I have a big space in my heart for those who are learning to be active, and those living with type 2 diabetes and obesity. I was firmly in those worlds for decades; I know the fear, shame, challenges. I also know how much it meant to be surrounded by people who believed I could change. Day by day, it would still take years find health and they stood with me.

It was a huge mountain.

I want to repay that stalwart kindness and collective support by helping others. Helping others understand that breaking out of those dangerous, non-linear ‘health holes’ is worth every single drop of sweat, every tear, setbacks and sore muscles. Health, not weight is what I focus on as a person and as health coach.

Social media has undeniably been a significant tool in connecting me to the people who want help and those who work to help others. I have been off of social media for 100+/- days now. (Blog here…) I was pretty content to stay away. The recent headlines and conversations surrounding obesity/COVID-19 have me re-thinking my self-imposed social media ban and how I really desire to be part of these growing and on-going conversations.

Even being surprised, like everyone else, by the daily developments in our world I still found myself shocked and upset to see obesity grabbing some of the current headlines and a jarring one at that:

Obesity puts you at greater risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.(Study here explains the details of why.)

Obesity with a side of panic and public shaming. A not-at-all-awesome combination.

Early in the pandemic response; the fat-shaming was driving me a wee bit cray-cray. ‘The mask isn’t for COVID-19 it’s for the dreaded COVID-19 POUNDS….’ comments/memes. As if the worst thing that COVID-19 could dish out was some weight gain. For those with shame around their bodies, eating disorders, body dysmorphia or even teeter-tottering self confidence those messages aren’t helpful. They become hyper-amplified with the fear and panic surrounding the pandemic responses. None of it is funny or harmless. Those of us who align with various ideologies around fat and health are familiar with ‘nothing is worse than being fat’ mentalities, jabs and jokes. Sadly familiar ground for some of us.

Then things escalated.

I struggled writing this blog. What has been largely personal and private battles for individual health has become a matter of increasingly urgent public health discussions. It felt like it was a slow burn when it was ‘just’ an obesity epidemic and now it’s full throttle as COVID-19 pushed the additional perils of obesity to a new forefront. People assume they can look at you and know what you eat, how much you move, what health issues you may or may not have. Public comment and scrutiny like never before. Meanwhile obesity can not be resolved with an overnight magic bullet so those living with it can only take baby steps to change their life and health outcomes. Shame and panic have never worked to help people make lasting changes.

If you’ve missed them; here are the headlines…

‘Having obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, increases your risk of severe illness from COVID-19.’ (CDC)

‘An estimated 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight. Nearly three-quarters of American men and more than 60% of women are obese or overweight. These are also major challenges for America’s children – nearly 30% of boys and girls under age 20 are either obese or overweight, up from 19% in 1980′ (Source: IHME)

‘National surveys estimate that 20 million women and 10 million men in America will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives.’ (source NEDA)

People who are obese are in greater danger of being more ill/dying with COVID-19.

The personal layer that I’m aware of for myself and many others, and can not be ignored, is that woven into the mix is Eating Disorders (ED)… In elevating this conversation to a very public forum, where everyone can comment and opine, we’re inadvertently pushing into the world of ED’s as well. And in my opinion, obesity and ED’s are not something you can simply untangle or isolate or easily explain and throw COVID-19 into the mix and you have a bonafide shitstorm. This is a twisted and difficult but excellent time to help with some public education and stigma-breaking. I don’t have the answers, but I can’t ignore that the conversations happening are really important for us to be having.

Prevention of being infected with the virus is the key for all of us. Attention to improving overall/general health markers and being at a healthy weight is also important for at least 160 million of us. Suddenly what most of us were able to manage as a more personal shame/issue/problem or at least as a ‘local’ problem that only involved those who physically interacted with us is now very PUBLIC and callously and carelessly being discussed ‘about’ us. Piling shame on shame never helped anyone heal or grab hold of new habits or feel good about the slow, baby steps they’re taking to head in a new life direction.

