Q: What services do you offer as a weight loss coach?

A: I help women fit into their favorite clothes and feel fabulous in their bodies, by helping them learn how to nourish themselves on all levels. Unless our bodies feel nourished, be it from the nourishment that food or a fulfilling lifestyle can offer, a niggling sense of being in a deficit hovers in the background indefinitely. In the environment of lack, cravings become irresistible and weight loss plans go out the window. Rather than teaching my clients to “buckle down” and use massive amounts of willpower and discipline to lose weight, I teach them how to nurture their bodies, simultaneously boosting metabolism, so that extra weight naturally drops away.

Q: How did you come to this line of work? Did you ever struggle with your weight? How did you overcome your struggle and how has that informed your work?

A: I became a weight loss coach after overcoming a decade of my own struggles with food and weight. Deep inside I knew that although I was struggling with weight and food, that it wasn’t JUST about the food. I knew that a strict food plan wasn’t going to cut it because something inside me would always rebel against imposed limitations.

The weight loss strategy that helped me, and has subsequently helped my clients, takes the full picture into account, not narrowing the issues of weight loss to something as simplistic as eating less and exercising more.

Q: What does a Holistic approach to weight loss entail? How is it different from conventional approaches?

A: A holistic approach to weight loss differs from conventional approaches in that the focus is not the RESTRICTION of calories or specific food groups. Instead the focus is ADDING IN healthy, nutritious food and lifestyle choices.

The holistic approach starts by presuming that your body is actually very intelligent and that given half a chance it will guide you to what it needs to lose weight and keep it off. “Holistic” refers to the “whole picture.” No part of your life is out of bounds. Holistic weight loss encourages you to get to the root of your appetite and desires and to ask yourself some deep questions. What do you really want? What do you really hunger for? What will ultimately satisfy you?

	I knew that although I was struggling with weight and food, that it wasn’t JUST about the food.

When these questions are attended to, the foods and activities that help with weight loss are much easier to implement. When these questions are ignored, losing weight feels like permanently swimming upstream. It’s exhausting and bound to fail. Most people associate losing weight with dieting and dieting with deprivation of the foods they enjoy. How is it possible to lose weight without doing either?

Sustainable weight loss occurs when there is an upward shift in the metabolism. However the stress of dieting and deprivation, usually does the opposite, it slows down metabolism, not speeds it up! Depriving yourself of needed fats, carbohydrates or proteins signals the body that it is starving, and that it better hold on to every fat cell it has!

Q: How can metabolism be boosted?

A: First, pay attention. Paying attention is one of the secret keys to boosting your metabolism and losing weight without dieting or deprivation. When you pay attention to your food, by noticing it’s color, aroma, texture, and flavor, your metabolic engines rev up and have more power to properly digest and “burn” the food, preventing weight gain. You are also more likely to have more satisfaction from less food and feel full more quickly.

Second, create rhythm. Ever started your day with caffeine, had a low-fat mid-morning snack, a rushed, followed by a low-fun lunch, and then found yourself craving everything under the sun once the clock hits 4pm? On the other hand, ever started the day with a glass or two of water and then served yourself a nourishing breakfast of fresh foods, including enough fat and protein, that gives you the staying power to make it through to your unrushed, well-balanced lunch without lunging for coffee or sugar?

A good rhythm makes your body feel safe and allows your metabolism to chug along at an efficient speed, paving the way to weight less, no mention of dieting or deprivation needed.

Last is personal power. Metabolic power mirrors personal power and the more you feel empowered in your life as a whole, the more your body will respond by naturally shedding weight that it has no need to carry. Again, are dieting and deprivation involved? No. Are embracing what you want and desire involved? Yes!

Q: What role does psychology play in weight loss and how do you help clients address their “food issues”?

A: Psychology plays a massive role in weight loss, but that doesn’t mean that the solution is all in your head! Sustainable solutions to weight loss involve the body and mind collaborating as a team. Just as psychology may apply to a relationship you have with a loved one, so it applies to the relationship you have between your body and your mind. Often the body is represented as the bullied little sister and when she regains her power, the metabolism boosts and weight loss becomes easier.

Q: On your site you mention performance eating. What is performance eating and how can it lead to a healthier life and maintaining weight loss?

A: Performance eating is all about “Eating for Energy.” It’s about having the energy to make it through your work day, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and then having energy left over to do all the nurturing and fun things you want to do for yourself, be they going on a date, cooking dinner or dancing up a storm. Performance eating provides the fuel you need to have a high performance life both professionally and personally.

Q: In your practice have you learned anything unexpected through your clients successes, relapses or failures?

A: What I have learned is that the better and broader the support system, the fewer chances there are to fall between the cracks. Furthermore, the more a person is willing to own and enjoy their bodies, no matter what—even before weight loss has happened—the better the chance that true sustainable weight loss can occur.