Ep 28- How a Personal Trainer Healed Her Relationship with Food- Rachel’s Story

August 15, 2024

Today I interview my client Rachel about her success story in the Confident Eater Program.

Rachel opens up about her journey as a personal trainer struggling with overeating.

She was so frustrated that she knew exactly what she ”should” be eating, but still felt something was missing.

We cover:

• Why she chose to join the Confident Eater Program as a personal trainer

• Her experience with the trigger food process

• How mindful eating changed her entire life

• The positive impact this journey’s had on her relationship with her boyfriend

 Hello, confident eaters. We have a special interview with my client Rachel today, but before we get into it, I want to let you know that the confident eater group program is closing Friday, August 23rd at midnight. This is a limited time opening of the group program.

Now, today you're going to hear Rachel talking about working with me one on one. I do still have one on one coaching available and they are the same program. You're getting the same awesome resources, the same awesome coach, but they are just a little bit of different formats of working with me. So either way, you're going to want to book a consultation call with me. There'll be the link for a free 45 minute call in the show notes.

And we'll talk about whether one on one or the group is better for you. All right, let's get into it.

With my client Rachel, who has just finished up the Confident Eater program. We just finished our last session today, and I thought it would be so fun to do a little interview for you guys to get to know her story and her transformation.

So Rachel, do you want to introduce yourself?

 Yes, my name is Rachel, as you've heard. I originally met Amber at the gym, believe it or not. I am a personal trainer. So I approached her to do a workout with me. And that's how we met. And then obviously I became a client of hers not soon after that. And that's how I'm here.

 Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny that I was working with Rachel first, and then we switched, swapped spots, and now we're working together. And one thing that I think is really unique about Rachel's story is that She was a personal trainer or still is. And I think this is so important because I know a lot of you get kind of stuck in the shame cycle of I should know how to eat and eating it should be easy.

And I think being a personal trainer, I'm sure you went through some of that yourself and thinking that we should know how to eat all these things, but really, I mean, there's so much to eating and so much to coaching that sometimes needs to happen in order for changes to happen. So do you want to talk about a little bit about your journey and where you were when we first started?

 Yeah, totally. So, it's funny that you say that I actually had a conversation with my college roommate where I said, it's so frustrating that I know exactly what I should be eating, how much I should be eating, when I should be eating it and what I should be exercising or what I should be doing for exercises, but I just can't.

I felt like I would put this plan together where I'd, you know, eat this on this day and this on that day. And I have this whole thing organized. I would meal prep, but, that would last for a couple of weeks. And then I would go to the grocery store. And get a box of cereal and cookies and some milk.

And I had to go to town and feel horrible the next day. And I was just so frustrated with myself because it felt more like a willpower thing. And I was like, I just look so silly compared to all these other people in the exercise profession. Because they are doing what they are preaching and I'm not, and I felt very Like kind of, I was like being a hypocrite almost, but that was me maybe in college was like the height of my binge eating disorder.

I was never officially diagnosed. But I mean, I took a psychology class and I read the DSW so I kind of knew what I was, what's going on. And then I became a personal trainer because I really did love working out. I love teaching people how to exercise. I love that you could feel good about your body in this way.

And then I moved to Colorado from Texas and got a job at the gym that Amber and I go to. My eating then wasn't really on the binging level anymore. It was more overeating. And I was kind of how I was telling Amber that it didn't really feel like a problem to me because it wasn't binging anymore.

I'm like, I'm not binging anymore. It's not that big of a deal, but I kind of told her and actually she told me about the group that we were kind of like the group coaching class. And I was like, Oh, maybe I'll pop in, see what's going on. I used to have this problem in the past. And then I, we sat down for the one-on-one, the kind of like the intro.

