Why did you decide to work with a weight loss coach?

I wanted to find a healthy eating plan and a way forward for life rather than yoyo dieting which I have been doing since I was a teenager (I’m now in my 50s). I have tried out lots of diets and mentoring programmes but I’m not good a sticking with them. I ‘get’ the messages intellectually but haven’t really taken them to heart and felt the pain of embedding the new learning. I started working with Clair in January 2020 and we’ve just started our second year of working together.

How is it similar or different to what you expected?

Having made the commitment to work with Clair’s programme for a minimum of six months this already felt different than the other programmes I’ve tried. I was making a real commitment.  I’ve just signed up for another six months and this is finally real recognition that you can’t sustainably change the habits of a lifetime overnight! While I am still changing those deeply embedded habits (it’s like they are still there under the surface) that’s not to say that I haven’t achieved some tangible weight loss results. I weigh 1½ stones less than I did a year ago when I started the programme which I am really proud of and feel confident in my continuing journey to lose another 1½ stones and find a sustainable way of healthy eating for life.

What have you learned?

I’m not mad, damaged, stupid or disgusting.  I just picked up some maladaptive habits in my teenage years which are not helpful or healthy. That was 40 years ago – at a deeply formative stage of life-development. It’s not surprising these patterns stuck (I had no alternatives) and it’s also not surprising that they will take more than a few months to weaken their hold and find more constructive strategies.

What was your biggest challenge?

Despite declaring loudly and constantly that I am not an emotional person, I have finally accepted that my unhealthy and unhelpful eating is driven by how I am feeling. I’ve been using food to ‘dampen down’ boredom, frustration, disappointment, anxiety etc,. True, I am not a person who has big emotional outbursts, but who knew (not I) that smaller, lower level (but important) emotions were being regulated through food. Old habits die hard though. I’m accepting that the depth of formative neurological pathways means that perhaps I am always going to think first of managing feelings through sweet treats, but I am now learning to ‘talk back’ to those feelings and use other tools to support my emotional wellbeing.

What are you most pleased about?

Sustained weight loss, of course. But more importantly, my beliefs have shifted that I can manage my emotional eating. I’m not doing it every day, but I can truly see a future where I am at peace with myself and have created a healthy eating programme that I look forward to.

What would you say to someone else considering weight loss coaching?

Clair has a fantastic range of tools and resources which I have found invaluable in my learning journey. But above all, Clair has been there, she has mastered her own challenges and designed her own sustainable, healthy life plan.  As a result, I totally trust her, and she brings huge understanding and empathy to supporting me through my journey.