Work With Me: Intuitive Eating & Body Image Coaching

I know that trying something different — particularly giving up dieting — can be scary. But sit and reflect for a moment: has dieting really been working for you? Really, really, truly working for you? My guess is that while there were honeymoon phases where certain diets have felt great, each one eventually felt untenable (and, I venture, somewhat miserable).

I ask only for interest and an open mind when we start together. You don’t have to feel confident and perfectly on board; as your coach I’m here to support you through all the complicated thoughts and feelings that come up throughout this process.

I understand wanting to lose weight. I was there myself for years. I know that it’s not easy to turn off that desire. So I don’t need you to be over wanting to lose weight, but I do need you to be willing to put it aside as a goal while we work together.

Instead of aiming towards weight loss, we will aim towards well-being. We will work on you feeling better in your body and mind — ending binge eating and eating past comfort, getting to the root of emotional eating, enjoying moving your body, and feeling more confident and comfortable in your own skin. I will encourage you to put your scale away (or better yet, destroy it!) so we can help you learn to tune inward to judge your well-being.

I can help you work through the desire to lose weight and explain why I don’t pursue this as a goal with clients (in as much or as little scientific detail as you need!).

I invite you to consider this as an experiment. You can go back to dieting / pursuing weight loss afterwards if this doesn’t work for you. But I really think it will work for you.

Absolutely not. The approach I use has actually been proven time and time again to be more promoting of health and well-being than dieting. I can give you lots of citations for this if it’s helpful. But the bottom line is that this is not a “fuck it plan” where you throw up your hands and gorge on everything within sight. It’s a paradigm for reconnecting with your body and its true desires, and for learning to trust that your body knows what’s best for you if you only tune in and listen.

There are lots of books out there about intuitive eating and body acceptance, and I recommend them regularly! However, I also really believe in the power of a healing space and a healing relationship.

I’m here to provide customized expertise and guidance while you are on your food & body journey, but I’m also here to provide emotional support. I found this combination invaluable on my own journey and it’s why I decided to do this work. There is no substitute for someone who understands and knows how to create a place for you to heal.

I do have a couple of partial scholarship spots available at any given time, which are reserved for people who would not be able to receive this kind of support otherwise. You can contact me for more details.

For those not in a place of hardship, I think it’s valuable to consider how much money we’ve all spent on dieting throughout the years. If you’re anything like me, you have probably spent hundreds and maybe even thousands on diet programs, books, food, and the like throughout your life.

This coaching is designed to help you leave all that behind and instead find true well-being and peace. Once these ideas take root, you will never want or need to diet again. Ask yourself what that is worth to you. And consider it an investment in yourself.

That said, I truly only want to work with you if this is a sound financial decision for you. Don’t go into debt to pay for this; if need be, save up and sign up for my newsletter to keep getting advice from me in the meantime.

I wish I could take insurance, but as a coach I’m unable to. If affordability is an option I suggest opting for sessions every other week instead of weekly.

I hope to have some group programs available in the future as well. Sign up for my newsletter to get notified when these become available.

I don’t currently work with people who have active, clinically diagnosed eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and others.

I do my work with people who have sub-clinical eating difficulties (often called “disordered eating”). If you’re unsure if this is you, contact me and we can discuss.

I am not a dietitian and therefore do not have extensive training for how to deal with very specific diseases or health conditions. However, I am certainly aware of how common conditions like those listed above interact with the process of learning intuitive eating.

If your condition is already fairly well-managed and you have a medical team in place to support you with it, we will be able to work together just fine.

If you have been diagnosed recently or are struggling to manage your condition I might suggest that you find a dietitian who does this work instead of me (or in addition to me).

I’ve chosen to specialize in working with plus-size / fat people because I identify as being on the fat end of the size spectrum myself and I know that being in a larger body brings unique challenges to doing this work (particularly ongoing discrimination and bias).

However, I really am open to working with anyone regardless of their size, gender, sexuality, color, ability, etc. Diet culture affects all of us who are swimming in this culture and the things I coach about are helpful to everyone who has a difficult relationship with food and/or their body.

I acknowledge that I am on the smaller end of the plus-size / fat spectrum, and the privileges that I’ve experienced as a result. But I have devoted my work to understanding and empathizing with the entire spectrum of fat experience, and consider myself a devoted ally for those in the entire fat community.

I know that living as a fat person can bring discrimination and hatred from many directions; my goal is to help you build resiliency and confidence so you can live more comfortably in your body no matter its size.