I too am confused. And scared. I’m wondering what to think and who to believe and how to help those who need help. Meanwhile I have to work hard to stay focused on balancing my own mental wellness while living in a body that is healthy and yet looks visibly overweight…

How do we publicly talk about health and obesity without shaming those who struggle? That’s the core issue I am interested in. COVID-19 adds another urgent health layer on top of a really complicated problem. I don’t have answers, but I have ears and a willing spirit and I’m not afraid of the tough conversations or the hard work.

And I know, from hard-fought personal experience, that the view from the top of the mountain is always worth the climb, no matter how long it takes. And this is one hell of a mountain…

I don’t know about you but this is my first global pandemic. Annnddd…. I’d be totally fine if we never, ever had to experience this again.

I don’t want to gloss over the serious nature of the events gripping our world right now. It weighs heavy on my mind and heart. Yet as the panic began to ease up a bit this Spring, it created the chance for meaningful conversations with friends that we might not normally make time for. Friends began sharing about their personal ‘silver-linings’, or the smaller, more nuanced lessons they were learning about themselves and their priorities for life during this time of turmoil.

Some of the lessons I’ve learned seem to be universal; Don’t get low on TP, working from home has a distinct converse relationship to personal hygiene and 20 seconds is a really, really long time to wash your hands. Also fascinating to me? Most of us hadn’t really EVER been washing our hands correctly anyway. Who knew?

I had my own story about personal growth. This crisis handed me a much needed reset. I went from complaining or rejoicing or chasing after the mundane and relatively trivial in the day-to-day to caring deeply that I had a roof over my head, a job, and no one I knew was sick. Period. That was the extent of my focus.

Reset.

Conversations went from ‘I don’t like the color of the new Hoka running shoes and downtown parking is nutso….’ to ‘Are your family and friends safe? Do you still have your job?’ And then taking the time to really listen to the answers.

Reset.

A conversation in April with a good friend crystalized and cemented what I’d been noodling for a few weeks: social media was an increasingly toxic element in my world. I was as addicted to the dopamine hit and validation that come with ‘likes’ as the next person. Yet I could see that I had reached a point of consistently looking at a post and being able to answer ‘did this enrich my life and inform me of something worth knowing?’ with a rapid, flat ‘nope’.

I hit social media to escape the real world and suddenly internet-misery and anger and half-truths were morphing into the real world for me. I would quote ‘some random friend on Facebook’ as a given expert. I found myself endlessly comparing myself to and judging others. Two of the things I don’t like to engage in at all, ever, were becoming all-consuming end-games on social media for me.

I would scroll and judge. I would scroll and feel like a steaming pile of crap. I would scroll and be irritated or upset or find myself unfollowing people for their posts… Rarely would I scroll and feel happy, smart or enlightened.

Sound familiar at all?

As I scrolled I would think: ‘They’ are doing way better at staying active and fit and they don’t have to battle their weight. That’s really what ‘they’ think science is all about? ‘They’ are sure acting self-righteous in their blanket pandemic-shaming of others without knowing the situation or abilities or problems others face. ‘They’re’ whiny. ‘They’ aren’t even taking a moment to acknowledge the suffering consuming the world around them…. Throw in a daily smattering of random posts covering pandemic-shaming, racism, judgement, fat-shaming and political pandering and you have….

Huh.

FREAKING Reset.

PUSH THE RESET BUTTON NOW.

The part of me that wants to assume the best in people would start showing up when I was NOT scrolling… Who the hell am I to judge anyone for anything? Everyone is doing their very best to hang on and BE who they are in the middle of this chaos. Survival and thriving and getting-by sure looks very, very different for everyone.

You get the brutally ugly idea.

The inside of my head wasn’t the place I wanted it to be when I was scrolling.

Ugh. ‘THEY’ were driving me crazy. And with something ridiculous like 4,000 FB ‘friends’ I don’t even know who most of ‘they’ are! I was comparing and judging and feeling snarky and in many cases with people I do not even know in real life.

Give me a break. That’s not me. That’s not how I want to show up in this world. Social media was hardening my heart, numbing my brain and forcing thoughts to the front of my mind that just didn’t ring true.

