Get to Know Your Ate Coach -Leena Abed
I’ve gotten asked so many times by clients, “Why did you get into nutrition and habit coaching?” The answer for me and so many other coaches is the same, I got into it because I needed it.
I struggled with my relationship with food, my body, dieting, food freedom, binge eating, and probably more, for years. And the entire time I knew in my heart, none of that struggle was logical, practical, or made sense. The whole time I had a disconnect between the logical side of my brain and the emotional side of my brain. They were on two totally different wavelengths.
“Knowing” what to do and acting on what you’re supposed to do, don’t always go hand in hand. Even when you logically know they should. Having that disconnect is one of the most disorienting, out-of-body experiences in the world. It’s like your hands are being controlled by a puppet master while your brain is still your own but you’re also the puppet master… It’s wild and not fun.
That’s why I decided to study health psychology and nutrition. I was so genuinely desperate to understand the habits of “naturally” healthy people. How did others not overthink food yet maintain their weight with ease? How did others approach healthy weight loss and maintenance through a lens of abundance and not extreme restriction? I had to find out for myself but also for the people I knew I’d inevitably get to help one day. Because somehow in my soul, I did know I’d help others some day.
What I didn’t want was to be bombarded with more of the “food freedom” and anti-diet rhetoric or the “calories in versus calories out” community. I wanted real, science-based evidence on how habits and behaviors shift permanently in people from the inside out, to create lasting change.
I needed to understand the practical balance. And that’s exactly what I did.
Your body is yours to choose what you want to do with it, how you want to treat it, and to some extent, what you want it to look like. So body autonomy was super important to me. Everything needed to be objective and science-based, not rooted in opinion.
At the same time, it needed to be lasting. No more yo-yo-ing and spending 3 months out of the year losing weight rapidly and the next 9 months gaining it back just to repeat the cycle again next year. So even though calories in versus calories out is rooted in evidence, it’s not the whole story and it wasn’t enough for people like me.
After studying health psychology and really understanding why we do what we do, why we think the way we think, and how to shift those things, that’s when I was able to understand that the “Why” is just as important as the “how.”
After a few years of trial and error on myself, I finally started to get a grasp on the practical balance, mindset, taking action, and practical nutrition, in the most fluid, chill, sustainable way. Which was a big deal for me! Especially coming from a large, Palestinian American and Muslim family where food was at the center of every gathering, every single week. Finding my happy weight and maintaining it with ease felt surreal but so right at the same time.
As I started working with more and more clients I realized, I quickly realized while we’re all so similar, we’re all very different. From our schedules to our responsibilities and our family units to our food preferences, a cookie-cutter nutrition program was not the answer for the vast majority of people. So I started 1:1 and small group coaching and never looked back. I want to understand YOU. I want to get to know you, your family, your preferences, what makes you excited, annoyed, all the things. Food is so much more than broccoli or salmon. Whether we want it to be or not, it’s at the center of so many large areas of our lives. By understanding your life, we can work together to build healthy habits and a plan to find your happy weight together.
If you’re ready to ask for help, because you “know” what to do, but haven’t been able to find the path that works for you, book a free consultation call with me to see if 1:1 coaching is for you. It can’t hurt.
With my clients, I focus on shifting habits without restricting or counting calories to achieve sustainable weight loss or weight maintenance. We use practical nutrition so we can live life and feel our best! If you’re ready to dive deep into your habits and feel confident about your choices surrounding food again, book a free consultation with me here!
