WITH HALF your face covered and with crisis in the air, how can you think of makeovers at a time like this? A life coach and makeup artist has the answer.

In an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld, Ning Barcelo Tadena said, In one of my coaching specializations, we learned that our physiology affects our psychology, and our psychology affects our physiology. Simply put, our acting affects our thinking and vice versa. If we dress drab, well probably feel drab about ourselves. If our hair is disheveled when we look at ourselves, well probably feel disheveled, as well. When we enhance the way we look, we inadvertently enhance the way we feel. Its mens sana in corpore sano (the Latin phrase meaning a sound mind in a sound body) in action.

Ms. Tadena offers beauty and lifestyle workshops for free through the Unlock the Diva Community group on Facebook. Ostensibly just lessons on doing your makeup at home, the sessions (which started in August and will go on until October) also offer self-love and self-care affirmations. A release says, The aim is to achieve a body, heart and mindset make-over and the ultimate goal is to spread more LOVE (capitalization theirs) during this time that we need it the most. The third session, for example, covers eyebrows, and the affirmation I am caring! Other sessions would cover eyes, hair, lips, among others with accompanying affirmations such as being enough, being caring, and being grateful.

I feel its also relevant to learn more practical skills in makeup because there are more online meetings done, and masks are not worn there. Women might be buying products that are not suitable for them and they dont know how to use them. My aim is simply to give them practical tips and teach them how to apply [makeup] easily and do it with a healthy heart and mindset, said Ms. Tadena.

An author of two inspirational books (Unlock the Diva A Life Guide to Unlocking Your Purpose and the Diva Prayer Book Prayers for the Modern Woman), Ms. Tadena explained the reasons behind starting the workshops, as well as doing them for free. Before the pandemic, I led a very active lifestyle. I would do back-to-back talks; travel to different places to do workshops, trainings, and book signings. But since I cant do all that face-to-face anymore, I asked myself this question that has guided me since the beginning of the lockdown last year: what can I do, with what I have and where I am now?

From there I have grown in connecting through online events, trainings and talks, she said. Some are paid, some are free the question that guides in answering that is what serves the highest good?. Free talks, according to her, reach and bless more, while paid engagements are for those who would like to commit themselves to growing deeper and learning more.

I am a professional makeup artist and a life coach. My mission for several years now has been to bring out beauty in people from the inside and out.

On that note, Ms. Tadena gave tips on feeling and looking beautiful while wearing a mask. I got that specific question from one of the participants of the Diva Make-Over Challenge regarding masks. So, I told her that it will just be great to bring out her eyes more since her nose and her mouth are covered no need for lipstick and foundation.

To join the sessions, enter the Unlock the Diva Community Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/unlockthedivacommunity/. Registration is free. JL Garcia

Original post:
Life coach offers online makeovers for the face and the soul - BusinessWorld Online

Are you the type of person that finds joy in helping others achieve the best version of themselves? Perhaps one of the best ideas you can consider is starting your own business and learning how to become a life coach. Over the past few years, this profession is gaining quite a following. If you scroll through social media sites, you've most probably encountered a post that's promoting life coach services.

But even if your previous profession only focuses on a singular theme, there will most definitely be a possibility that you will also touch on other aspects that make up your life. For example, even if you were an employee before, you can still talk about the value of good leadership in maintaining a happy employee. Thus, the topics you may discuss in a life coaching session are endless.

When you get a life coach certification, you are bound by specific rules and ethical guidelines. For example, once you become a certified life coach, you will need to have annual training to keep your practice up to date.

In life coach training, you will learn some of the most fundamental skills any life coach could possibly need. You will be taught how to listen actively and create an environment that will build trust between you and your clients. Plus, you will be taught how to set up your own life coach business, including the profession's ethical demands.

Becoming a life coach may not be as easy as it may seem. It will demand a lot of hard work and considerable investment. A life coach certification can cost you around $ 5000 or more.

Once you've decided on the type of your business as an entity, you need to prepare for the cost of your business. Costing can include setting up your business, life coach certification, renting the space you plan to use, insurance, and many other possible costs you may incur in your business venture.

After deciding and planning for your business, you need an effective marketing strategy. No matter how amazing you are in your specialization, it wouldn't matter if no one knows about your practice. Word of mouth can only go so far. One of the most effective marketing strategies is to allow customers to experience what you have to offer. You can provide a mini free session or even a discounted session. If someone is referred by another client, you can give them a discount as well. Above all that strategies, you can also consider building an online presence.

Aside from what has been mentioned, there are still other things you need to consider to establish an effective life coaching business. Although one thing is certain, once you've decided on your niche, you're already off to a great start.

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Tips to Succeed as a Life Coach - SWAAY

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High Infidelity

Season 6 Episode 9

Editors Rating 3 stars ***

Photo: Bravo

So far this season, we have been introduced to a gentle reboot of Candiaces reality TV persona. While her mouth and her confessionals are still as sharp as ever, her edges have been a bit softer: Shes a stepmom, a grad student, and budding girlboss entertainer in the making. Sisters are doin it for themselves, as the song goes, one four-count and pilot episode at a time. Alas, just like DCs The Suicide Squad, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Namely, Candiace is still the cantankerous, quick-to-the-draw, impulsive loudmouth we were introduced to, and no one triggers her less desirable qualities more than her husband and Ashley.

Candiace cannot seem to figure out what role she wants her husband to play in her life. Is he her partner, her manager, or her errand boy? Shes triggered by Gizelle mentioning the obvious that it can seem like Chris is riding her coattails but to be fair, its a logical conclusion to make of a husband who spends half his time on the links and the other half doing Instagram cooking classes. In a lot of ways, it does seem like she has transferred her dynamic with her mother into the one she has with Chris: She expects him to show up on her terms, as she is the one controlling the purse strings in the relationship. This power structure does not bode well for their managerial relationship, which she apparently seems to believe entails being onsite at every single moment that she has an activity or obligation (as someone who has had to coordinate with talent management for various projects, I can assure you that that is not the case). Personally, I think they should cut their losses while they still can; Candiace can help him with the down payment on a food truck that he can have in DuPont Circle in D.C., where professionals and Bravo fans delusional enough to think Candiace might make the occasional appearance will eagerly pay 15 dollars for a grilled-cheese sandwich. A double-income household and happy marriage seems like a worthwhile investment to avoid them cursing each other out in the parking lot of a wing spot.