And – light bulb! – I actually have a whole lot of control over that input. I needed to practice feeding my brain better experiences and information. I started with pulling the plug on social media interactions and to see if that worked…

I deleted the apps about 5 weeks ago.

The first day or two without FaceBook/Instagram/Twitter were admittedly odd — simply for missing the habit of scrolling or using the phone to fill gaps of silence/boredom. Very quickly I figured out that I missed the HABIT, not the content. With that breathe of knowledge – I knew I’d made the right decision.

It’s been…Glorious. So freeing to be disconnected from the artificial and not-always-so-nice world of social media and yet be more intentionally connected to the voices and hearts of the people in my real world.

I’m not sure when I’ll be back on social media platforms. When and if I do come back, it will be with a simple plan to keep social media as a time-appropriate and mildly entertaining distraction. I don’t make a living on social media and most of the folks who need to find me can easily connect to me in other ways. I have the luxury of choice. And I’m exercising it.

What has my unplugging from social media done for me? Here’s what I’ve observed so far: I am comparing less. Finding more in life to simply enjoy. Less distracted. More connected. More sure of myself. Listening more intently and hearing a whole lot more than just what’s being said. More satisfied with my own life.

Your turn: Have you taken a break from social media? What did you learn? I’d genuinely enjoy hearing what others are experiencing or ways you’ve found to enjoy social media instead of reacting to it… Please reply or leave comments on this blog. Given my hiatus from social media, I’m not likely to see your comments or thoughts otherwise!

I rarely get outwardly mad. It takes a lot to push me to that point. Yet, even if I am angry – I loathe confrontation… And just for fun, let’s throw in that I’m also a professional-level people-pleaser. My disdain for confronting things/people if they make me mad often shows up as a refusal to stand-up for myself so I don’t make anyone else uncomfortable. I have spent my life stuffing down emotions and not confronting anyone if at all possible.

I mean – if you mess with my nephews or my friends; I’ll confront you. And you might not like me or ever forget the encounter. I’m wildly protective of my people.

But make me mad or mistreat me?

Eh. I’m likely to internalize it, spend hours with self-blame trying to figure out what I did to provoke anger or mistreatment and pretend like NOTHING AT ALL is wrong. I don’t love that about myself and never have, yet figured it was just a quirk of my personality and because no one beyond me was bothered, there was no real harm being done.

Well… Turns out non-confrontation and hiding emotions are at the root of my eating disorder and ignoring them (surprise!) really doesn’t work so well… So at 51 I am learning to manage anger, discomfort and confrontation for my overall physical and mental health. After 18 months of therapy, with a really good therapist, I finally feel I have some good tools to use when I do want to express myself. The coping skills, for one of the first times in my life, don’t involve abusing or restricting food.

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I went to a new primary doc a few weeks ago. I have been trying to establish one since I moved to Bend. I have struck out. Nice people, general disease management; none of them seem to get my type 2 diabetic past and my desire to stay off of meds. All of this makes me miss Dr. Marske a lot… She and I didn’t always get things right; but she never gave up on me trying to help myself and she always listened to me. Always. I continue to appreciate and better understand what a gift I had in my relationship with this special doctor.

As I briefly explain my history and my desire and efforts to stay off meds to these new doctors, I watch their faces shut down before they even hear me out. Usually around the time I say ‘… I reversed type 2 diabetes by eating low carb and I now run ultras…’ I always think they figure I’m in cahoots with Dr. Google, will grasp on any ‘fad’ and maybe that I’m even trying to tell them how to do their job; which isn’t the case. None of it. I acknowledge that a patient educated in their own disease, their own healing and ardently eager to be a part of the solution might get confused with someone seeking a specific answer/drug/remedy.

I met with this most recent new doc and when asked the reason for the visit, I told her that I was there for three things; a flu shot, survival tactics for perimenopasuse and a referral to an endocrinologist since I was concerned with my fasting blood sugars being higher than I liked (per my own daily testing with a glucometer). I told her I was pretty sure the perimenopausal crap that I’m suffering and the elevated glucose readings are related; but I just can’t seem to figure out the connection well enough on my own to manage it. I admitted I was getting concerned about what I was sure was an elevated – with no stopping in sight – A1c. I told her I was nervous and frustrated because the things I had done to lose 200 pounds, reverse type 2 diabetes and wean off of insulin were NOT WORKING in the same ways they had for the past 7 years.

