I feel my real power as a coach and as a person comes in sharing my story. Not everyone agrees with me, but they don’t define me so I’m going to get real here. I have had some complications from my current bariatric surgery. I still am pleased that I have had the surgery. I have gained more from it than I ever expected and well, I am proud of it.

However, a few months past I noticed that I was feeling stuck a lot. I threw up a little more. I thought I was eating too fast so I really watched that. It continued. In February, I called my surgeon and asked what to do. He suggested I see my gastroenterologist and get an endoscopy to find out what was going on.

Well, I did that. The GI doc had other ideas. He wanted to put me on an expensive medication that was basically Nexium. I’m sure he had his reasons, but I was disappointed.

Then, things got worse. I tried acupuncture and reiki. I was convinced it was me, that I had somehow not accepted the surgery or was eating the wrong foods or doing something wrong. I stopped eating after 5pm as the GI doc suggested. I made sure I got in my protein – even though I can’t eat meat (another complication) – and really made sure to eat slow. I started exercising again. I had stopped because I was so tired from throwing up. I just did it anyway.

I had a follow-up with the bariatric surgeon on March 21. He was upset that I was throwing up so much. He ordered a barium swallow. I had that on the 26th. The next day, he called me himself to tell me to go to the ER if I got dehydrated, which I haven’t, or get an endoscopy ASAP. The GI doc’s office originally wanted me to wait til the 29th to see someone to get approval for the endoscope. No. I complained and got an appointment that day.

I was hoping to have the scope that day. Didn’t happen. I have to wait until April 3, unless I get dehydrated first. Then, I must go the ER and my bariatric surgeon will make them admit me and scope me. I don’t want to get dehydrated. It’s not pretty. So I slowly sip drinks throughout the day and night. I am having trouble sleeping because I can’t hold down all of my medications.

I still don’t know what’s wrong and I hope on that day, I will get some answers. I am kind of hoping that the GI doc can’t fix it. I don’t really trust him. I have made an appointment for follow-up with a new GI doc on April 17.

I do not like being treated poorly by doctors. Basically, I am on liquids right now and potentially for the foreseeable future. I am bipolar and have to grind up my meds. They taste horrible. It makes me cry to do this. In fact, I’ve been mad and sad and have had a lot of emotions. I am just taking it as easy as I can and being gentle with myself and trying to laugh a lot.

I will fight. I am a warrior. Again, I do not regret this surgery. The problem is most likely easily fixable. I don’t want you to fear putting your needs first. I don’t want you to fear a health crisis. No matter what it is, you can cope with it. The not knowing is hard. I’m lucky to have great professionals like a life coach and a therapist and a psychiatrist. I’m lucky to have great friends. I love them so much. I have a fantastic family.

This only makes me stronger. It makes me more conscious that my passion is to help people like me overcome challenges. If I can do it, I know you can too.

Thank you for reading this post.

I understand bariatric troubles. My first surgery was in 2010. I was about 420 before the lap band. My doctor didn’t want to do it, but I was afraid of what I then called ‘mutilating my stomach.’ I had a sister who had the bypass and she was completely a mess. I know most of it was her own making, but there were mistakes by the surgeon as well.

I was scared to have the bypass. The sleeve wasn’t used then so the other options just seemed worse. I persuaded the surgeon to do the lap band. It happened in March of 2010. On surgery day, I was 397. I got down to about 268 in about a year and a half. I enjoyed a trip to Disney, but I was pretty miserable. I throw up a lot. We kept going in to readjust the filling and then sometimes taking out the filling on the lap band. I’m not going into specifics here, but basically you have a port, they put liquid in and it keeps your stomach ‘fuller’ so you eat less.

Eventually, I had to have the lap band removed. The new doctor I was using wanted me to get the duodenal switch. I said hell no and walked out of his office, vowing to lose weight on my own. I worked with a nutritionist and my therapist to figure out why I was addicted to food. You see I was really food addicted and I believe that many people who have these surgeries are. No one during this process prepared me for the feelings of loss and loneliness I’d feel without being able to overeat. No one told me that I would feel mental stuff because of this physical change.

I worked on myself for three years. I did try a lot of things to lose weight. I kept gaining. In December of 2016, I was at 387 lbs. I also tore my meniscus in my knee. I needed knee surgery but couldn’t have it because of my size. I decided to go back to a new doctor and get the sleeve. I went through the process. I prepared myself mentally and physically. I had the sleeve on June 6, 2017. I have, to date, lost 115 lbs from my high weight of 387. I still have a long way to go. 272 is good, but my goal is 175. I will get there.

