through and doing the workout. The week needs to be looked at as an overall week rather than day by day, if that makes sense at that point, because we still need to make sure that there is movement and there’s exercise there so that we’re still moving our body. But we also need to prioritize rest and sleep. And then on our side short of that would be to get blood done, because that can tell us a lot about the flare and also can tell us what is happening with inflammation in your body. Because as the flare driven by the inflammation which is shown in your bloods or you lose ion somewhere, you know, we need to look at supplementing anything, to help with iron, folate because obviously again, that’s going to help.

Sean Lochran 00:22:21  That’s going to drain the fatigue and the tiredness. And so all we say kind of our clients to try and keep on top of that blood work. Because at the end of the day, you’re just a member of our doctor so they can very quickly forget to chase you up on getting regular bloods with our stool samples so that we are keeping on top of. Is there anything moving? Is anything progressing better, or is anything getting worse? Because then the stuff that we can implement that might help?

Amber Tresca 00:22:49  I love that. It’s fantastic advice because to sometimes your blood work. I know it’s happened to me that my blood work is showing something before I’m having any symptoms. Yeah. And so that comes back or your, you know, stool comes back with a higher fecal cow protection and then you can do something about it before it starts really affecting your life. So yeah, excellent advice. I also love your thoughts around taking it week by week, which was something I never thought of until I had children who didn’t want to eat their fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. [laughter]

Amber Tresca 00:23:29  But thinking about it over the course of a whole week versus just the day, I’m thinking about nutrition that way. I think it also takes some of the pressure off, too, of trying, oh, every single day I have to get in, you know, x amount of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whatever it is, I think it’s really helpful.

Sean Lochran 00:23:47  Yeah. I mean, it’s the same kind of a normal give clients kind of a step goals so that they try to step. And, you know, I might turn around and say, right, let’s try and hit between 6 and 7000 today. Some people are higher, some people are lower. It depends on the type of job or how that body has at that moment in time. But as much as I give them that target per day, some days you won’t hit that target. But then there’s other days where you go over that target. So we’re looking for that to be the average of a week. So everything is about an average of a week.

Sean Lochran 00:24:18  It’s the same. We can have a higher body weight as well. If you only wear yourself one time every week, you’re only giving yourself one opportunity to look at that. But if that goes up but you want it to go down, that can play over your head. But you could actually be losing weight, but you’re only taking it that one day, so you feel down because you’ve not lost weight. But if you tracked maybe 3 or 4 or every day, then you can get an average and the average might be going down. So you’re actually progressing, but you don’t actually realize it because you’re kind of afraid to take it on scales and your feet to track data. But the data can tell us quite a lot.

Amber Tresca 00:24:57  Yeah. Again, speaking my language. I love data so well. To that end, though, we’ve talked about the tips that you give to your clients, and now you’re giving to listeners and anyone who follows you on social media too, I’m sure. But how about a misconception? What’s a misconception that people have about fitness while living with IBD or living with an ostomy.

Sean Lochran 00:25:21  I think one of the biggest misconceptions is they can’t have a body that they want. Now, not everybody wants to have a six pack, and that’s not what fitness is about, although social media would like to tell you that. But people can achieve what they want. Our bodies have all went through generally a lot with IBD. Always have got scars, obviously stoma bags, but even, some of us that don’t have kind of like pouches and stuff like that. So you still have scars on your body. The scars. We can’t we can’t work around. We can’t we can’t change any of the scars, but we can change our body to have something that we’re happy with. and it’s more about being fit, especially if you’ve got children and grandchildren. A lot of the time they want to be doing stuff with them. They want to be active, you know? That’s what fitness is for me, is about taking somebody from. They think that they can’t do it to show them that they can actually do it, but there’s just a path that they need to follow.

Sean Lochran 00:26:16  And everybody’s got their own path that they need to follow, and some people need to go faster than others. And it really just depends on the person who’s who’s kind of in front. There’s no right or wrong way.

Amber Tresca 00:26:27  I love this. This is this is actually feeling like a pep talk for me. I feel like you’re giving me a pep talk right now. I love it, it’s fantastic. All right, so let’s talk about what it’s like to work with you so that people can understand. what can a client expect when they reach out to you to work with you, on their fitness level and their nutrition?