After a volley back and forth she finally said ‘I appreciate that you are concerned. I don’t feel you should be worried, your daily fasting numbers are well within an acceptable range. But for good measure let’s first test your thyroid just to check things out…’

Sigh.

I was worried about my A1c. It’s a marker I understand well. And I was doing all the same things day to day and the numbers were moving… In the wrong direction. And I know from years of experience that if the daily fasting are too high (the math is pretty simple) the average will be HIGHER – which is NOT what I was after…. My numbers weren’t fine – my gut KNEW it before the blood test would confirm it. I also knew my thyroid wasn’t the issue – yet I appreciate a doc wanting to rule things out with their own tests/eyes/facts. I get all of that. (BTW, snarky side note, ask any fat woman and she will tell you that every doc tests her thyroid as a possible culprit for weight gain. Any. Doctor. All. The. Time. I’ve had my thyroid checked a bazillion times. Even as recently as a year ago – all was well. The ‘thyroid check’ is hotly annoying at this point, AND before anyone jumps me about it; I know it’s due diligence. Doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying.)

As I was listening to this doc work through her perfunctory checklist and essentially brush off my concerns; I was done…

I suddenly realized I was frustrated. And maybe ‘mad’ was starting to surface…

Not at her specifically, but cumulative upset at the health care system that seems set-up to ignore the patients, prescribe meds and – in my uncharitable and arguably jaded opinion – ignore that the WHOLE body needs to be working together.

I am done with docs not listening to me and not taking my experience with this disease into account. I am done with being caught in a disease management system that throws around the word wellness and doesn’t mean anything by it unless they can prescribe it in a pill bottle. I am done with trying to convince a medical professional to be worried for me and to refer me along to someone who specializes in what I live with.

I was not looking to be placated, I was looking for HELP.

I looked her in the eye and said ‘Can you please give me a flu shot. And I agree with you that we should order the blood work so we’re not blindly guessing about my numbers. Thank you.’ I was ready to let ALL the other requests I had floating in the air between us just go away – it was obvious I was going to need to find yet another doctor… Her comment back to me was ‘Even if your number is elevated from the last year; I think the first step is that you need to see a registered dietician so you’re eating a balanced diet and come back to me in six months to re-check your blood work.’

This was the moment I got mad… I felt mad. I felt my face flush and my heart starting to race.

And I decided I was not going to stuff it down this time. So I took a breathe and dug deep and used my new anger-confrontation-communication tools.

I said exactly what I was thinking in calm and even tones. ‘I can’t afford to wait six months. From lots of personal experience with this disease, I know that a dietician isn’t the answer at this point. In fact the Standard American Diet that dietitians are taught to prescribe is exactly what helped land me here in the first place. I can’t convince you that I know I am standing on the edge of life-threatening trouble that I know all too well and I desperately want to avoid again. If I do as you suggest; in six months I’ll be six months sicker and six months further down a road I don’t even want to be on.’

I got the flu shot.

I also got my blood drawn.

And we left things hanging right there…

Turns out my hbA1C (measure of long term blood glucose management) is higher than it has been since I went off of insulin almost 7 years ago. By a lot. I mean I was diagnosed at 11.2. It’s been solidly bouncing around between 4.8-5.2 for over five or six years now. Last week it was 5.9. The measure for pre-diabetes is 5.7-6.4.

I’m technically pre-diabetic again and that is NOT OK…

It is as I feared.

And yet I was and am being told not to worry.

The blood test results, which I accessed on-line simply had a note attached from the doctor that said ‘labs are fine, re-test in 6 months’.

I knew things weren’t right and I’m lucky, on one front, that I have a deep history with this disease and know the basics and when to worry and how to keep pushing for help whether she agrees with me or not. I’m also lucky that this isn’t my word against the world; the blood numbers along with my history with a metabolic disease backs up my concern – and in the right hands that specific information will spur some action and concern. I just have to find that doctor.