Food is not an issue for me. I do still struggle with regurgitation and vomiting. I’m currently working with my surgeon to figure out what’s wrong. I have bad days and good days. I understand the process is not easy, but I am not a food addict anymore. Food is just food. A cookie, my food love, is now just a cookie and I don’t care if I eat it or not.

It’s very freeing and allows me to do other things and focus on other things like being a life coach and helping others like me. I’ve been there. I get it. Thank you for hearing some of my story.

I don’t know if you’re wondering this or not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. As a coach, I am client-centered. Do you know what that means? It means that the session is all about you. I believe that you have all the answers you seek within you. You know what you need to succeed in life. You are enough. You have everything your heart desires and all of the tools you require to be and do exactly what you want.

You are a beautiful, amazing creature who can live the best life possible. The universe wants you to do this. Whatever entity you believe in (and even if you don’t) wants you to have a great, enjoyable life.

You need to give yourself permission to do this. I can’t give you the permission. It must come from within. What I do is listen to you. I ask questions based on your statements and my intuition. I hold the space for you so you can do this difficult work. I understand and empathize with you. I am there for you, supporting you through this all.

I may not have been where you’ve been, but I can understand why you feel the way you do. I will normalize your emotions and make you feel heard because I am really listening to you. I care about you and what you have to say. You are special to me because you are my client and a child of the universe.

I have compassion for you and great love. I want you to succeed. I want it so badly for you. I hope you want it as badly for yourself.

Together, we will have transformative conversations. We will move mountains in your life. Are you ready to be the best you you can be? Great. Call me today at 512-484-7634 and set up your free consultation call.

The other day I was looking through my online support groups on Facebook. I saw someone mention that they were a few years out of the bariatric surgery and couldn’t understand why they were gaining the weight back. They mentioned they weren’t exercising as much and eating ‘forbidden foods’.

I had to hold back my anger. Yes, a life coach can get angry. I’m still a human being. When I thought about why I was angry, I realized it was more fear. See, this person was expressing one of my biggest fears – that I’ll slip, fall back into my addiction and the weight will creep back on.

Even after losing 115 lbs, I fear this. I know that I’ve put in the work and the effort to lose the weight. I’ve also worked with professionals and on myself to get over the mind hunger. Mind hunger is the addiction. Food is an addiction. Particularly addiction to sugary and processed foods.

Food was the way I coped with everything – or not coped. I used it to soothe, to comfort, to stuff down what I was feeling because I felt the feelings were too painful to cope with. I wasn’t living my most authentic life. I was just existing.

Now, I live and I am a survivor. I am grateful for my life and the clarity that comes with eating well and taking care of myself. However, I feel like there’s still a monster inside of me waiting her time to come out and take over. Can I keep her at bay? Can I deal with her long-term? Am I strong enough to do this?

I don’t know all those answers. I suspect that I am. I have a workable program. I have professionals around me. I have a supportive family and I don’t honestly crave food the way I once did. I have coping mechanisms and I’m not so scared of feelings anymore.

I wish I could tell this person that they need to be aware of their behavior and that it’s possible to get help if they want it. I crave the ability to help people going through things like this. I want to show them that they can believe in their own power and they can overcome so much. Weight loss is a struggle of the mind, body and spirit. It’s not just about willpower or discipline. It’s about so much more.

I will continue my fight life-long and that’s okay. I’m up to the challenge.

Changing for Good is a textbook that we used at Rhodes Wellness College in my life coaching class. It outlines six stages of change. We were taught to meet clients at whatever stage they are at. The stages are:

• Precontemplation
• Contemplation
• Preparation
• Action
• Maintenance
• Relapse

In the precontemplation stage, people are not yet ready to make a change. They may not even be aware that one is necessary. As a coach, you must be gentle with people in this stage and encourage them to educate themselves on the possibilities of change. However, you must remind them that this is their decision.

In the contemplation stage, people may be thinking of making a change in the next six months. They are thinking about it and are open to learning more about what change would look like. You must reinforce that it is their decision and help them explore the concept in greater detail.

Preparation stage is when people are about to make a change. They are preparing for it. They may even have been making small changes to dip their toes in the water so to speak. You must help people in this stage to find decisional balance. This is when the pros outweigh the cons. You should also encourage potential change makers to tell their friends and family so that they can have support. People are worried about failing here and by helping them get support and have a strong emotional attachment to making the change, you can help them do it.

In the action stage, a person is taking actions to make positive changes. You must encourage them in their efforts and help them to reward their successes, even the smallest of the small. You must also encourage them to be gentle with themselves if they have mild slip ups. You don’t want them to get in a punishment mode. That is detrimental. Be supportive.

In the maintenance phase, a person has made the change and its fairly consistent. They have either stopped smoking for over a year or lost all their weight. (These are just two examples). To help the person in maintenance, you want to keep reminding them of how good their life is now that they’ve made the change and minimize the feelings of loss from making the change. Don’t let them idealize life before the change.

