Welcome to my first post! My name is Juliana, and I am a Certified Health Coach.
Like many of you out there, I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I have gained and lost hundreds of pounds. You name a diet, I’ve tried it. Being obese shaped many of my beliefs about myself when I was young, and boy, did I lean into them. Shame, embarrassment, low self-esteem; I believed everything the bullies said about me and I internalized it so well that it was my truth for a very long time. As I look back on my young life now, I can see why it was such a challenge to make a healthy lifestyle work for me before: I didn’t believe I deserved it. I was using food to manage all of my negative emotions, and as the weight continued to pile on, it served to further affirm the damaging beliefs I held about myself. It was an impossible scenario to overcome at the time. And the older I got, the harder it was to have any success at all for longer than 5-6 weeks at a time. Then it was always back to what I perceived as “failure.”
Everything changed when I had some routine bloodwork done and found out that my A1C was 5.6. It had been going up about a tenth of a point a year, but that day I was faced with the reality of that number. I was clearly on track to follow my Dad’s genetics. I was going to be a Type 2 Diabetic by the time I was 50. I was running out of time. So, I asked myself, “Are you going to walk into this disease with eyes wide open, or are you going to do something about it?” I am forever grateful I chose the latter, though it was harder work than you’d think.
I made the complicated decision to have weight loss surgery with the help of my family, friends, surgeon, and his amazing team. Today, I look at my life and it is barely recognizable to me. I walked into my first therapy appointment six years ago at the lowest point in my life. I remember telling my therapist, “I’m only here because I didn’t know what else to do, but I don’t expect anything from you. I am unfixable.” I remember so clearly what I felt when I said that – I knew it was true. I was, to put it mildly, a supporting player in my own life. I believed that “some people get to be happy, and some people don’t and that’s just life.” But I showed up to do the work anyway, even if it was only because I didn’t have any other options. And since then, my life is happening for me instead of to me.
When I predictably lost my job doing publicity for Broadway shows (more on that in a future post) because of COVID, I went in search of new opportunities. It was such a treat that my automatic mindset was now “How exciting! I can’t wait to see what comes next!” as opposed to the fear and depression I would have been met with once upon a time. A good deal of reading, researching, and soul-searching which lead me to coaching, a career my first therapist predicted I would eventually embrace years ago (you have to admire her long game, shout out to Mary Alice!). Everything about coaching felt like it slipped right into my DNA, that I was destined at this time in my life to choose a path that would help others embrace their highest selves and transform their lives and their health as I have.
My goal with this blog, and with my coaching practice, is to help bariatric patients achieve success! Whether you’re pre-surgery or post-surgery, in your “honeymoon” phase or years out and looking to conquer a regain, I can help you shift your mindset, change your habits, and free yourself from food addiction for good so that you can live your best, healthiest life. I invite you to consider reaching out for a free informational session.
You can visit this blog for weekly stories, exercises (physical and mental), book recommendations, meditations, recipes, pictures of my weird and wonderful cats (more on them to come), and lots more. I look forward to sharing many of the tips and tricks that have helped me over the years. You can never have too many tools in your toolbox, right?
Until next time, here’s to your Bariatric Success!
xoxo,