I’m still mad. Mostly at the system. But maybe a little mad at the specific doctors that won’t take me seriously and won’t listen.

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At the same time all of this was happening I finally and fortuitously connected in real life, via a multiple year Facebook-friendship, with Dr. Mark Cucuzzella in West Virginia. Dr. Cucuzzella is Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel and a Professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. He hosts and teaches healthy running medical education courses. He’s also has MODY (maturity-onset diabetes of youth) and he’s an ultra runner. Long ago I reached out on a social media forum asking for advice on eating low carb while also training for and running ultras. He had some really helpful insight and practical solutions that focused on being able to run yet knowing that the end-game was really about steady control of my blood glucose long term.

Dr. Cucuzzella recently invited me to be a part of his healthy running gathering this past November. It was an amazing educational experience with lots of fantastic new connections forged. We finally got to meet face to face. It was awesome to meet one of your long-time advocates and champions in real life for the first time.

So here’s the behind the scenes LONG story short: Dr. Cucuzzella listened to an abbreviated version of my growing frustrations about docs/blood sugars. He said he thought he had a solution for me. He prescribed a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) so that I could do some of my own detective work to figure out what the heck is going on with my blood sugars. I wear this device on the back of my arm 24/7 for 2 weeks at time and monitor, via an app on my phone, how my blood sugars trend given my diet, activity, stress. The ultimate outcome? I should be able to self-correct and adjust my lifestyle choices to get my hbA1c right back down where it belongs. I now have real-time data that I allows me to alter or change things I am eating or doing based on legit, real-time feedback. I’m a week in to this experiment and have collected really interesting data points and implemented some simple changes. It’s empowering and fascinating.

Keep in mind, while this is HUGE for me personally and I’m beyond privileged to have made the connections, taken this trip and to be able to afford to pay for this tool OUT OF POCKET to get the help I need… I had to go from freaking Oregon to West Virginia to find a doc who would listen to me.

But how many people are lucky enough to have a Dr. Cucuzzella in their lives?! I know I have the luxury of insurance. I have the privilege of being able to pay for minor things out of pocket when a doc says it’s important and insurance says ‘not so much’. I know all of that. I take NONE of that for granted. And the fact that this preventative measure is NOT covered by insurance is a WHOLE OTHER blog…

I remain deeply concerned that people have to be their own strident advocates. I remain baffled as to why a system would continue to dissuade/dis-incentivize medical providers from focusing on preventative or lifestyle measures that work. They have scientific PROOF that these lifestyle interventions WORK…. This isn’t voodoo science – they have the data!

I’m upset that the ‘system’ seems content to wait until something has to be prescribed.

I intellectually knew that our health care system is profoundly broken; but I guess this is me arriving waaayyyyy late to the party to say; HOLY SHIT IS THIS BROKEN AND WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

I’m standing up for myself and not accepting ‘wait six months’. I’m taking my health back into my own hands.

Yet I’m scared for the people who won’t stand up for themselves or patiently wait simply because they’re paralyzed into overwhelm by the options or are too sick/tired/depressed/scared/poor to keep pushing back on the system…

Or that they trust that the system is doing what’s best for them…

What about them?

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I wasn’t asking for a prescription to a controlled substance or to cheat the system or even for a silver bullet. I was asking for help in figuring out why what had worked for so many years was NO LONGER working…

Instead of bottling it all up this time around, or simply being an ostrich and ignoring what’s happening or even choosing to be naive and assume things would ‘work themselves out’, I said what I thought and stated what I needed. I’m very proud of myself for that victory alone. I left her office and went for a run. I got the CGM. I’m collecting my own data and already making tweaks to keep those numbers in a healthy range on the day-to-day. I’m reaching well beyond the confines of our traditional insurance/medical system to get the help I need to stay free from type 2 diabetes…

And yet again I am looking for a new primary doc to work with me.