Ashley inexplicably agitates something deep in Candiace that at times is warranted, but frequently ends up being an overreaction to her behavior. My working suspicion is that they have more in common than not, and it unsettles her: They both came out of the pageant circuit, both met their white partners while working together, both have a tendency to run their mouth and regret it later, and while were at it they both have generous foreheads. So for the life of me, I dont grasp why Candiace thinks that she has enough country to throw that jab. I mean, hers may not be quite as expansive as the real estate possessed by me or my fellow East African princess Askale, but if someone wanted to rent ad space, theyd have plenty of room. She has made the executive decision that Ashley was gleefully carrying that bone for Gizelle, and regardless of whether or not you agree with her (I personally dont), her reasoning for it was illogical: She didnt like the tone with which Ashley said thats not how that was supposed to go? Why is this irritation not extended to Gizelle, who additionally inserted herself into her marriage? That question is rhetorical because the answer is obviously that she doesnt want to threaten her position within the delicately constructed hierarchy of the Potomac crew, lest she be banished to the hinterlands with Karen Huger. Instead, we get a flurry of over-the-line insults targeted at Ashley during Robyns birthday party, commenting on her wide body and breast milk, as if Ashleys postpartum figure is still not more petite than 80 percent of the adult world. I appreciate a witty barb, but to call a nursing woman a filthy milkmaid just because you dislike her is unacceptable. There are some lines that are just not worth crossing; Im sure she wouldnt appreciate it if people called her a sentient Bratz doll, for example.

Notably absent from Robyns party are Wendy and Karen, who, to their credit, arent surprised or hurt to be excluded from the event. Wendy and Eddie debriefed on camera on their feelings about the events that took place in Williamsburg, and as I mentioned last week, they had already revealed last season their trials and tribulations with Eddies family to the group, which makes Gizelles choice to discuss the rumors about her fellow soror on camera all the more hurtful to the couple. It should also be noted that Gizelle has recently revealed that she had also discussed this with Wendy before filming, which means that both Robyn and Gizelle had private conversations to address the gossip as friends, and then chose to bring it up on camera for the sake of a plotline. Aside from this drama, we have Gizelle bringing her daughter back and forth to her learners permit test and Robyn living in a Judd Apatow film, so they needed to deliver something else. As Eddie astutely pointed out, you have to be hurt to project hurt onto someone. I appreciate how confident they are in their union, but I also hope it doesnt come back to bite Wendy in the ass. While Gizelle may continuously place everyones worth in the quality of a man they can attract, I dont think Wendy should, nor do I think that she should set herself up so that it would be a failure if Eddie did indeed end up straying; and while I understand some people finding her reaction a bit excessive, this is the same reality-TV universe where someone once pulled off their leg and put it on a restaurant table to make a point, so I think we can all agree that histrionics are par for the course here.

Speaking of hurt people hurting people, Gizelle and Robyn take the opportunity to advertise their podcast, which they have been recording in Gizelles lauded West Wing,malfunctioning sliding door and all. The episode, of course, is about infidelity, and the women chat about their experiences with monogamy and the lack thereof in their respective partnerships. Let me just say this upfront: Not everyone needs to have a podcast. Personally, I like my podcasts to be highly produced and edited, and if theyre going to be that barbershop style that the green-eyed duo is going for, you need a particular level of dynamism which translates into audio that I dont think they possess. Regardless, Robyn talks about what she will and wont accept in relationships now, which I find hard to believe since she has pretty much been with Juan in different states of coupling and uncoupling since high school. Gizelle reads off the statistic that 22 percent of men have cheated on their significant other and that if someone has cheated before, there is a 350 percent chance that they will cheat again. Now, as someone who majored in economics and studied/suffered through statistics, I feel obligated to lend my skillset to the ongoing study of the Reality TV Arts & Sciences and point out that these numbers dont make sense. I put my loans to use and did some digging, and it seems to have come from this nondescript blog which points to a Psychology Today article that seems to report that first-time cheaters cheat the second time around 3.5 times more frequently than those who didnt in their first relationships, which is a bit different than a 350 percent chance. Regardless, Gizelle quips that she wishes she could have known this two years ago, and that is the closest that she has come to admitting that Monique was telling that truth on the reunion stage, which we already knew since she hasnt lost any sort of defamation suit yet.

Next week, we see Karen fulfilling her Ambassador duties, Candiaces marital tension starts to escalate, and Gizelle begins to open up on the face crack heard around the world during last seasons reunion. See you then!

It is very cute that much ado is being made of Karen Hugers vow renewal although for all our sakes, please dont make Ray walk down those stairs before he ends up on the wrong side of a Life Alert commercial but the exterior looks like Williamsburg in 1997: abandoned warehouses as far as the eye can see. I hope they figure out how to give that faade some sort of a face lift or the girls that are forced to come and film for the show will be clowning the Grand Dame the entire ceremony.

I found it interesting that Candiace called her marriage an Ebony & Ivory love story when she had previously and notoriously called Ashley a bed wench. No additional comment there, just an observation.

Askale made a perfunctory cameo as Robyns friend at her birthday dinner. I want so much more for her, since the Ethiopian community in D.C. is quite large with a rich culture. Give us a coffee trip, something!

Michael, a troll who abandoned his appointed post at the bridge, has decided to mansplain the entire postpartum process during a visit to a holistic nurse. As if that wasnt unbearable enough, his doting husband compliment of the week was that Ashley didnt look overweight and that he was still attracted to her. Is this what awaits me in marriage? Because if so, I think Im just going to go ahead and get a cat.

Mia has been an erratic presence on the show thus far, but her exploring her journey with her mom was genuinely touching. As someone who has also experienced a lot of childhood trauma, I know personally how hard it can be to work through that with your parents, regardless of whether a camera is there. It also helps me understand her a bit more. I think a lot of her chaos is an intentional persona she creates, not just for TV, but to keep people at a distance because too many of the people closest to her have caused her the most harm. That said, I hope she finds the right balance, both for her emotional health but also to ensure that her presence on the show doesnt become too much of a strain.

Robyn starts to seek the counsel of a life coach. Normally I am against life coaches, but this one seems quite sensible, explaining to her that coaching is for people who are emotionally and psychologically healthy and want to make changes to move forward in their lives. The problem is that Robyn seems to think that applies to her. I guess if she was self-aware, she wouldnt be seeking out a life coach in the first place.

Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!

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The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Milkmaids Tale - Vulture

In the middle of training to become a therapist and with a bachelors degree in psychology under her belt already, Salinas-raised Diana Beltran began a train of thought that eventually evolved into a business. I knew I wanted to help as many people as possible, she says. And then one sleepless night, she got up and wrote her business idea down. So began a new direction with the creation of a life coaching business.

Her Inner Chats program is done in a group setting and is pitched as an emotional support wellness group, in which Beltran leads conversations and other therapeutic exercises. The goal is to help participants to become more self-aware. That could mean more self-aware of their communication skills, their feelings, needs or personal goals.

