Weight Loss Coaching
Eating should be relatively straight forward, yet for many it is the complete opposite. Every infant is born with the wisdom required to have a healthy relationship with food, they know on an intuitive level how to eat completely in tune with their bodies. So how do so many of us end up with a dysfunctional patterns of eating?
That was certainly my experience and it took many years to heal my complex relationship with food. Today It is my passion to help people understand and heal their damaged food relationships, in much less time than it took me!
I have created a programme to help you explore how you have become so far removed from a healthy relationship with food and to help you reunite with a more intuitive and realistic style of eating. By working together we will make sense of why you became disconnected from your body and co-create ways in which you can reconnect with your internal wisdom in relation to feeding yourself.
Discovering and repairing your relationship with food will give you the peace of mind you deserve around eating, which in turn will result in your natural healthy weight.
I speak from experience when I say this journey will be transformative.
Present Day
We’ve been eating our whole lives and yet we’ve been taught so little about how to feed ourselves. We have mostly learned from following the lead of others around us and the influence of the diet industry and general media, all the while moving further and further from our innate ability to eat intuitively. With so many opinions and constant changing viewpoints, many people become frustrated and stuck with their eating habits, trying different diets and ways of eating with no discernible results. Sadly, food has become a source of suffering rather than a source of sustenance. My mission is to help people who feel they have weight to lose, do it in a healthy, more realistic and sustainable way.
Sometimes all it takes is the opportunity to connect the why with the how. Exploring why you came to have a dysfunctional relationship with food and as a result, eat in the way you currently do can be extremely freeing. In the majority of cases difficulties with food can be traced back to childhood which offers an explanation as to why you were unable to prevent the disconnect happening between your authentic way of eating and how you eat today. This realisation allows clients the opportunity for self-compassion as there is often much punishment and self-recrimination that goes hand in hand with a poor relationship with food. This initial exploration gives the client the opportunity to gain perspective and connect with the very real possibility of change.
Who comes for Food Relationship Coaching
I see people of all shapes and sizes. Having a dysfunctional relationship with food, often described as compulsive eating or food addiction, does not necessarily mean a person has to look a certain way. My clients seek help for many different reasons. Some because they struggle with losing weight and keeping it off, caught up in the dieting culture, fluctuating between starving and binge cycles. Others have an extremely restrictive way of eating because they believe it is the only way they can stay at a specific size, they are exhausted and want to find a better way. Some people just want to gain some understanding around their difficulties with food and some have unrealistic expectations of what they want to achieve, flogging their bodies hoping to achieve an impossible target. Whatever your specific issue, I can help. In my experience what lies at the bottom of every food and body image issue is a disconnect in how we relate to ourselves. Reconnecting with our bodies, getting back in touch with who we are, our pleasures and our needs is the key to our body settling at the healthy weight it is meant to be.
Working Together
Weight loss coaching is NOT A DIET! I don’t believe diets work, they set us up for failure. Expecting anything to change while following a set of rules dictated from an outside source will only ever lead to misery.
The way I work is to help you access what you need from the inside. You already have everything in place to feed yourself in the best way for your body, you simply need to pause, get in contact with your body and listen to what your body is asking for. Sounds easy? Well it can be, once you have decluttered what is getting in your way. What is also important to remember is that human beings are not perfect and there will be days when you just don’t hear what your body is telling you and you over ride it’s wishes. That’s ok! Learning the art of self-compassion and forgiveness is essential when healing your relationship with food.
Because I am a therapist as well as a coach I am able to support you through your journey. Enquiry is a great source to get to the nuts and bolts of your present day issues with food. I will help you to explore safely, as sometimes deeply repressed feelings can emerge. We can process your feelings together and work through the obstacles getting in your way to food freedom, and let’s be honest, shedding the pounds your body does not need.
I will talk about the word diet in relation to how you eat not in relation to a set of rules you are following, for example pandas have a diet of bamboo, they have not been put on a diet of bamboo!
Our first session starts with enquiry, I will be asking you questions about your childhood in relation to food and what was happening for you at the time, if your memory is hazy, don’t worry. We explore the people in your life, how they ate and what verbal and non-verbal messages they gave you about food and eating. We will establish what it is you want from our time together by exploring your goals and the habits you want to change.
As our work together progresses I will ask you to do some exercises (not physical!) and explore the current blocks you have to eating in the way you would like. I will teach you about the hunger scale and how to use it to figure out when to eat and when to stop. It is not my style to focus on what you eat, I am not a nutritionist and I find that in the initial stages of repairing a relationship with food, focussing on food values can over complicate things. I will also teach you about habit change and how to make things easier for yourself.
During our time together I will support you with enquiry, action planning, habit change, non-demonising of food groups, establishing your repressed and current feelings and your ultimate goals. I am your support and will respond to emails in between sessions.
I have noticed with previous clients that when they commit to at least 10 sessions change is more likely. Some people stay longer and some feel 10 is enough. However you are under no obligation, if you feel this work is not for you, that is fine too. I am honest, empathic and most importantly I am on your side. This programme works, but it does take commitment. Sadly I do not have a magic wand, but what I do have is many years of relevant experience, behaviour change counselling and coaching skills, lots of enthusiasm and an enormous amount of compassion.
Allow me, to help you, to help yourself.
FEES
Food Relationship Coaching - £80 per hourly session
Sessions can be face to face or via zoom depending on your preference.
Cancellation Policy: Sessions will be charged in full if less than 24 hours notice is given.