One of the most common questions I get sounds something like this: “I always gain the weight back…how can I get weight loss results that last?”
I personally understand how frustrating the yo-yo dieting and weight loss journey can be. When I decided to become a nutritionist, it was because of my own journey with my weight starting in college. I ate WAY too much fast, unhealthy food and too much food in general leading to an unhealthy relationship with food and dieting.
When I decided that I was going to focus on helping people who struggled with emotional eating and yo-yo dieting it was because, after a few years of counseling clients on weight loss, I realized that focusing on macros like protein, fat and carbs and calories was NOT going to get my clients lasting weight loss results.
I then took a deep dive into learning about mindful eating and habit, behavior and mindset change so that the work that needed to be done would really have a profound effect on my client’s weight loss…and their life.
What I know to be true is that when you do the inside work, you get everything you want on the outside, including weight loss results that last. This is the work people never do because they don’t know this work is what they really need so they keep trying the same things over and over and getting the same results.
About 6 months ago, my client Jessica decided it was time to do the inside work.
Like every client before her, her fear-based thought was “What if it doesn’t work for me??!”
Jessica lost 20 lbs over 6 months, started playing tennis and weight lifting again (things that she loved and hadn’t done in a long time), and was able to totally ditch the dieter’s mindset.
In reflecting back on her journey, here is what Jessica shared:
This work empowered me in all facets of life – beyond just food – as the habits of mindfulness extend to fitness, work, and parenting.
When I found Lisa, I was hoping to lose weight, but I was not expecting to completely change my relationship to eating. As someone who knew a ton about nutrition and fitness already, I knew that I needed help controlling my intake but still didn’t know how to fix this heavy issue in my life and was, candidly, skeptical that someone would be able to help.
I’m glad to say I was wrong; Lisa’s guidance completely exceeded my expectations. Our focus ended up being 95% psychology, 5% nutritional advice because that’s where I felt I needed the most help. I lost 20 lbs in 6 months (I started around 150 lbs and also built muscle as a result of my workouts), but that’s definitely not the headline. What I really gained was a deep understanding of my self-limiting beliefs about who I was capable of becoming and control over my entrenched (emotionally-driven) uses of food.
I used food for so many reasons – relief from stress, comfort when I am sick, entertainment, “me” time, etc. I had dieted for so long that I was dieting even when I wasn’t dieting – that is, my mentality was all or nothing, and the amount of mental space that eating took up was exhausting (the shame around overindulging, the constant mental counting and planning, the justifying, etc.).
As I told Lisa in our last session, I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders because food and eating no longer occupy as much mental space as they once had; I eat and I move on with my day. I’d always envied people who consistently made healthy food choices with seemingly relative ease and knew when to stop eating without over-doing it, but I really never believed in my heart I’d ever be one of those people. I thought there was something wrong or different about me, but I was wrong.
Lisa is the reason I was able to discover this. She was accessible, patient, insightful, and thoughtful in our work together. She was prepared, having kept notes about our previous conversations, and I felt like I was working with a trusted friend. After our discussions, I always felt refocused and centered. Now that our regular weekly sessions have come to an end, I have decided to continue working with her on a limited basis going forward because having a coach like Lisa to check in with monthly is invaluable.
Reading Jessica’s words just made my heart sing!!! THIS is why I do the work that I do.
Doing this inside work makes ALL the difference in the world when it comes to getting weight loss results that LAST.
If you want to explore what doing the inside work could look like for you, I opened 5 slots on my calendar…book a call with me here.
BUT, if you are looking for another quick fix or want to lose 10lbs in a month, I am not the nutritionist for you to work with so please leave those spots open for people who are willing to do the inside work and leave dieting behind.
To you becoming your best self!