** 12/2/2019 on the news, as I am writing this blog, they quoted a CDC report (here) that 18% of US Adolescents (12-18 years old) have pre-diabetes. THIS USED TO BE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY AN ADULT DISEASE… The #1 intervention for prevention/reversal at any life stage for pre-diabetes is lifestyle changes… Preventable. Docs and other folks in the health care system writ large have GOT TO get this prioritizing prescriptions over lifestyle changes thing figured out. Like yesterday. We are running out of time. Lifestyle adaptions and interventions should be the norm; not pills in a bottle… *Stepping off of my soapbox*….

Oh boy….

First… My DEEPEST and most sincere apologies to any of my writing/author friends for the naive and rude assumption I had about the writing process.

I am totally humbled. Big time.

I thought I would take my blogs, stick them in order, title a chapter or two, put a picture on the cover and call it good. Done.

Yeah. WOW. It turns out that this is not how this works….

That’s not how ANY of this works.

I knew it was going to take more work than that; but I wasn’t prepared for the adventure we would wind up on trying to get this book into print…

We didn’t publish in the Fall with the first draft of the book like we thought we were going to. Variety of reasons, but mostly – I just knew it wasn’t ‘right’.

We went back to basics… Big bummer. Not going to lie. I mean, I thought we were so, so close to done at that point. It was a big disappointment.

I sat with the book for a few weeks wondering if I should just abandon the effort and leave things in blog format. But it finally came down to one thing; I really, really wanted to publish this book. I wanted my story in a format where it might actually be able to HELP others.

So I rested. Regrouped. Let the disappointment of the first effort fade.

And then I found a new editor, a content editor. She looks at everything through the lens of ‘would a reader care or understand?’. Does this order make sense? Is this story necessary or helpful? She’s asked me to go back and explain people and relationships. She sent me on a journey that involved some deep soul searching to answer some really tough ‘why’ questions. She felt that not addressing those ‘why’s’ were a huge gaping hole(s) in the book. She works hard to make sure my voice shows up, maybe with just a few ‘F” bombs edited out, but she also reminds me to be funny and sassy and use puns. She wants me to publish a book that keeps readers riveted.

I’m close to having a manuscript ready to publish. FINALLY! From the first effort to now? I have spent hundreds of hours of editing, writing and re-writing this winter. Just about every spare waking moment was spent writing. The work is paying off. I still have some writing and editing that needs to be done – but it’s getting close.

I think I finally have my story in a logical and interesting order so that people who have triple digit weight loss in front of them or are grappling with pre/type 2 diabetes can at least follow my story. Not that my path will be theirs. Again, that’s not how any of this work. BUT perhaps my story will help them get their own feet on their own path and get moving.

And this book, instead of being cobbled together blog posts that would’ve been ‘ok’ (maybe), has become something I’m immensely proud of. ‘All Bets Are Off’ has been one hell of its own adventure to write. I find it humorous and even somewhat comforting that the writing process seems to have paralleled that of running an ultra when shit has gone south about mile 65. 🙂

And the finish line is in sight.

Spring 2019.

“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” ― Najwa Zebian

This is my favorite quote.

These words often worm their way into my mind during a tough workout or race as a sort of mantra. If you were running/cycling with me you might hear me mumbling ‘…climb….’ Sometimes with an expletive.  Sometimes just that single word.  It’s at those moments when this quote is going through my head. 

For a long while this was a mind-expanding epiphany. Now it’s profoundly motivating and a touch-stone of sorts. This quote has found it’s way to the core of my coaching philosophy.  

Turns out I was not the only one trying to freaking carry the Cascade Mountain Range on my back – when it was meant to be climbed, explored, enjoyed. 

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When someone is tackling a lifestyle shift that involves triple-digit weight loss or battling health complications that accompany obesity or reversing life-long unhealthy behaviors; there’s some… uh… tremendous baggage we have to trip over, name, claim, move, give-away and figure out along the way.  

Mountains of shit.  

Mountains. 

So, I have one simple job at the very start: I listen to their mountain(s).  

Listen patiently and with grace and creating space for them to be raw, honest and share and say things they’ve perhaps never said aloud/confessed/acknowledged to another person.  

