Theresa*
Three years ago, Theresa had successfully lost 70 pounds. But life threw her some curve balls, and the stress and anxiety from it stalled her goals. A job relocation to a new city turned out to be a great time to jump back in with her weight loss goals, since the Take Control program was offered by her new employer.
Theresa admitted she had been very hard on herself for stalling after her initial weight loss, and was trying to improve her mindset. She said “I’m extremely self-critical because I have high standards for what I think I should do.” She was very surprised to find out that having a health coach did not involve someone with a whistle who was yelling at her. She also expected there would be a bunch of hoops to jump through. (We think she may have been mixing up Take Control with a circus!) Instead, what she found was encouragement and a coach who said “you can do this!” The monthly check-in, creating a game plan, and email follow-up was really nice. She said, “it was truly just that: coaching.”
Coach Katie was impressed with Theresa’s consistency and perseverance, “Theresa was very driven; even though she had some setbacks she still continued, showing her motivation and perseverance. The program helped her identify tools to stay the course, even during challenging times when most would have thrown in the towel. She dug deep and was committed.” Theresa said “It took me 30 years to gain all the weight, I’m not going to lose it all in a year. I’m okay taking longer and making sure that I can keep it off.” Her coach said “every time she got down on herself, her commitment to her goals led her back on course, and she kept going.”
The aspect that Theresa really appreciated was having someone to talk to who understood. She said “if I was excited about something, I could share it with my coach, which was so much nicer than sharing it with people who didn’t understand.” Theresa appreciated that her coach talked her through the steps she had been taking to improve her health, because it helped her identify what was working and what wasn’t working. She said “she really helped me connect all the pieces – pieces of strategies I had tried in the past but forgot about, I could add them back in to my life and see results again.” Theresa also valued her coach’s perspective and support about success that she couldn’t see herself. Katie helped her realize that given the pandemic and winter weather, times when many people were gaining weight, just maintaining her prior weight loss was a win.
Theresa liked the way that Take Control helped her decide where to place her focus for the best chance of success. She said “it made me think about my goal for the next month, and have a plan rather than just trying to scramble on my own.” She also learned that having a positive mindset was the best way to achieve success. At times when she didn’t have a positive mindset, talking to her coach really helped. She said “once I got in that [positive] frame of mind, there were things I could do to stay there because of the calls with Katie.”
Coach Katie applauds Theresa’s motivation and commitment to her goals. Particularly because she didn’t give up, even during the months when the scale didn’t move. Theresa took control to move forward and once she did that, her momentum was consistent.
*Theresa is a pseudonym for a client who chose to remain anonymous