Inner Chats is available for all ages and group settings, including schools. Beltran has a few contracts in process, and has already brought the program to Monterey County Juvenile Hall. You can see the difference. Maybe day one, someone isnt talking. Maybe even on day two. But they eventually begin to learn to express themselves, she says.

Beltran walked theWeeklythrough the finer points of talking about feelings, while everyone else is watching.

Weekly:When you think about traditional therapy, what do you think of?

Beltran: A lot of it is one-to-one and its very important. A therapist is there to help with mental health issues. Many people need one. And its great when people know they need to talk to one. But it is difficult to bring that one-to-one everywhere.

I struggled a lot with depression and therapy. I didnt know about one-to-one counseling, I just thought, Im crazy. People can be in such a dark place, with no support. Even me, I didnt know where to look.

Why is therapy so hard to access?

A lot of people think they can see mental health. But, like with me, you couldnt tell I had depression or anxiety. I didnt even know I was depressed or anxious. People are just waiting for you to look sad. That doesnt work.

It can be very difficult to find help or ask for it. I was scared to reach out. I wasnt sure what it looked like, or sometimes help can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. My family didnt know either theyd look at me and think I just needed to get rest or sleep.

What are the benefits of talking about your feelings in a group setting? It can look pretty intimidating.

Being in a group setting encourages people to talk and be themselves with some boundaries. Using your voice to talk about yourself to others is a benefit thats not often practiced. Talking doesnt always have to be structured. Like, Tell me how you feel if you want and if you can. I dont want to make people feel that they are pressured to have to say anything. If you compare the first day [of Inner Chats] to the third day, you see people have the comfort they may not have in their own lives.

Dont get me wrong, I think therapy is great and all the resources out there are helpful. But what about those things people cant change? Like what if youre in a job that doesnt pay you enough to support yourself? Therapy cant make your boss pay you more.

Is there a limit to self-help, self-care and therapy?

You are what you limit yourself to. You can reach out for help, but at some point you have to say,enough. Therapy, self-help theyre tools to make you better. The goal is to improve the person that you are.

What do you do to take your mind off of your work?

I love audiobooks. I was never much of a reader until I got into audiobooks. And exploring the outdoors is my escape. Hiking, biking, and Im trying boogie boarding right now.

What audiobook are you listening to right now?

I am listening to two books:Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarterby Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent. Its very real, very raw. I believe everyone can create something in some way.

AndThe Happiness Advantageby Shawn Achor it focuses on what isaboveaverage and the book asks, why are we so focused on average, what does it take to be above average?

Are you at an above-average level of happiness?

I am working on being there, and I think maybe Im there but I was not always.

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A life coach talks about her journey as an entrepreneur, and the benefits of talking it out. - Monterey County Weekly

Approach, perspective topics of workshop

Writers looking to change their approach to writing will find the upcoming Writers Night right up their alley.

Making the Familiar Strange: Uncovering New Perspectives Through Writing is the title for Carrie Schaeffers presentation at the Writers Night at 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Art Center, 1803 N. Seventh St.

Schaeffer is a freelance writer, owns Apostrophe Life Coaching and co-owns Hoptocopter Films.

Poets from across U.S. set to compete in Slamming Bricks

The third annual Slamming Bricks: A Poetry Riot will go from 6:308:30 p.m. Saturday at Charlie Dwellingtons, 103 N. First St.

There will be eight poets from across the United States competing at Slamming Bricks.

The competition will be centered on the themes of liberation and resistance in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots that launched the Gay Liberation movement, according to a news release from the Western Colorado Writers Forum, which hosts the slam.

Admission is free. This event is for individuals age 21 and older.

Continue reading here:
Book Notes: Sept. 511 | | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

There are thousands of professionals all across the world who call themselves "leaders."

In reality, the vast majority are leaders in title alone. While they have direct reports and authority over others because of seniority or prior performance, they aren't actually leading; they're managing.

One of the ways a leader separates themselves from being a manager is by coaching their people. A coach, by definition, is one who trains and instructs. I define it inCoaching for Excellenceas,"Coaching is improving the current and future performance of others to achieve higher levels of excellence."

Leaders who coach others effectively have never been more critical than they are today because behind every excellent professional is an excellent leader who acted as a coach and refused to settle for anything other than their best.

Behind every excellent professional is an excellent leader who acted as a coach and refused to settle for anything less than their best.

As easy as this is to write, the application of it is complex. John Wooden said it well, "a coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment." Managers have countless opportunities, from performance reviews to one-on-one, to daily interactions, to give correction without causing resentment. However, this is precisely where most managers make a significant mistake.

Mistakes are a part of life, coaching others included. The key to any mistake is not making it habitually without correcting it in the future. Like virtually everything in life, there are always exceptions. Still, for the sake of this column, the worst mistake a leader can make when coaching others is:

Perhaps one could make worse mistakes, like not coaching at all or demeaning someone to make them feel inadequate intentionally. Clearly, don't do that. Most people can get behind not making these egregious mistakes when coaching. However, consistently telling the people you are coaching how to solve an issue or challenge is not only easy to do; it's hard not to do.

The reason so many managers give advice and answers so quickly is typically one of two reasons:

When you are in a hurry and or you know the answer to a question, it's far easier and more efficient to give the answer and move on. Micromanagers take this a step further. Not only do they tell their team members the answer, but they do it for them because no one can complete a task as well as they can.

Micromanagers not only answer every question, but no one can complete a task as well as they can.

Delivering the answer to a question is quick and effective. However, it rarely does anything to encourage a person's development.

Great leaders identify where team members are currently in their development and align their coaching appropriately. The goal is simple: help your people reach a stage of development that exceeds where they are today.

The goal of coaching is simple: help people reach a stage of development that exceeds where they are today.

While there are different tactics, tools, and strategies you should engage in at each team member's stage of development, there is one coaching tactic that is somewhat effective at all levels. It's centered around asking great questions. This allows you to pull the information out of your people instead of the other way around.

Michael Bungay Stanier, the author of The Coaching Habit, explained this well. He told me, "Leaders should stay curious a little bit longer and rush to advice-giving a little bit slower." By taking this approach, you force team members out of their comfort zone and encourage them to be more self-reflective.

Use open-ended questions, free of judgment. Here are some of my favorite examples to add to your arsenal:

Regardless if you are guilty of consistently telling others how to fix or solve the issues or challenges in front of them or not. It's never a bad time to be reminded to ensure you don't make the mistake in the future. As a mentor of mine taught me, "people need to be reminded more than they need to be taught."

How do you do to be an effective coach to others? Tell me in the comments.

