ABOUT SANDRA: How I Became a Weight Loss Coach

Perhaps the easiest way to explain who I am is to tell you the title of what I imagined my (autobiographical) first book would be: “How to Stop Drinking, Smoking, Telling Lies, Overeating, and Fretting Over Your Kid: A Guide to Growing Up and Living an Authentic Life.” Instead I decided to narrow it down a bit and focus on the overeating aspect -- the book I am writing is called The Reasonable Diet: For-The-I-Know-What-To-Do-I-Just-Don’t-Do-It-Crowd. However, I do believe the principles for change are universal in all areas of life.

I began the weight gain stretch of my journey in about 1992 when I had just quit smoking. The weight gain continued during an exciting but tumultuous time in my life as I was pursuing my dreams of being an artist, writer, and motivational speaker. Promptly after graduating with a degree in art and with a job as a writer for a local weekly newspaper, I began the weight loss journey. I took off 30 pounds fairly easily by combining the structure of the calorie counting type program with the self-help principles I’d used to quit drinking and make positive change in other areas of my life. Shortly after that, I did become a motivational speaker, working for a company who is a leader in the diet industry. Although I enjoyed the job, I found their approach to dieting short-sighted. I felt that they did not encourage or teach members enough about adjusting the diet to fit their lives. This was especially true for keeping weight off.

I started my newsletter, “Changes,” to offer both practical advice and encouragement of the introspection and planning needed for long-term diet success. I developed the same principles of Reassessment that I now use in The Reasonable Diet. But I needed more flexibility to flesh out the ideas and test the principles. It was then that I left “the company” and started my own diet support groups, also called “Changes.”

Through the “Changes” groups, -now called The Reasonable Diet AIM Support Meetings- I have helped hundreds of people and I correspond with more than 2200 clients through my newsletter. I also write a newspaper column called The Reasonable Diet.And have 3000+ subscribers to my podcast.