My Journey To Becoming A Health Coach
I am beyond excited to officially share that I just finished studying at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become a holistic health coach. I’m now starting my own practice, and I can’t wait to share my knowledge with the world! These last seven months have been transformative for me, but that isn’t where my journey began.
If I had to pick a moment in time when I believe my story starts, it would probably be in college when I read the book “Skinny Bitch”. Surely by the title I assumed that I would just do everything the book said and soon I too would be a skinny bitch. That’s the first time I really tried a diet. The book is based on a vegan diet, so I gave it my best shot for a couple of weeks while I was at my college apartment. I bought so many soy products when I think about it now, it makes my head spin! Eventually I said “f it” and drove over to Safeway to grab a corndog.
From that moment on I went through various other diet phases in my life. I would tape pictures of Sport’s Illustrated models on my fridge in hopes it would keep me from opening it. I created a “Thinspiration” board on Pinterest, filled with various diet hacks like “How to Lose 5 pounds in 10 Days”, work out routines for a flat stomach, and so many recipes that I never made. The one good thing that came out of this time is that I started going to the gym.
July 2nd, 2017. It’s my 25th birthday and I remember hating every photo I took that day.
After college I moved to LA and started working in fashion, and that’s when things started to escalate. Living with friends, going out whenever I wanted, trying new restaurants - everything was at the end of my fingertips. I didn’t always eat unhealthy, but I certainly ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. After a year of living like this, it started to catch up to me. Suddenly my jeans didn’t fit and I couldn’t understand why. Certainly it wasn’t because of the ramen I ordered every Sunday! I went back to my bag of tricks, and started searching on Pinterest for the “lose weight quick” recipes and advice. The weight didn’t really come off, so I just bought new jeans and moved on.
Looking back, I was using food as a way to help cope with any emotional issues I had. Whether I was happy, sad, or just bored. I used food as a way to fill any type of void I had in the moment, especially if I was stressed, and I never knew my limits.
March 19th, 2017. This is a photo I specifically remember feeling self conscious about. It felt like I could barely wrap my wrap dress around myself!
I continued on this endless cycle where I would either eat “clean” for a few days (I put that in quotes because it really wasn’t) and reward myself on the weekend with everything I was craving during the week. I tried Weight Watchers, which really only taught me you can eat the bag of chips, but then you are out of points for the rest of the day. I tried cutting out gluten and dairy, but I always cheated. Meanwhile all day long I thought about food. Where would I go for dinner this weekend? What should I pick up for lunch? It was all consuming in all the wrong ways.
Sure, I was working out. I would do yoga twice a week most weeks, and maybe a hike or spin class on the weekend. I wasn’t 100% committed, but I was still fairly consistent. Eventually I decided to switch up my routine to spin and a strength training class instead of the yoga, which is something I stuck with up until the gyms all closed (sigh).
So now it’s 2017. I’m about 20+ pounds over the weight listed on my drivers license. Wearing a bathing suit is uncomfortable. The jeans I bought when I first gained weight no longer fit. I’ve had multiple panic attacks about how I look and feel. In addition to the weight, all food is upsetting my stomach. I felt sick after almost every meal I had and was taking laxatives almost every week - yikes, I know.
July 4th, 2018. This was such a fun day, but it’s honestly hard for me to look at this photo without criticizing myself.
Finally, I see a friend I haven’t seen in awhile right around Thanksgiving. I could instantly tell she had lost weight, so obviously I asked her how she did it. She tells me about the book “Body Love” by Kelly Leveque and how it explains a formula for what every meal should consist of - fat, fiber, protein, and greens. This is the exact moment that my life changed.
Of course, I immediately bought the book and read it as fast as I could. I am SHOOK. Everything I thought I knew about nutrition and healthy eating is simply wrong. Things that I thought mattered didn’t and vice versa. The book goes into detail about the science of nutrition, and how different foods affect our body. It basically answered the question I often asked myself, “Why am I still hungry even though I just ate a whole box of Mac and cheese?” or whatever it was I binged that day. Well, it has to do with your blood sugar spiking, and she explained how to avoid that.