When someone is willing to trust you and tell you how they got to a place they really don’t want to stay, a place that might even be trying to kill them, a place they aren’t even sure how/when they arrived…  A place that is oddly and sadly more comforting that the unknown of trying to change…

Honor them by listening to them talk about the mountains they are carrying.

Those mountains they’re carrying, they’re going to have to learn in their own way, and in their own time, that they were meant to be climbed.

If I’m really lucky, they’ll invite me along for the learning, work, sweat and adventure that follows when we learn to climb ‘their’ mountain one step at a time. 

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I get asked ‘why do you coach?’ and ‘what kind of people do you coach?’

The simple truth?

I got certified as a health and wellness coach because I wanted to be the person I NEEDED when I was starting to lose weight, reverse type 2 diabetes and learning to be active as a morbidly obese woman.

I’m coaching the kind of people I was just a few short years ago.

I was obese, morbidly obese, grossly overweight, fat.  Call it what you want. I was very ill, unhealthy, with a lifestyle-induced disease. Yet I had this wild, burning desire to change things and NOT A SINGLE CLUE where to start…. I needed help.

There was a whole lot of wonderful/helpful/supportive humans who had (and still have) my back and I refuse to deny their role in helping me change my life…

…But the other truth was that I needed a level of specialized expertise I couldn’t find…

You can’t take someone who is inactive and carrying 100-300+ pounds and apply a normal ‘weight loss and activity’ plan. You can’t. Well you can, and the desperate client is going to try to do what’s being asked; and they’re likely going to get hurt and discouraged and give up. I know what I’m talking about. That cycle of failure is one I know intimately.

The coach has two jobs… The first is to believe in your client. The second is to start from where they ARE; not where they used to be, or where they think they should be…

• What do you do if you can’t reach your feet to tie your shoes? Or normal shoes don’t fit on your feet?
  

• Where can you find a 48FFF bra that someone can actually run in? How do I compress my belly rolls or other body bulk so I don’t get hurt when trying to move?
  

• What if I’ve been (or get) laughed at, or the race times don’t allow me to be on the course because I’m slow or the gym equipment is not rated for my weight?

• How do you start running/moving when you weigh 300+ pounds?

• What if you have complicating medical conditions that limit what you do – they aren’t just handy excuses; but real barriers?

• What if no one else in your life supports your desire or efforts to change?

• What if you can not do even day ONE of the ‘Couch to 5K program’? You can’t even get on the gym floor to try a sit-up/push-up? You get winded walking up the stairs to the indoor track?
  

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The issues that the overweight/obese face and deal with in their daily lives can swamp them before they even get started on a routine. They see the mountain they have to carry or climb; when you’re 100+ pounds overweight ‘carry’ AND ‘climb’ seem to be the same effing insurmountable level of effort needed...  They know it’s going to be chaos, messy, uncomfortable, lonely, discouraging and hard and they barely have the energy to get through the day.  They’ve likely failed in previous attempts. They need someone who’s been there and can help them navigate the barriers and feel some hope and stay focused on the long-term goals.

I have a health and wellness coaching certification. This past Fall I went one step further and got additional education and training in working with those who are inactive, obese and/or are dealing with chronic illnesses. I spent hours learning how to get people moving safely and get some solid lifestyle skills in place to keep them moving towards health. Learning about change behavior, social/physical obstacles and best practices. It was odd to learn about all of this and look back and apply it to my own journey. I got a lot right with sheer determination and dumb luck. I got plenty of stuff wrong – and now I know better and will help others do better. 

As someone invited into a life-changing process, how can I help people learn to CLIMB the mountain instead of carrying it?

I coach because I have been in their shoes. And their 48FFF bra. And their sweat-drenched clothes from walking a mile. And questioning whether a piece of gym equipment can handle my weight.

I coach because I love helping people find a new, healthy path in their life.  

I coach because the people I’m lucky enough to support are doing the exceptionally hard work of trying to get handle on their lives. I know how hard that work is. 

I know, as their coach, that I’m being invited into a really special place in their journey to help them figure out exactly how to get started climbing when they’re standing at the bottom of a mountain and aiming for the top.