If you’re anything like I was, maybe you believe nothing will work because you’ve tried everything…

Whatever shame or hopelessness you feel now, I’ve felt it too. However, I promise you: you aren’t stuck or damaged, and the transformation you so desperately desire IS achievable and maintainable.

I first became aware of being overweight in Kindergarten. Food was my first coping mechanism and I relied on it heavily to provide the sense of ease and comfort I craved. My first attempt at weight loss was in 4th grade, running laps on the track and eating low-fat diet foods, desperately wanting to be thin.

I would find success with weight loss through bouts of restriction, only to be followed by worse bouts of binging. I have tried every fad diet, often believing I had finally found the answer, only to be shocked and discouraged when once again I fell off, gained the weight back and found myself still struggling with the same issues of emotional overeating, binge eating, all-or-nothing thinking and self-sabotaging behaviors. I was always active, but my drive for exercise was fueled mostly by a dislike of how my body looked and how desperately I wanted to change it.

I got sober in 2018, which was the catalyst to doing the deep inner work required to begin to shift the thoughts and beliefs that were driving my unhealthy coping mechanisms. During this time, I began to learn more about nutrition and developed a new relationship with exercise and how it could not only change my body but change the way that I felt.

In early sobriety, I fell in love with hot pilates and was doing it 5-6x/week. I loved it so much that I got certified to teach in 2019. I left my marketing job and decided to make a career in fitness. I loved group fitness, but noticed after a while I began to plateau in terms of body composition changes. I was lean, but started more seriously strength training to build muscle and create a more “toned” look.

In 2020, I got certified as a personal trainer. I was strength training consistently and followed a lifting plan that allowed me to prioritize progressive overload. I hired my first coach and dialed in my nutrition by tracking my macros and started to see the body composition changes I had always wanted.

In 2021, I launched my online Fitness + Nutrition coaching business. I was lifting 4-5x a week, tracking macros diligently, and got very lean. I had been lean in my life before, but never with muscle. However, during this time, I still struggled with an all-or-nothing mentality; I was either “on” or “off”, especially when it came to nutrition. I still struggled with bouts of overeating, and it was difficult for me to navigate eating out, celebrations involving food or impromptu social meals. If I didn’t know how to track something, I would typically say “screw it, I’ll start again tomorrow (or Monday, or after “X” holiday, etc.)