My Journey

If you are reading this, I am assuming you are at least contemplating the idea of health and wellness coaching. Congratulations on being proactive about managing your health and wellness journey!

So the next question might be “Why health and wellness coaching with me?” That’s a good question! Let me tell you a little bit about my journey to give you some information to answer that question…

I’ll start in my mid-20s, that’s where I think things start to get interesting. Like many, I would suppose, the “real world” came at me fast. Starting a career, starting a family, way more responsibility and stress. Desire to achieve, advance, provide. Free time was often devoted to those goals, exercise, sleep and recovery all took a back seat. Like a waaaaay back seat!

And (looking back, predictably) weight gain became an issue. Injuries never seemed to completely heal. Mental health took a big nosedive. Almost overnight, it seemed, I was 30-40 pounds heavier and struggling to maintain any consistent exercise routine. Luckily (or maybe unfortunately, as it did not trip any alarms) blood work seemed to be relatively normal, so I assumed there would always be time to work on this later, this was just a phase that would end soon. Of course, it didn’t. By the time I was reaching my late 30s, I hadn’t lost any of the weight and I was dealing with significant insomnia. Finally, something was suggesting a change was in order.

So I started to make some changes. But they came in fits and starts (sound familiar?) I would take some weight off, be a bit more consistent for six, sometimes almost 12 months. Weight would drop off. But injuries would rear their ugly head. Or I would think “I got this, made the sacrifice, we can go back to the way we used to do things.” And ultimately, weight would creep back on. I would feel tired, have major crashes mid-day. I still was not feeling like I was closing in on my best self.

Ultimately, I thought I was living a “healthy” life. I thought I was eating well, I was exercising somewhat regularly. And most folks looking at me kind of thought the same thing. And as I approached my late 40s, I was more active (hiking regularly). I had lost weight (dropped about 20 lbs. after starting time restricted eating). I figured I had finally turned the corner, and honestly conventional healthcare (and the basic well checks) agreed.

It was in my early 50s, when I was in the middle of a Precision and Genomic Medicine Coaching Fellowship with Wild Health, that I decided to engage in their patient process. I thought, well maybe I will learn a few little things about me, but there isn’t going to be much to really deal with. Well, I could not have been farther from the truth. My A1c levels were borderline pre-diabetic. Fasting insulin was quite high. Measures of methylation were also quite high. Basically, I was on the path towards insulin resistance and/or metabolic disease. To say I was surprised (and disappointed) was an understatement.

What I learned was that, yes, I was generally living a healthy lifestyle, but not for me. I needed to dial in what was going to work best for me based on my genetics and my current state of being. This was going to take significant change on several fronts. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will share, 18 months later almost all of those biomarkers have been reversed and are trending in the right direction. Physically, mentally, sleep, energy I feel much better than I have in decades. I have much more resilience than I thought possible.

Now will our stories, our successes, our challenges completely mirror each other? Not likely, no. Our paths, our solutions, our changes will be unique to each of us. I have lived that and grown to understand that. And I think that is one thing that makes me unique, I appreciate that your challenges, your goals, your journey will be your own, but I have the tools and resources to help you find your path and manage the inevitable roadblocks. But we will also have some commonalities. I didn’t win the genetic lottery. Things have not necessarily been easier as I have aged. I understand the stress of life, work, raising kids, meal planning, cooking, being there for your family, feeling lost, trying to figure out “what to do with my life.” I have compassion and empathy for you might be experiencing.

I like to consider myself perfectly imperfect. I have flaws. I am a continued work in progress. And I think that is what might make me uniquely suited to work with you! I hope to hear from you, and until then, be well!