Original post:
The Worst Mistake Leaders Make When Coaching Their People - BBN Times

Despite the immense disappointment that last season brought the LSU football program, one thing that remained is the talent on the defensive line.

The biggest focus for LSU football this off season was fixing the defense. At all levels the defense was an utter disaster in 2020 despite there being plenty of talent in the defensive unit. One group where that talent was most evident was the defensive line.

Going all the way back to start of the 21st century, LSU has always been known for its hard-nosed style of play and talent in the trenches, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Players like Marcus Spears, Glen Dorsey, Sam Montgomery and Arden Key, just to name a few, have shaped LSUs identity over the past 20 years. With the dominance on the defensive line having slightly declined over the past couple of years, this off season and fall camp has given every indication that the Tigers will be back to having a dominant defensive front.

After possibly the worst season from a linebacking core in program history, LSU football has

LSU returned all five starters from its defensive line in 2020, which created one of the most experienced defensive lines in the SEC. Andre Anthony and Glen Logan return as leaders of the unit both entering their sixth year with the program and are expected to make the biggest impact. Neil Farrell Jr. is another veteran returning the defensive line for his fifth season. He ended the 2020 season in great form, posting seven tackles and a sack in the final game of the year. Other talented returners include Ali Gaye and BJ Ojulari, who are arguably the two most talented linemen on the roster and each have high expectations going into their second seasons with the program.

Head Coach Ed Orgeron considers the defensive line to be the deepest position on the roster and is not afraid to rotate within the group.

On the defensive line were going to go ten deep, Orgeron said when discussing remaining position battles.

When people think of an LSU offense historically, they think of great running backs like Cha

This speaks volumes to just how deep this unit has become over the off season. Having ten players who can all step in at any given time gives you two separate units that can be on the field, allowing far more flexibility in the scheme and blitz packages.

Arguably the biggest change to this group during the off season was the arrival of new defensive line coach Andre Carter. Carter comes to LSU after having spent the last two years as defensive line coach for the New York Jets. Carter also brings 13 years of NFL playing experience after having a successful career with five different teams. Carters success as a player makes him a respectable figure as a coach and his arrival has taken some of the pressure off Orgeron, who specializes in coaching the defensive line.

I'll tell you what, Andre Carter is one great defensive line coach, I've turned over the defensive line to him, Orgeron said. I'm still looking at all the film with the defense, but I'm able to also be the head coach because of the coaching of Andre.

Bringing in a coach like Carter will also help the Tigers on the recruiting trail when it comes to bringing in more talented linemen. LSU already brought in a very talented freshman class of defensive linemen; having a coach with the reputation of Carter will only benefit LSU on that front. Maason Smith and Savion Jones are the two most talked about of LSUs freshmen linemen, with Smith signing as a five-star recruit as the No. 1 overall player in Louisiana. Both Jones and Smith are expected to make an immediate impact and will only add more strength for the Tigers up front.

After a season of massive disappointment on the defensive side of the ball, Tiger fans can expect some the classic dominance from the defensive front in 2021. A deep defensive line unit along with plenty of experience is a recipe for success, which will create one of LSU's most talented position groups this upcoming season.

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Why LSU's defensive line will bring new life to the defense in 2021 - The Reveille, LSU's student newspaper

FOR TWO WEEKS last summer, Justin Foster puttered around his Clemson apartment, working out as best he could, waiting for the 14 days of his COVID-19 quarantine to pass. He was one of more than 40 Clemson football players to test positive, and, like most of them, his symptoms were barely noticeable.

The 14 days passed, and he headed back to the field, officially recovered.

Something wasn't right. From the first workout, he struggled for breath while he ran, and after practices he collapsed in bed. No amount of sleep was enough.

"Even when you feel your best day, you're still so tired," he says. "You can't really keep up. You can't do anything."

As it became harder to function, doubt seeped in. Maybe something was happening to him, or maybe it was something else. Despite a lifetime of evidence to the contrary, "it was almost to the point where I just felt lazy," he says.

What Foster did not know, and would not know for months, was that he was a part of the COVID-19 population that was only beginning to reveal itself. He was a long-hauler, someone whose symptoms persevere for more than four weeks after the initial infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2 Related

Beyond the fatigue, long-haulers have reported an odd collection of symptoms -- headaches, sore joints, shortness of breath, itchy skin, sore teeth, strange rashes, muscle spasms, mental fog -- but for many people, there is another side effect that's harder to deal with: You feel like you're losing your mind.

You feel like you're supposed to will your way out of it, show some gumption or get-up-and-go, and your body just ... won't. And like Foster, you start to think you're just lazy, and you worry that people don't believe you. Because often you don't believe yourself.

I didn't. I caught COVID-19 in March 2020, and by June I couldn't understand why I couldn't get myself together. I haven't felt like myself for a single day since.

He's a 22-year-old athlete from North Carolina who had aspirations for the NFL. I'm a 52-year-old journalist who lives in New Jersey and likes to run.

From our first conversation, we connected about what it was like to suddenly no longer be yourself, and the constant self-doubt that came with it. If we can't do the things we used to do, then who are we?

You spend your life running into limits and defining yourself by how you react to them. Then long-haul COVID hits you with limits that you don't know how to deal with, or didn't expect to deal with for years. And no one can tell you whether it will be one more week of this or the rest of your life.

JUSTIN FOSTER IS a "yes, ma'am/yes, sir" sort of Southern kid who grew up in Shelby, North Carolina, a town of about 20,000 just west of Charlotte.

He was quiet, he says, like his parents. He's still pretty quiet. He wasn't a natural athlete, and he wasn't one of those kids driven to play sports.

"Most of the time I was forced to play, just because I was larger than everyone else. I was very clumsy, not coordinated at all," he says. "I was pretty good at football, just because they'd just tell me to tackle the person with the ball."

In high school he was a linebacker, gaining national attention as a junior when he had 67 tackles during Crest High School's perfect 2015 season. (He had 10 tackles in the state championship.) One day his coach, Mark Barnes, handed him a phone and said someone wanted to speak to him. It was Dabo Swinney, who offered him a scholarship.

Only one member of Foster's immediate family had gone to college, he says, and it hadn't occurred to him that football could make him the second. He had been thinking about trade school or the military, some arena where he could use his skill to take any machine, figure out what was wrong with it and then put it back together.

"Everyone else looked at me as a ballplayer, but for me personally it really hadn't set in that that was my identity and that's what I really wanted to do," he says.

Clemson moved him to defensive end, and for his first three seasons, Foster was mostly a role player on a stacked team, showing ability as a pass rusher. The possibility of the NFL was becoming real, though. In 2019 he was honorable mention All-ACC and made the All-ACC Academic Team. (In December 2020, he graduated with a degree in construction sciences with a 3.24 GPA.)

