In my early years as a personal trainer my clients' goals often included the desire to lose weight. This proved to be exceedingly challenging. I would give them advice regarding diet, create an exercise program, and guide them through their workouts. My clients would lose weight for a while, feeling elated with their success. But at some point they would return to their old eating habits and put the weight back on. Feeling discouraged, they would stop working out. They felt like failures. So did I.
It seemed obvious that my clients were struggling with food, and were driven to overeat, at least in part, because of stress and emotional discomfort. They needed more than information to make the changes required to lose weight and keep it off.
Meanwhile I was dealing with my own food and weight issues. For most of my life I suffered from a distorted body image. I always felt I was either overweight or on the verge of becoming fat. I was actually quite thin, but did not realize it, and struggled to keep myself at an unrealistic weight.
Entwined with my distorted self-image was a constant urge to eat. I thought about food all the time, and I spent a lot of mental and emotional energy not eating.
In searching for ways to make weight loss more attainable for my clients I discovered hypnosis, and became a certified hypnotherapist. This method proved to be extremely helpful. My clients became more motivated and focused, and I witnessed a noticeable increase in their ability to maintain their weight loss efforts.
A few years later I discovered and received training in EFT. I saw amazing success when I introduced this method to my weight loss clients. They lost their cravings for foods that were once irresistible, eased the tension and neutralized the emotional discomfort that once drove them to overeat. And, in conjunction with hypnosis, they began to heal issues from the past that fueled their present desire to overeat.
I also studied yoga and became a certified yoga teacher. It became evident that yoga and other mindfulness practices could greatly enhance my clients' ability to stay present to their physical and emotional feelings, discern the difference between stomach hunger and "mouth" hunger, ease stress, and increase the aptitude for self-directed compassion and kindness.
In addition, I read every book I could find on nutrition and weight loss. I was amazed to discover that much of the information regarding the efficacy of low-fat, high-grain diets that I had originally learned and taught was misguided at best. I also listened to my clients as they spoke about how different foods and ways of eating affected them. I experimented myself with various dieting approaches. And I read some more.
I began to notice a marked decline in my own food struggles. I don't really know when it happened, but gradually I lost my preoccupation with food and weight. I stopped obsessing over my next meal as intense food cravings gradually disappeared. And I became comfortable in my body, no longer feeling the need to be rail thin.
The TLC Weight Loss Program is the distillation of all that I have learned in the last 10 years. This program is not just about becoming thinner, but about healing your relationship to food. It is about becoming healthy in body, mind, and spirit. It is about feeling as well as looking good. And ultimately, it is about coming home to yourself so that you can finally know deep peace and lasting happiness.
Training:
- American Aerobics and Fitness Association (AAFA) certified fitness instructor, 1988
- Fitness Associates of America (FRA) certified personal trainer, 1995
- American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) certified personal trainer, 2005
- National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) certified hypnotherapist, 2000
- Fitness Associates of America (FRA) yoga teacher, 2001
- EFT Certification of Completion Level 1, 2005