She was talking to me about the group and then I was telling her, yeah, I just wish I was, instead of six cookies I could have two or instead of two bowls of cereal, I wish I could just have one. And so it wasn't really a huge deal to me. And then she was like it's a big deal to you because it's a big deal to you. Like, 'cause it makes you feel a certain way. And I was like, oh. Yes, that's true. So it kind of surprised me. I'm like, you know in this 30 minute call, I went from, no, I don't have a problem to maybe I do have something I need to work on.  And I think the experience is really common where people think it's not bad enough. Like, I'm not that bad. I'm not really like full binge eating. And that's something that happened to me is I did deal with some extreme binge eating as I think you did, but. I landed in this like overeating space from like, I know I don't like my relationship with food fully, but I don't feel like it's that bad, but I think people just need to hear sometimes that there is better out there and that you can upload habits.

To really your dreams and how you want to be eating and you don't have to stay stuck in this is good enough. I guess, I guess I'm feeling fine, but yeah, there's, there's always room to grow. And if you have a dream of how you want your eating to look like, you can probably reach it. Right. Yeah.

Coaching a little support, making sure you have someone keep you accountable. to do what you want to do. Exactly. Exactly.  So as you've gone through this program, we've made tons of changes. So what are some positive things that have changed about your eating and life since starting?

 Oh my gosh, some positive things.

There's so many, I think that the biggest thing that I had to realize and what you kind of taught me through this whole program is that not where I was going wrong per se was the thought about food, right? I had this feeling that every time I messed up, I just needed to be stricter.

I'll say, Oh, I just need to reset. And I need to just never have a bowl of cereal ever again. And that's just how it's going to work because I just can't control myself around cereal. And what helps I think in the beginning was Knowing that restriction wasn't the answer and that you were thinking more like I don't know.

It's, it's, it's hard.

 Your brain imagines restriction is going to help, right? It's going to solve it. But what it really does is just get us further and deeper into the cycle. So as we talked about, you know, these thoughts of I want to restrict, but then seeing where it actually leads us and we can see, Oh, no.

When we actually give ourselves permission to eat these foods. And when we slip up and we just get right back to it, that's exactly what's forward. Right.

 Yeah. And I think that the reason almost why it's hard for me to remember it was because six months ago, like we had in our session today is I felt like a different person.

So when I look back and I'm like, Oh, how was I doing back then? It's so different. I can't even comprehend. So I'm like what did I do back then? And I think one of the best tools that you gave me in the beginning was to do the challenge of like having a little bit of food that I thought was like more of a trigger food with every meal.

I was obsessed with Oreos and cereal. And the thought of having that at every meal before my actual food helped me realize. That was just a food. It's very normal. You can have a little bit, then a little bit there. And it's like, at one point during that exercise, I didn't want it anymore.

And then having the thought, wow, I don't want this food that I used to think I can never get enough of. It's totally, it's just mind blowing.

 Right. People, when we start out with doing trigger foods, and if you're watching this and you're hearing, Oh my gosh, I can never imagine eating that food every single day.

I totally get how scary it is, but I do because it works. Because you start to realize these foods aren't going anywhere. All of a sudden that desire to eat all of them all at once, and then never eat them again, it goes away because it becomes more a normal part of your life. And I think about, you know, if you were to eat 10 cookies on a Saturday versus one cookie every day, you'd all be eating less cookies. And that's an improvement. And you're healing with food in that process.

 Yeah. And it's almost comforting knowing, Oh, I'm going to have this again today, or I'm going to have this again tomorrow, or I'm going to have this again. And Even though that might not be the end goal of having this every single day for the rest of your life, it helps that you can.

And then if you can, it's like, the next question is, do I want to write, which is the whole point of this program is, do I want to be eating this all the time? Or do I want to be eating as much of it?

 Yeah, exactly. So tell me we've improved our relationship with food, right? We're feeling awesome. And I love how you said, I don't even remember what I was like before we can accomplish in six months is truly astonishing when we're talking with each other every single week for an hour, some other areas of your life that have improved from healing your relationship with food and going through this process.

 Totally. So I think that And it's crazy to think that whenever I first started this program, the biggest thing was, Oh my God, I'm overeating. Like all I can think about is food. All I can think about it. And it's like, now I'm like, yeah, I'm not overeating anymore. But like the biggest thing that has changed for me outside of food has been Presence in my life.