If someone relapses, you should encourage them not to punish themselves. They should pick themselves up and look at the incident. Ask them to be curious about what the triggers were that caused it to happen and help them brainstorm ways to act in the future should those same triggers or different triggers arise.

This book is a real life saver for anyone. I highly recommend it to my clients.

Last night, I completed my certification program through Rhodes Wellness College. I loved the experience of experiential learning that Rhodes has to offer. I feel prepared and ready to take on the world. I want to make an impact as a life coach and as a person.

I feel that Rhodes is a great program for anyone who wants to help themselves and others. I took each lesson to heart and really implemented it in my own life. I feel ready to help others. I have learned so much about empathy, problem solving, the stages of change and more.

I am competent. I am capable. I have worked with my classmates, whom I adore. They are all strong women and I would highly recommend any of them if we were not a natural fit. I plan to continue to follow their progress and spearhead a once-monthly meeting where we connect and share.

I also plan to peer coach with a few of them because I do want to get my International Coach Federation (ICF) credentials. That’s my first goal as a life coach. I really want to be there for my clients and show them how authentic I am. I love being a life coach. It’s my dream job and I am passionate about it.

I’m so proud of my accomplishment an I am amazed that I did it. I am celebrating me today and encourage you to celebrate yourselves for whatever you can find to celebrate. You deserve to celebrate you.

Namaste.

Life coaching excites me. It is something I am so passionate about. Being a life coach is not something I every really thought of being until about a year ago. I was plodding along, periodically wondering if I should go to grad school for history, which was my college major, and become a professor. I was also contemplating getting a degree in counseling because I am a compassionate person who wants to help people.

I’ve thought of being an acupuncturist, an addictions counselor, a nutritionist and many other things. I am also a writer and wanted to work that into my career path. I had forged a decent home-based business as a writer so I could raise my kids and be there for them, but now they’re 15 and 20. They don’t need me around that much.

My own life coach suggested that maybe this was a good path for me. I immediately knew he was right. It was the answer I had been looking for. I joined a program at Rhodes Wellness College and have loved every minute of the process. I love coaching. It’s just a conversation between two people who are very in tune with the process and working hard to find solutions for one person, the client. My clients do the hard work. I hold space for them and I learn something new about myself every time.

Giving to others helps me give back to myself. I can’t believe I get paid to do this. I know that coaching can work miracles. I want to share my passion with you and help you achieve the life you want.

A life coach is someone who looks at your present and helps you move into the future. Life coaches are special professionals. We walk with you and focus on you. A life coaching session is basically a conversation between two people who are focused on one person, you, the client. Life coaching is client-centered. We are not solution finder. We are not mentors, therapists, or consultants.

Life coaches help people get out of their own way. We require that you be motivated, at least a little bit, to help yourself. We don’t offer solutions. They come from you. As a life coach, I believe you have everything you need to succeed in life no matter what your challenges. I want to help you build a better life.

If you do get stuck in the past. We will briefly look at it, process it, mobilize and move on. If you need more work on the past, I will refer you to a therapist who can help you deal with your past traumas so that they don’t impact your present and future. It can be done.

That doesn’t mean we never talk about emotions. A life coaching session can get very emotional. It’s okay. I am here to normalize your emotions and let you know that it’s okay to feel them. You are okay as you are. You can do things to make your life better and improve as an individual. We all can. You just need someone on your side to help you make those changes.

That’s where a life coach comes in. We are there to help and offer to hold space for you so you can figure out your next steps.

I hope that helps you determine if life coaching is something you’re interested in. If so, I’d love to hear from you.

Yes, I am almost finished with my life coaching program at Rhodes Wellness College. I am excited and scared for the future. I am very happy to help people forge their own path but know I must walk my walk and talk my talk. I am prepared to do it. It’s both vulnerable and freeing.

I still write blogs for people and do social media. At least, I will for a time. However, my main business is going to be helping people find their true purpose and meaning in their lives. I am encouraged by the clients I am currently working with and looking forward to finding new ones. I learn something new from everyone I meet and am open to the universal energy that is in everything.

I am naturally intuitive but I know how to hold a comfortable space for you. I am a fantastic and empathetic listener. I will ask you questions that will make you think and reexamine your values. I’ve been through the process myself. I have a fantastic life coach who recognized something special in me. Check out my resources page for more info on that – and other professionals I recommend.

As a life coach, I have a lot to offer. Rhodes trains you well to help others. You  must have a servant’s heart and an open mind. I have both. I want you to live your best life and know that you have the answers within you. Welcome to my new website. I’ll be revamping it with more images soon.