Sean Lochran 00:26:50  Yeah. So normally when they reach out to me, I normally go back and forth and they’re kind of out and not much through Instagram. It’s just not my direct message. So I’ll go back and forth, ask a few questions, see where they’re at, what, what they’re looking for. If I feel as if, you know, it’s something that I can help them with, because obviously not every person who comes to me might not be be suitable in the sense of they might be dealing with other things that I might think that might be another culture would be better for them so that I would put them onto them.

Sean Lochran 00:27:22  but generally, because obviously the information that I put out there that generally somebody is looking for the type of person that might like myself just for the vibe that I put out on Instagram. I then jump on to a call with them. and then we kind of go back and forth on the call just so that I can get a better understanding, you know, that IBD diagnosis because of the sky. If they’ve got a mixture of both, do they have a stoma? You know, what are they dealing with? What is there. What is their end goal. And then I kind of give free advice on it in a sense, because I’m telling them what I would map out for them and how it would work. Then obviously I would then go on to what the course would be on coaching. and then we start from there. So they’re going to start with coaching before I even implement anything, actually get them to track basically what they are doing for a week before I make any changes, because I want to know what they are doing now.

Sean Lochran 00:28:18  People think sometimes I am trying to catch them out because sometimes they feel as if they are not living healthy. Quote unquote. Yeah, but it’s not that at all. I just want to know what they what they eat, what they move like, because I don’t want to drastically change anything because that can put somebody in a flare. So I want to know what they’re doing now and then. That way they can make a plan of action. Right. Let us make these small changes. Now let’s see how that affects you over the next week. And then week on week we make the changes. Unless obviously anything happens within that week then they can have obviously they’ve got contact with me through the WhatsApp then. And it’s the same with the training plan as well. So I’ll make up a fully customized training plan so that they then go to the gym. So again, some clients hate me for it, but I get them to go into the gym and take, you know, they take pictures of their equipment and they’ve got a video of all the equipment because every gym is different.

Sean Lochran 00:29:16  So I don’t want to give a plan out. And then they think, oh, I’ve not got this, this, I’ve not got that, but I forgot. So everything’s personalized to them so that I know that they’ve definitely got that, that piece of kit. I then get phone videos so they’ll video themselves doing some of the exercises and again, so that I can kind of give them advice on how to make things better. I find that especially useful for people with storms because they believe some things that they can’t do certain exercises because the stoma, whereas I know that it can be done now if it’s an exercise that I might not particularly be familiar with, but they might like it again, I’m the perfect person. I’ve got a stoma, most exercises and all, but there are some things that come my way. I’ll just go to the gym and do that exercise with the stoma that I’ve got, so I’m the perfect person to then kind of lead them right into the gym. This is the way I would do that.

Sean Lochran 00:30:10  This is the way I would move that. And then that’s how we usually work things out.

Amber Tresca 00:30:14  Oh, that all makes so much sense. it sounds really like you’re creating a very supportive environment that, helps people and personalizes rather than everyone’s getting the same. And I love that you’re making tweaks. You’re not telling people to completely overhaul everything that they’re doing, you know, in a short period of time. So that just makes a lot of sense.

Sean Lochran 00:30:38  Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is people make to too many changes. And then sometimes that that can evolve some things because we need to learn the body. So I find that a lot of people that come to me haven’t worked in their body the way I’ve learned my body. So it’s about giving people an understanding, because I’m looking to give help and advice and a service that I wish I was able to goto when I was diagnosed and when I was going through stuff. And it’s a learning thing because I’m under no illusion that Not everybody is going to want coached.

Sean Lochran 00:31:12  For many, many years. They might only want it for a period of time, but I want them going away from me in a better place that they actually understand their body, they understand their goals, and they can manipulate things, but they can also come back to me at any point and then we can help them further as well.

Amber Tresca 00:31:30  Yeah. That’s perfect. Oh, that sounds so great. Again, this is a pep talk just for me. Okay, so, Sean, people might notice that you’re Scottish.

Sean Lochran 00:31:42  Yes.