His teammates describe the two sides of Foster they've come to know. There's "Mater," named for the rusty tow truck in the animated movie "Cars." "Mater" Foster fixes their vehicles and changes flat tires and is, in their words, an easygoing country boy.

Then there's the Foster who takes his place on the edge of the defensive line.

"He's a straight power rusher," teammate Myles Murphy says. "Loves to go through the tackle, go through people. Very aggressive player. We like that on the edge."

Before the 2020 season, a number of scouting websites said Foster was a credible "Day 3" NFL draft pick, meaning somewhere between the fourth and seventh rounds. A solid season could push him up the list.

On June 25, 2020, Foster was at his home in Clemson when the text came from the team training staff saying he had tested positive for COVID-19. All he felt at the time was a runny nose that he assumed was allergies.

When he returned to practice two weeks later, the struggle began. He'd had asthma his whole life but felt like it was always under control -- he rarely used an inhaler. Now, he was short of breath all day long. And he felt like he had to do something that went against every part of his personality: ask for help.

"There's some guys that maybe have a little something that's wrong with them and they drag it out for a period of time," says Danny Poole, the team's director of sports medicine, and an athletic trainer for 40 years. "With Justin, he's one of those guys that if he comes and tells you there's something going on, you better believe it."

EVERY DISCUSSION OF long-haul COVID has to start with the caveat that no one fully understands it. Almost two years into the pandemic, experts still have multiple theories about what long-haul COVID is and how to define it.

When Foster and I realized more than a year ago we weren't recovering, there was no consensus that there even was such a thing as long-haul COVID. Some doctors thought their patients were still sick with the disease but that the virus was somehow avoiding detection; some doctors thought patients were suffering from PTSD.

Researchers from the University of Washington estimate that roughly 30% of people infected with COVID-19 develop long-haul syndrome. The severity and symptoms range wildly. Some people feel a little off, while others are unable to get out of bed for days at a time.

What experts have come to believe is that for some unknown reason, long-haulers' immune systems act as though they're still under attack from the virus. Physical or emotional stress, even good stress, disturbs the entire system like a hornet's nest. Doctors want their patients moving so they don't become completely sedentary. But if you have the driven personality of, say, a college football player, accustomed to ignoring pain and fatigue, that drive can make the symptoms worse.

How it all happens and how to treat it, however, are still the subject of widespread debate.

"We all would agree that something is wrong with the immune system," says Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease physician and researcher at Columbia University. "To this day I still don't think we've gotten to why the immune system hasn't reset itself."

When I was infected, I was never hospitalized, never had problems breathing or with my heart. I was sick for three weeks, the worst of it a four-day period when I slept about 18 hours a day. A couple of weeks after I had been sick, I assumed that as soon as I could get my running legs back, I'd feel like myself. On my first run, I felt out of shape, but no more than that. Then, about 36 hours later, my lungs began to ache as though I had been breathing smoke. I was exhausted. I spent the better part of the next couple of days in bed, wondering why I was so tired, wondering if I had grown too comfortable being in bed all day. I began a pattern of recovering, trying to run, then having the same delayed reaction that shut me down all over again. I tried going for walks, but the result was the same.

A friend who survived the virus after 35 days on a ventilator had returned to his pre-COVID strength, but I hadn't. It made no sense. I just need to get back into shape, I repeated. I need to push through it. And that's one of the first things that sets in with long-haul, the question of whether you're imagining everything, or if, mentally, you're too weak to cope.

CLEMSON PLAYERS WHO had COVID-19 followed a series of steps before they returned to full workouts. They started with light jogging, then sprinting, then practicing in a green jersey, which signified no contact, always checking in with the trainer at the end of the day.

The main concern, Poole says, was making sure players hadn't contracted myocarditis, a rare but potentially fatal heart inflammation that doctors at the time were concerned was linked to COVID-19. Usually, players were back to full speed a month after being infected. Of the players who were infected, all reported complete recoveries. Except for Foster.

Teammates noticed that Foster was raising his hand during drills, asking coaches to rotate him out so he could catch his breath. They hadn't seen that before.

"If he takes the time to step out, that means something serious," teammate K.J. Henry says. "He has a great grasp on the difference between pain and injury."

Foster says the harder he drove himself, the worse it got.

"I didn't want to be the one that wasn't working out or the one that's always having a problem and having to go to the training room and deal with it," he says. "It was just a lot mentally, pretty much just being down all the time. And I didn't know what was going to happen."

Foster and Swinney shared a shorthand to monitor how he felt. Swinney would wave his thumb in three positions -- up, sideways, down -- and Foster would respond with his own thumb to reflect where he was. Too often it was sideways or down.

After a couple of weeks, he wasn't able to practice at all. Day after day, when his teammates came into the training room to get taped up or treated, they saw Foster sitting in the corner with a nebulizer strapped to his face.

"I just remember him coming to me and he just was kind of was broken down. He said, 'Coach, I can't do it,'" Swinney says. "As an athlete and especially as a football player, we're kind of all wired to go and [be] like, 'Hey, snap out of it.' But this was something you couldn't see. It's not like you got a torn ACL, or you got a broken bone or something like that."

Foster says he worried his teammates thought he was lazy. No, they say. Quite the opposite. The fact that it was Foster who was struggling unnerved them. "No one thought he was lazy at all. We knew that he does what he needs to do every day to prepare," Murphy says.

"The entire team had no idea what was happening: 'Am I going to be next? Why did he react like that to COVID? And if I get COVID, am I going to react the same way?'"

Foster got to the point at which walking up the stairs in the football facility was too much. "It was just a very dark place for a long time," Foster says.

One night during the summer of 2020, Foster went to lie down a little after 11 p.m., when he felt an asthma attack coming on. He did what he usually does during an episode and took a puff from his inhaler. It didn't work.

He didn't want to call 911 and go to an emergency room in the middle of a pandemic, so he called Poole, the trainer.

Poole says he was struck by the fear in Foster's voice and told him to get to the team facility. Poole and the team physician put Foster on a nebulizer and talked him through breathing drills until, finally, a few hours later, the attack subsided.

In the weeks that followed, the training staff took Foster to several local doctors, each of whom came to the same conclusion, that there was no medical problem they could identify.

"It's like, am I crazy?" Foster says. "Is something going on with me mentally that I just can't push through this?"

IT WASN'T JUST his body. Foster took summer classes, and when he sat at a computer or tried to read a book, his mind couldn't grasp what was in front of him. This from someone who was an All-ACC Academic Team selection.

"There was a time where I was probably three weeks behind in class. I'm never a person not to do my work," he says.