Cause my big thing when I was eating was, I was either watching TV, I was watching Tik TOK. I was having some sort of distraction while I was eating. And then one of your challenges to me was like, okay how about you just eat and don't have any distraction.

or if you have to have something, read a book and doing that was so hard in the beginning. It kind of made me question, like, am I addicted to TikTok because I could not eat without watching it or eat without watching TV. So it took a good, like two to three weeks for me to actually not do that.

And when I started not watching TikTok or not watching TV. I started realizing that I was doing those things, even when I wasn't eating. And I was like, wow, I have to watch TV when I'm studying or I have to watch TikTok whenever I'm in the car at a stoplight or whenever I'm walking down the hallway or I'm walking my dog in the park.

I'm not being present need this moment. I'm always constantly distracting myself. So then I kind of challenged myself and I deleted TikTok and I made it to where if I was walking my dog, I was, you know, I didn't even have headphones in, like I wouldn't listen to my podcasts, which is a little bit of an extreme, but I kind of really wanted to prove to myself that I could be present in these moments.

And it really helped me. Understand that I wasn't experiencing life a lot. And then like I mentioned to you today, I have a boyfriend and we were watching TV a lot at dinner. And one night I said, how about we eat at the dinner table? Because I think at this point we lived here for six months and we had never ate at the dinner table.

And he was like, yeah, okay, whatever. So we eat at the dinner table and we start talking and I'm like, wow, like. I can't remember the last time I actually had a conversation over a meal with you. And we started having conversations that, I mean, I told Amber this, that we probably wouldn't have had if we were just watching TV and that doesn't mean they were super deep or anything.

And I think I mentioned that like one conversation was like, Oh, where do you want to go on vacation next year? It's just like little things that I feel like my relationship with him is even deepened because of this. So, yeah.

 Yes. That's so awesome. It's so great to see all the other areas that healing our relationship with food and ourself can impact.

 Yeah. Wrapping up, what would you tell someone who is on the fence about doing this program or working with me?

 Oh my gosh, I think that I can't even put into words how life changing it is. Like, I think that I'm so glad that I found you when I'm 23 and that I feel like if I didn't have you, I would have gone through this cycle of just an unhealthy relationship with food for as long as, until I found you.

So I'm just glad that I found you now. And I think that the way that has changed my life, you can't even put a price on it. I mean, like, if I was on the fence, like if I could talk to myself who was on the fence six months ago, I would have been like a hundred percent do it.

I don't care if you have to do Uber eats or give a second job. I was like, you need to do this now and I was telling my boyfriend about it and he was like you know, that's, it's kind of a lot it's a big commitment. Like, are you sure? And I was like, it's my life I'm talking about here.

I'm like I'm gonna hopefully have my life for a while and I want to enjoy and being in control for as long as I can. And I need to start now.

 Yeah. Oh, I love that. Thank you for all the kind words. Yes. When we do coaching, when we do these things, it's an investment in ourselves, but to be free of our overeating and to feel good around food for the rest of our life, whether that's the. 40, 50, 60, 70 years. Truly priceless. And I always go back to when I started my journey and I imagined that same thing that I was like, the sooner I could get help, the sooner I could be free. And I'm young too. I'm 23 as well. And like the fact that. I have the rest of my life without struggling with this food issue that I struggled with for years and took away so much of my life.

I just think it's so worth it.

 And I want to say one more thing before you get off is that because I know in the past I have considered getting help and I've always kind of been like, oh, that's really expensive. I can just do it on my own. I'm like, if it's not expensive, I can probably figure it out.

But then it's not until I said yes to you that I realized how wrong I was. I really needed to where I was failing was not looking in and I was being very harsh on myself and I was being very controlling in the way that like I just needed to fix something whenever it's a lot more than that.

And I can't sum up six months and, you know, one conversation, but it's just so worth it.

 Thank you, Rachel. Yeah, of course. Thank you for coming on today and telling your story. And I am so happy to know you and have been a part of your journey and all of the amazing. Changes you make, and I can't wait in your future.

All of the amazing things Rachel's going to school. She has so much ahead of her and I know it's gonna be so much easier now that you've gotten this taken care of handled way, thanks so much. And I will keep going.

 That sounds good. Thank you. You're welcome. Bye Rachel. Bye.