"Name It and Claim It": I'm a Life Coach

In 2023, I had weekly appointments with an eating habit coach who changed my life.

Let me back up a little.  Since college, I’ve steadily put on weight every year.  My caloric intake has been high, and my activity level has been low.  I was active in my 20s, doing as many as six musical theater shows a year, but once I got married in my late 20s, and then had kids in my mid-30s and early 40s, my lifestyle became more sedentary.  I had a management job for almost 20 years that was increasingly stressful and draining of my energy, so my motivation to keep active and eat well decreased to almost nothing.  By the late 2010s, I weighed 250 pounds.

In September of 2022, I discovered Kate M. Johnston, an eating habit coach for professional women.  I subscribed to her weekly email, and finally it clicked—my problem was not my weight or my lack of activity, but my eating habits, and more importantly, my self-image.  Kate sent out a free worksheet, and one of the exercises on it was to finish the sentence, “I am no longer a person who _____.”  I printed out 10 copies of that worksheet, one for every week, and started completing it every week, with a different way to complete that sentence:  “I am no longer a person who weighs 250 pounds;” or “I am no longer a person who eats potato chips every day.”  I flipped the sentence to be more positive:  “I am now a person who makes healthy food choices;” or “I am now a person who exercises at least once a week.”  I started having protein smoothies every day for lunch and salads every day for dinner.  I started walking more, and using house cleaning as cardio.  By December, I had lost 20 pounds.

At that point, I decided to go further.  I contacted Kate about meeting one-on-one, and by January, I had hired her for the year—a weekly meeting for all of 2023, to go deeper, continue my weight loss, and work on what was going on in my brain that was the root of my eating habits and lack of exercise.  Within just a couple of months I could look in the mirror and truthfully call myself “beautiful.”  I came to realize that the number on the scale was not good or bad, but just data.  As my body started to change, I recognized its beauty not because of how it looks, but because of what it allows me to do.  In September of 2023, I raised funds for To Write Love on Her Arms, by walking 300,000 steps in the month.  In November, I did a Turkey Trot 5K.  By the time Kate and I discontinued our weekly meetings, I had lost a total of 45 pounds and three pant sizes.  More importantly, though, I recognized my value as a person, my self-talk became overwhelmingly positive, and I was finally able to see some possibilities in my life that my weight and health habits had not previously allowed.

By February of 2024, I was ready to make more changes.  While I was in coaching with Kate, I found myself passing along weight-loss tips to friends and family.  When someone would ask me how I was able to lose the weight, I was excited to share with them what I had learned, and what I was doing.  When a friend who was losing weight another way gained a few pounds back, and expressed disappointment, I eagerly gave them some tidbits of encouragement, other ways to think about their weight, their health, and their self-image.  So, on February 5, I enrolled in a six-week Life Coach course with IAP Career College. 

On February 9, I was informed that my position was being eliminated, and that I had only four weeks left in my job.  And, to be honest, that almost destroyed everything I had been building for the previous year and a half.  Remembering my worth was almost impossible in light of being told that what I had been doing for almost 20 years was “unnecessary.”  Keeping up my good eating habits went out the window due to the lack of routine that went along with not having a 9-to-5.  My exercise became sitting on the couch all day applying for jobs.  And I gained back a few pounds.  And it became a struggle to remind myself that I’m beautiful and that the numbers on the scale are just data.  And it was hard to get out of bed some days.

But I started the Life Coach training anyway.  “Fake it ‘til you make it,” right?  I consulted with Kate, since she had planned to follow up with me anyway, and we talked about coaching, and if it was a possibility for me.  I realized that I have been a coach so many times in my life.  I taught piano lessons for over 10 years, encouraging my students to play music that they were passionate about, regardless of difficulty.  I’ve directed plays and children’s choirs, bringing confidence out of even the most introverted performers.  I’ve accompanied voice students, coaching them in style, diction, and controlling their nerves in performance.  I was a Girl Scout leader, both as a camp counselor and a troop co-leader, guiding my girls to choose and implement a Bronze Award project, and leading them to uncover the person they are meant to be.  I’m a mom to two amazing young women, helping them to realize their potential, reminding them of their value and their strength, showing them the freedom that comes from letting go of things that don’t matter and making the most of the opportunities they encounter.  And I’m a newly-certified Life Coach, voluntarily passing on the expertise that only I have—what I gained through my own weight loss journey. 

That journey is far from over.  I am still practicing what I learned with Kate.  I still want to lose more weight, exercise more, have even healthier eating habits.  I am ready to take that journey with someone else—give them the tools I now have in my toolbox; give them the encouragement so many people have given me as I’ve changed my body through changing my thoughts and habits; give them the confidence to do whatever it is they really want to do in life, whether it’s lose weight or learn a new skill, or strengthen their relationships.  Losing my job was not an ending—it was a launch!