I can’t say that I 100% changed my habits at that moment, but I made major improvements. By Christmas I had already dropped a couple pounds and people noticed. I kept slowly making these changes over time and it finally felt like there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Summer 2018 I moved in with boyfriend Cole (now husband), and we knew we were getting engaged sometime soon. We both agreed we weren’t happy with ourselves and decided to work on it together as it would take time. We started eating at home more, and made more careful decisions.
October 6th, 2018. The day we got engaged. I edited this photo because I thought I looked so bloated, but wanted to share the moment.
Now it’s October 2018, we are engaged and it’s time to really take things seriously. There was no way I was going to look back at my wedding photos and hate myself in them. I turned back to Body Love (aka my Bible) and made Cole review it too.
We committed to the changes, started getting way more active, watching what we ate and drank, used meal services - we did ALL THE THINGS. I set a goal to lose about 20 pounds and I was doing so well that I decided to add an additional 5 pounds because I had the time! By my wedding day I was off of my new goal by 2 pounds and it’s one of my proudest accomplishments.
March 2019 vs October 2019. Same sample dress, new improved body.
So what did I learn from this long story?
Shifting your perspective on food from it being an activity or something to fill a void vs. being fuel and medicine for your body will positively impact your relationship with food.
Digging deep into the “why” you want to get healthy, and setting a specific goal makes your pathway more clear.
Having someone help keep you accountable and be supportive is non-negotiable.
Your body is capable of so much more than you can imagine when you think positively and treat it right. When you love your body, it will love you back!
Food is medicine. Period.
The story isn’t over, but I’ll make it short.
Now the year is 2020 - I quit my horribly stressful and slightly emotionally abusive job, and I’m trying to figure out the next step in my life during a global pandemic. I lost count of the amount of emotional breakdowns I had, and my mental health was nonexistent. After working a few odd jobs, I finally build up the courage to do something that I had felt called to for quite some time - health coaching.
October 2018 vs October 2020. I gained some weight since my wedding (hello pandemic!), but I am still so much happier with my body than before.
So I enrolled in IIN with the support of my family and friends and here I am today. It feels as though I was my first client during these transformative last months. I had to dig deeper inside myself and think about my values, how I spend my time, and evaluate the thoughts go through my head every day. I learned how to create a more positive space for myself, how to protect my energy, and focus on my true purpose - sharing all this amazing information to as many people as possible.
I am not a perfect person, but rather a work in progress. Do I still have anxiety? 100%, but now I have the tools to cope with it and get to the root problem. I am more of a problem solver vs. someone who just got by in life.
March 3rd, 2021. The confidence is real!
Eating healthy has given me a sense of control that I’ve never felt before. I never feel like I am depriving myself, rather I feel empowered by making choices that make me look and feel good. Feeling good is the most important thing to me. My love for food has switched from loving it to fill a void in my life to loving it for the incredible benefits I receive when I fill my body with real food. It’s incredible how lucky we are to live in a world where all the medicine we could ever need is naturally provided!
With my health coaching background I want to work with individuals like the person I just described and help them to be the best version of themselves - how to eat properly so that their body gets what it needs, how to create space for mental health to flourish, and to live a generally healthier life in a way that feels so easy it becomes second nature.
If our paths cross or not, I hope my story inspires you to take a step back and reassess your life. Make sure you are taking care of yourself both mentally and physically! Eat something green at every meal, drink lots of water, move your body every day, and surround yourself with the people you love.
If you are looking to make improvements in your diet, or just don’t even know where to start please reach out to me. Even if you don’t want to sign up for my program, I am more than happy to help you as best I can! And if you want to hear more about my program please email me to set up your FREE consultation.
Finally, if you want to learn more about the Institute of Integrative Nutrition please reach out to me and I can share more about my positive experience or you can try a FREE sample class here!