Nancy’s Success Story

Key to Success

It’s Wednesday and that means another dose of success from all of us here at BRG Dietetics and Nutrition, P.C.! This week Nancy*, a teacher and mother of six (3 boys and 3 girls!) shares her success story with us. Nancy was struggling for years with short term weight loss success. Feeling as if she had tried every diet out there, she was skeptical when she started working with Bonnie that it would simply be the next in a series of approaches.

Nancy was not convinced she would succeed, but she was hopeful. “When Bonnie handed me the food plan I cannot say I had a revelation…I think the initial surprise I had was that after so many years of trying different diets, she encouraged me to eat more carbohydrates than I would have ever eaten in the past. When I first had that piece of rye bread that was nice” she laughs. The more she got to know Bonnie and her methods, the more she realized that it was a lot more focused on long term changes.

Nancy knew she had reached a turning point when her reactions to social eating started to change. She speaks of a history of going to a big event and either being in “diet mode” so she would stay away from all the food and eat very little, or if she was not in “diet mode” she would eat as much as she could because tomorrow she would start being “good” again. “Then I started to have clarity of knowing what to eat. Even when I do have an occasion where I’ll end up eating more than I should or not a ‘first choice’ food, I do not have the feeling of ‘I blew it.’ I move on when I am enjoying something. Nancy stopped feeling deprived and felt “normal”. “There is food on the table and I know what to eat, and then I will put down my fork and knife and be done.” She now has a sense of control about what she chooses to eat and shop for.

The best part is she feels that she will be able to continue this healthy lifestyle. She now cooks differently for everyone at home so her family is benefitting. Her youngest son’s BMI decreased and he is jumping for joy. “It helps that my kids know I am seeing a nutritionist” she states.

Now Nancy does not look at losing weight as a goal that means she can start eating more again. She wants to stay healthy and learn to continue appreciating feeling satisfied and in control. The most important advice Nancy has is that, “most long term, meaningful changes are the ones that happen gradually. I have a constant awareness. There will be times when I won’t always make the right decisions, but essentially who I am becoming is someone who knows the right thing to do.” Nancy reminds us that success is a journey and we can always work on doing things a little better to achieve our larger, long term goals.

Let us know how your journey to a healthy lifestyle is going!

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of Bonnie’s patients.