The mental fog can be more destabilizing for some people than the physical symptoms. You don't recognize yourself, but you look normal to everyone else. I had plenty of evenings with friends or family when I could rally for a few hours, but I knew I'd be wiped out for the next two days. In my lower moments, it became too difficult to read because simple words didn't make sense. When I wrote, I might forget what I was writing in the middle of a sentence.

Over and over, I went through the process of researching something for an article, writing that portion, polishing it and then discovering that I had already done all that hours earlier. I had no memory of writing the same material. I learned to use outlines and checklists to do what I'd relied on my mind to do for 30 years. I had to lean heavily on colleagues to make sure that my work was clean.

In conversation, I frequently lost thoughts in mid-sentence, and then worried people thought I was being melodramatic. There were times watching TV when my mind couldn't keep up with the dialogue and I had to hit pause. Twice I got lost driving near my home and had to use Waze to get back.

And many nights I hit that wall and had to leave the dinner table as my family watched knowingly, not saying anything because they knew I didn't want the attention. I'd be in bed the rest of the night.

Most of the time I felt like I was possessed by someone dumber and more irritable. The cuts to my sense of self were relentless, with the wild, vivid dreams I had every morning, my inability to smell or taste, the strange things I found myself saying, the words I couldn't come up with, the loss of desire for longtime passions, the difficulty of small talk. Experiencing the minutiae of the day and thinking, "This just isn't me," over and over for months.

When I shared that with Foster he nodded and said, "Exactly."

My low point might have come after a weekend in November visiting my daughter in Washington, D.C., the most active two days I'd had in months. When I got home that Monday night, I saw a story from my colleague Jeff Passan about Tony La Russa's DUI. Something was vaguely familiar about it, and it hit me that Jeff and I had spoken three days earlier. I called him and was blunt. "I need to know, did I f--- something up? Was there something you asked me to do?"

"Actually," he said, "there was."

It turned out to be inconsequential, and Jeff couldn't have been better about it, but I had no memory of the conversation. It was like being told about a drunken blackout. And then the thought hit me that I had no way of knowing how many times this had happened over the previous eight months.

I felt like a writer who couldn't write, a reader who couldn't read, a runner who couldn't go for a walk, a father and husband who disappeared into his own head every night. Lesser in every way I could measure. I kept repeating to myself, "Useless."

THE FIRST TIME Foster heard the term "long haul" was in August 2020, from head trainer Poole. Foster then went to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where, finally, a doctor said his issues were indeed probably related to his COVID-19 infection, and they were real. No one could explain why his asthma attacks had become so intense, and no one could say when or if he would get better. But just hearing about "long haul" was a massive relief.

"Someone telling me that I'm not crazy and that there's actually something going on, that was the first time that I realized that I could relax," he says. "I knew that there was actually something going on that was causing me to be like this."

For the first two months after I'd been sick, convinced I had fallen into some rut of laziness that I couldn't break out of, I wondered if I'd even had COVID at all. In those early pandemic days in North Jersey, you couldn't get a test unless you needed to be hospitalized. I might be imagining this whole thing, I thought.

Ultimately, I took my sons with me to get antibody tests, and even as the nurse drew blood from my arm, I felt like I was on a path to being exposed as a fraud. A few days later the call came and someone read me results. Michael Quinn ... negative. Liam Quinn ... negative. Thomas Quinn ...

As I waited to hear my result my heart was pounding so violently my shirt was moving. "Positive," she said.

The wave of relief that went through me felt like anesthesia. I teared up. I wasn't crazy. I had no idea what would happen, but for the moment it was enough to know it was all real. She sent me a copy of the test result, and I pinned it to the wall next to my desk.

AS THE 2020 football season began, knowing he was fighting an illness and not his own mind, Foster still had hopes of rallying. But week by week, nothing changed, and his nights became lessons in terror.

"There were multiple nights where I would lay down and I would be choking in my sleep. And I would wake up in the middle of the night and I could barely breathe," he says. "That's when I was at my lowest point because I just didn't know what was going to happen. ... If I was going to go to sleep one day and not wake up."

Midway through the season, Foster and Swinney agreed that he needed to focus on his health. There was always next year. Foster went to practices and home games but didn't dress, speaking up when the defensive line gathered, maybe sharing a certain move that would work against an offensive tackle.

"At practice, even in games, he'd be right there, pretty much just coaching us up," Murphy says.

And when the defense was on the field, Foster found a spot on the sideline where he was unlikely to encounter players tumbling out of bounds. "I knew if something did happen I couldn't run fast enough to get out of the way, and I didn't want to cause a scene," he says.

But he says it was killing him not to participate or know whether he might play again. The idea began to sink in that he had to walk away from football altogether, just to be able to move on mentally and emotionally to the next part of his life. To become whatever he was going to be after football. There was always going to be an end to his career; maybe this was it.

He says he made the decision in December but didn't make it official for two months. "I couldn't really bring myself to do it, just because of all the work I'd put in," he says.

On Feb. 24 this year, Foster went to the Clemson football facility and sat outside Swinney's office for 90 minutes until the coach was free. Foster told him he needed to step away from football. Swinney said he understood and told Foster he would have a place on the team if he wanted to come back.

Foster told the rest of the world that day on social media.

"Today is a difficult day for me, but it is also a day of reflection and gratitude," he wrote. "With sadness but no regret, I have decided it is in my best interest to call it a career and hang up football."

A week later, Foster told me about the frustration he felt.

"The question I would ask when I went to the doctor is, 'You guys say you don't see anything; you guys say that things are getting better. I don't feel better. So is this a new life for me? Is this my life now?' And if it is, just tell me that. And I will be fine what that, and I'll just have to deal with it.

"I don't want to get my hopes up and keep hoping and hoping and hoping that I'm going to be back to normal."

We were experiencing something akin to sudden aging, leaping past what we saw as the coming vital years. You had to fight the urge to dwell on what had been lost or whether you could ever get it back. You had to learn that patience and acceptance weren't weaknesses, they were the only strengths you had left at times. This is what I can do today. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

THE SAME DAY Foster announced his retirement, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced a new federal initiative to study long-haul COVID, and dubbed the syndrome with an official name: Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2.

By that point, several prominent hospitals had established post-COVID clinics to both treat patients and gather data. Foster attended one at Duke, and I went to the one at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan -- an appointment I had to make five months in advance.

I met with a "functional medicine" doctor, who said the goal was to get my body's inflammation down so my autonomic nervous system would switch back to its normal state. I later learned not all experts believe the nervous system is even involved, but I was advised to adopt an anti-inflammatory diet, take a number of supplements to boost the immune system and decrease inflammation, wear compression clothing to help circulation, get a lot of rest when I needed it. I couldn't tell you if any of it has helped, but I do it.