Amber Tresca 00:31:45  I have been to your country. I loved it only for a couple of days. Was I there? But the Highlands were just were life altering. I didn’t have the benefit of knowing you before I came to ask you this question, but anyone who is thinking about vacationing or visiting Scotland, is there anything in particular that you would tell them that they should absolutely see.

Sean Lochran 00:32:11  I think it really just depends on where in Scotland and obviously the Highlands is really great because from people, people like myself probably take it for granted.

Sean Lochran 00:32:20  But as people outwith Scotland come in to see the Highlands and it’s like a different world to compare to what I see. So actually just outside Glasgow, which is obviously a kind of a city, but the Highlands is probably the most highlight of of Scotland. The scenery is, is just it’s mind blown to be honest. It’s like a different world. When I eventually do go there, you know, in times that I do, I don’t feel as if I’m actually in Scotland, even though I know that it is in Scotland. You know, that’s that’s how it feels.

Amber Tresca 00:32:51  Yeah, absolutely. I did I fell in love with your country and also with the people. I, as you might imagine, everywhere I go, if I meet somebody who is willing to talk to me for a few minutes, I will just ask them all sorts of questions. And I have to say, every Scottish person that we met just loved to talk and it was fantastic because it would ask them all sorts of things and it was just it was just the best.

Amber Tresca 00:33:20  You know, just such friendly people and so beautiful. And we took some guided tours and so we learned so much. I mean, obviously, you know, you can only learn so much in a couple of days. But we learned a lot about, you know, Scottish history, things that you’re not going to learn in other places, you know. So I just really I can’t I can’t wait to get back. We did make it to Glasgow unfortunately. So that’s definitely on my list as well. I hope to make it back.

Sean Lochran 00:33:47  Yeah I mean Glasgow and then obviously you’ve got Edinburgh, which is the kind of a capital. I think that when you go to the Highlands you get the village type people. They just want to chat and talk away and it’s, it’s like a different world when you go to these places. I mean, I love when I go in there as well because you I mean, I’m from Scotland and I still learn so much when I go to these type of places and speak to them as well.

Amber Tresca 00:34:10  Yeah, yeah, it was fantastic. Highly recommend anyone go if they can. All right John, I want everyone to be able to find you online. I know that you have so much more information on your Instagram. So where can people follow you and get in touch with you?

Sean Lochran 00:34:27  So I’m on Instagram at Sean Laughlin Coaching. So if anybody wants to reach out, ask any questions, please feel free to do so. I’ll answer as much as I can. And if I do the coaching, we can hop on a call. And I am just about to release that. I’m going to start doing some consults only because I get not everybody wants to to have a coach straight off the bat. Some people maybe just want to have a chat for 30 minutes or an hour on a on a console call. And that is basically they can ask me any questions about diet fitness stuff to do with IBD that I can help them with. in terms of, on blood or supplements. But at the end of the day, you know, they need to be in line with a doctor because I would never take them off the meds that you see on social media.

Sean Lochran 00:35:17  I don’t really get involved with that side of things, but anything from ICW that I can explain and can help people with, and it will be at a relatively cost-effective way to chat to somebody like myself who can give that advice. If you are not sure on their full time coaching, perfect.

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 00:35:36  Thank you for that. Sean, it has been lovely to get to know you better, and I really appreciate all the advice that you are giving to our listeners today. And then also on going on your Instagram, which of course I follow. So I see all of the work that you’re putting into it and that you are giving back to the community. So thanks for speaking with me today. Thanks for everything that you’re doing for the community, and I look forward to watching what you do next.

Sean Lochran 00:36:04  Now, thanks very much for having me on. It’s been great.

Amber Tresca 00:36:09  Hey, super listener, check the show notes to find links and information about the topics discussed in this episode. Plus, get a written transcript and much more on my website About IBD.

Amber Tresca 00:36:21  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with someone else or leaving a rating in your podcast app. Reviews and ratings help me grow this show and bring you more great content. Thanks for listening and remember, until next time, I want you to know more about IBD.

About IBD is a production of Mal and Tal Enterprises.

It is written, produced, and directed by me, Amber Tresca.

Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney.

Theme music is from Cooney Studio. 

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