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MY STORY
As a child, I developed a tricky relationship with food and myself. I began secretly eating before I started secondary school. This is where my love/hate relationship with food, and the scales, began.
I remember sitting on the bathroom floor at 12 years old, crying because I didn’t want to go to school because I was called “tree trunk legs”. I was desperate to be like the other girls - so why couldn’t I stop eating? Nothing worked despite my mum desperately trying to help me ‘eat healthily’ and get me moving more.
This spiralled into years of dieting, from Atkins to Weight Watchers, to calorie counting to weight loss pills. While I initially lost weight, it was always short-lived, and the scales would go back up, usually higher than I had previously been. By the age of 26, I was a size 24, over 17 stone, and genuinely miserable. I knew something had to change.
So, I lost weight! I lost six and a half stone and have successfully maintained that weight loss. However, that wasn’t the end of my journey - it was just the beginning.
My relationship with food is constantly evolving.
In 2014, I had my little princess, Nancy, and she is my world! My biggest wish is that she never has the battle I have had with food. This makes me a neurotic mum regarding food, and I never encourage her to clear her plate or reward her with sweets if she is good (I can’t stop the grandparents from doing that, though!)
With pregnancy came four stones, and unfortunately, I hated the whole nine months because I was growing and couldn’t change it! So when Nancy was born, I readdressed my eating patterns and enabled myself to realign.
More recently, I realised that although I had maintained my weight since 2005, I was still a little stuck in the dieting mentality of being ‘on/off plan’ and eating very little to justify overeating on weekends. This was a massive shock as I always believed I was a successful weight manager.
Through more self-development work, becoming a Certified and Accredited Health and Life Coach and training in Energy Alignment, I can now honestly say I have all the pieces of the puzzle and have finally found true peace with food.
I am now working on self-love and appreciation. This is a work in progress, and learning to love my wobbles, and saggy skin takes some time!
MY SUPER POWER
Losing weight was life-changing, and I believed that if I could crack my food demons, I could do anything. It was like I had found my superpower!
In 2005 I trained as a weight loss coach and began running groups for those who wanted to make a change. (It was a bit like, "My name is Jenny, and I have a food addiction") Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Transactional Analysis, we worked through a programme to break down beliefs and unhelpful thinking around food.
I believe connecting with like-minded people makes us stronger and makes us realise that we are not alone. Many others lie about how much food they have eaten, hide in the toilet eating or volunteer to take the dishes out so they can eat the cold fish finger off their child's plate!
I am proud to say that I have helped hundreds of people lose and maintain their weight, but most importantly, make friends with themselves. My focus has always been on supporting clients to help them develop a better relationship with food and themselves.
I currently offer Group and 1:1 Coaching for women, and in 2021 I launched The Becoming You Academy™ and a suite of online courses for self-motivated people who wish to work alone.
I truly believe everyone has the power within them to break free from the cycle of yoyo dieting, finally enjoy food and unleash the goddess within!