Before COVID, I was in obnoxiously good health. But like many long-haulers, my blood pressure and cholesterol hit inexplicably high levels after I got sick.

Part of the Mt. Sinai program is visiting with a cardiologist, and the day I saw her in March my blood pressure was 155/110, a fairly alarming number. I hadn't had any cardiac symptoms, but as she listened to my chest she said, "I think I hear a murmur."

An echocardiogram showed that she was right. The aortic valve in my heart was slightly dilated, allowing some blood flow back into the chamber. The good news was the condition is mild and completely manageable. It's possible it had been there for years but eluded detection. But it's possible, she said, that the elevated blood pressure I'd had for a year at that point caused it to dilate. However it got that way, I needed to get my blood pressure under control and will have to control it for the rest of my life to prevent more serious problems.

When Foster went to Duke's clinic for the first time, most of the focus was on his lungs. His pulmonologist there, Dr. Loretta Que, said during one test he was using only 49% of his lung capacity. She and the team there put him on a regimen of new medications.

"Prior to COVID, he hardly ever had to use an inhaler, and now he's on a chronic medication," she says. "I can't predict whether or not he's going to be able to come off of those in the future, but that's something that we're going to need to evaluate for."

THERE WAS A ray of hope out there for both of us in early 2021. At first the results were anecdotal, but long-haulers around the country were reporting dramatic recoveries after getting vaccinated. As data began to roll in, Columbia's Griffin estimated that 40% of long-haulers were seeing improvement.

I got my first shot in March and didn't notice any difference. A couple of weeks later, Foster got his. When I was headed to get my second injection, I texted him to see how he was doing. He wrote back, "1.5 mile jog this morning."

I woke up the day after my second shot feeling the sickest I'd ever felt in my life. The worst of it passed after two days, and over the course of the next two weeks I realized I might be feeling worse overall than I had before the shot.

But something had changed for Foster. Maybe it was the vaccine and maybe it was the progress he had felt since changing medications. Maybe it was just the passage of time. But suddenly a comeback seemed possible.

He began to push himself. His runs got a little longer, and he started to lift weights again. In April, he went back to Duke and got more good news. That 49% lung output was now 102%. Dr. Que put him on a new inhaler and said he was ready to attempt a comeback.

"She was telling me, what do I have to lose? She's like, 'You go back, you try to play again, and if you can't play, you just can't play.' And I was like, 'It's not a bad option,'" he says.

As Foster walked out of the appointment, his phone rang. It was Swinney, just checking on him. That was the moment, Foster says, when he decided he was ready to try, although he didn't share that on the phone call. He wanted to take some time to be sure.

A few days later, he called Swinney. He was ready, he said. Swinney beamed and told Foster he could go at his own pace, and if he's able to play only 10 snaps a game, so be it. Foster had a place on the team.

More here:
'Is this my life now?': Clemson defensive end Justin Foster's -- and my -- struggle with long-haul COVID - ESPN

Being a new mom is a blessing, but it's also challenging in so many ways. Taking care of your new baby is all-consuming--so all-consuming, in fact, that you often forget to take care of mommy. Personal style takes a back seat, because, hey, baby doesn't care what you look like, right? But at one point, YOU did.

Jenny Greenstein of Your Soul Style thinks you should again. Now. Because your style is a vehicle of self-expression and empowerment. I'm a firm believer that we are at our best when we feel our best and that begins at our core," she says. Mind, body and soul must be aligned."

Easier said than done, right? Not if you've got this (pregnant!) sylist extraordinaire (and lucky for us, WRNY style contributor!) on your side. Below, she talks about how a little Style Coaching"--yes, you can actually hire her!--can make you look better...and feel way better.

Why is postpartum such a tough time for women when it comes to fashion?

During a pregnancy, women's bodies go through many changes from both a physical and emotional perspective. While most women don't expect to recover and bounce back to their 'old selves' immediately, they have to contend with embracing a new lifestyle, a new postpartum body and a new busy schedule that doesn't allow much time for self-care. Personal style is typically one of the behaviors that winds up suffering the most, as many don't feel it is a priority to worry about what to wear" when they have a newborn to tend to. Closets become neglected, and women rely on wearing the same old thing" daily to be both comfortable and easy.

How is this related to self-esteem?

Unfortunately this starts a downward spiral into compromised self-esteem. Many of my clients reach out to me when their baby is 6 months to 1-year-old, recognizing they have a closet full of either maternity clothes, items that don't fit, or a pre-pregnancy wardrobe that hasn't been updated in 2 years. Plus, many women are still not back to their 'old body.'

Women connect with me when they are finally ready to accept their new shape, and start paying attention to themselves again regardless. While some are still struggling to lose the 'baby weight' and others stuck with a stale wardrobe, I work with my postnatal clients, easing them through this transition to find empowerment again, using style as one of the vehicles to get there. My philosophy is based on the platform that mind and body must coexist in harmony and this includes how we present ourselves to the world. I help bring my clients back to life to become their best selves in order to be strong role models for their children.

How is this an issue that touches upon both the physical and the mental?

Women in our society pay lots of attention to keeping their bodies in check through diet and exercise, and once a pregnancy takes place (pre and postnatally) we wind up having to surrender since so much of the physical adjustment is out of our hands.

Even though the change is a physical shift, it affects every part of our being. Not feeling good in our bodies domino-effects into our moods, energy level and overall state of wellness. Getting dressed becomes another casualty. Personal style is a silent way of communicating who we are and what we are all about, and if things are not in balance on the inside, it will become evident in your appearance. Fortunately there are strategic ways of coping. I help my clients in getting back to the alignment of both, whether during a pregnancy and/or afterwards.

What is style therapy"?

Similar to talk therapy, where a person becomes mindful and aware of their own behavior patterns, Style Coaching is a form of therapy. While style is an extension of an inner self, feeling unstable can offset the alignment with the outer self. How we present ourselves to the world is contingent upon our emotional state. Together we break down any barriers and explore the deeper layers, by evaluating body image, self-esteem, style preferences, and style choices so I can provide techniques on how to compliment your shape, personality and taste. Whether you're going through a break-up, lost weight, gained weight, recently had a baby, are pregnant or just looking to discover your Style Personality," my goal is to help you find an authentic sensibility and provide guidance on how to use style as a vehicle of confident self-expression and empowerment.

Tell us about the style coaching services you're providing for new moms.

Style Coaching: This 1-1.5-hour session helps to create a strong foundation by assessing individual style goals/needs. I evaluate how your appearance interrelates with the emotional states you experience on a daily basis. Through a series of questions and exercises, we identify your Style Personality." Some of my clients find themselves lost after a pregnancy and birth, and need help finding a way back to their core before they can understand how to present themselves through fashion choices.

Closet Cleanse: Here, we move through your closet together and detox, get organized and set-up a closet to feel good about. We go through your entire (seasonal) wardrobe and answer things like: When is the last time you wore this? How do you feel when you wear this? Does this item really fit anymore or are you saving it for when you lose/gain weight?" After a pregnancy, women wind up with clothes that either don't fit, or with styles they don't love anymore since most don't invest heavily into new clothing when pregnant. Through this exercise, I provide tips and techniques on how to efficiently style what remains in your closet after removing what's 'toxic.'

Shopping: We go shopping (or I shop for you) to find those essential new pieces.

(Note: These can work a la carte, or as an all-inclusive service.)

What's the biggest frustration that your new mom clients have when they come to you?

Contending with a new body, and how to dress it. While waiting to lose those last 5-10 lbs. (or more) postpartum, women neglect purchasing anything new, putting things on hold until they reach a goal weight. This leaves my clients with an uninspired closet with clothes that don't really fit. I work very closely with my clients to teach them styling techniques that complement their new shape using their existing detoxed wardrobe, and offer shopping strategies on how to buy items that will work for now and later to ensure longevity in investments. There is no excuse for not having a wardrobe that you love and feel good in. No matter what size or shape you are. I work with all budgets, big or small.

What does it mean to detox" your wardrobe?

Women typically hold onto clothing for emotional reasons, whether they are waiting to get back to an 'old body,' they envision themselves in styles they see on others to replicate a specific image, or they feel guilty getting rid of pieces they spent money on and have rarely worn. Unfortunately, this lands us in predicaments where we have too much merchandise that doesn't work. Either things don't fit right, they can't make the style they were inspired by work into their own 'Style Personality,' or they just don't like the item anymore.

I help women let go in order to become their full selves. This means getting rid of things that just don't work. They could be beautiful pieces, they could be expensive, and it may have looked amazing on that famous actress you bought it because of. The bottom line is that if you don't feel good in it, its gotta go! Together we discover what works on an individual basis, and this is where women start to become empowered by their own choices and feel confident in them.

Photography by Your Soul Style.

Visit link:
Postpartum Style Coaching - Motherly Inc.

February 17, 2021 06:40 ET | Source: Boost Media Agency

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The 10 Weight Loss Coaches to Watch

New York, New York, Feb. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We all want to have our dream body and fit into our perfect outfits, right? The harsh reality in todays modern society is that it is easier than ever to gain weight - the fast paced lifestyle leading many to choose fast food options, which compounds negatively over time. Fortunately, there are those who know the recipe to help you achieve your weight loss goals and sustain the results long term - even for life. According to Boost Media Agency, the key to losing weight and keeping it off is working directly with a weight loss coach. Each with their own unique coaching styles and areas of expertise, here we present the 10 weight loss coaches to watch in 2021.

Gina Livy (@ginalivy)

Gina Livy is an incredible weight loss coach who provides an effective program for people who want to improve their health and their fitness level. Her 12-week online program, Weight Loss by Gina, went live in 2018 and it found instant success. Today, the program has evolved to a group membership with a community of over 4,000 members. Gina started her coaching career as a one-on-one personal trainer, but then she decided to package her own program to reach more people and help them with their goals.

Weight Loss by Gina is one of the most comprehensive and effective weight loss programs available on the market and its available at an affordable price. Gina provides an option for people who want to lose weight in a healthy, affordable, and sustainable way. Additionally, people enjoy the program a lot because its not restrictive and the community is very welcoming.

Gina offers a weight loss program thats very different from many of the other options out there. Theres no counting, measuring, or weighing of any kind, so people are not enslaved by numbers, and theres also no deprivation. Instead, Gina explains why the body feels the need to store fat, focuses on fat loss, and creates an environment for the body to get that fat out. Her program also addresses food behaviors and associations so people can learn to be more mindful and more in tune with their bodies.

Leah Peters (@leahpetersfitness)

Leah Peters is an experienced industry-leading fitness, nutrition, and mindset coach whos here to help people turn their life around and find wellness. She combines science-backed nutrition and training research with ancient wisdom to help clients improve their physical and mental health tremendously. She has created the Weight Loss Warriors, which is a self-paced wellness program that provides a path for women to find ultimate fitness.

Leah provides evidence-based practices so each individual client will be able to unlock their inner power, find healing, and boost their confidence like never before. She has extensive experience in the field, which has allowed her to become so helpful for so many people. She holds a Masters degree, multiple fitness and nutrition certifications, and shes also an award-winning athlete and retired national fitness competitor.

Her training approach focuses on education and personal development, not only on weight loss. She understands misinformation and unhealthy habits such as emotional eating or following fad diets can make a lot of harm, so shes passionate about arming people with knowledge and helping them heal from the inside out. Leah knows how difficult it can be to balance fitness and other aspects of ones life, so she wants to help others reach their healthy weight without sacrificing their happiness.

Christy Davidson (@christyleefit)

Christy Davidson is a weight loss and life coach whos passionate about helping people lose weight without having to sacrifice the food they love or their happiness. Her approach to weight loss as a certified personal trainer has a great focus on mental health because she believes the mind and body are strongly connected, something she learned while studying psychology in school.

Weight loss can be challenging and difficult, but Christy wants people to actually have fun with the process. Peoples fitness journey doesnt have to be torture, it can be enjoyable and sustainable, and thats the kind of weight loss experience shes here to provide. She coaches people through group coaching programs such as The Glow Up Challenge, but she also provides one-on-one coaching. Shes also made sure to create a community in her private Facebook group where she can connect with everyone and people can support each other.

The Glow Up Challenge is a 6-week group program thats different than other fitness programs on the market. It doesnt only provide workouts to challenge the body, but also mental health challenges for the mind. Christy is happy to be helping people make real changes, so shes excited to introduce The Glow Up Mastermind program in 2021 to level up and help her clients enter the next stage.

Sarah Pelc Graca (@Strong.With.Sarah)

Sarah Pelc Graca is the founder of Strong With Sarah. She is a successful weight loss coach who is passionate about helping her clients lose weight without having to give up their favorite foods or their joy for life. She believes every client is unique, so she thrives in creating customized nutrition, exercise, and accountability plans that are effective and bring people closer to their fitness goals.

Through her signature one-on-one coaching program, the Freedom With Food Formula, she and her team help people change their nutrition habits and create a more peaceful relationship with food by providing accountability, along with educational content and tools to create a healthier mindset. Sarah and her accountability coaches (Victoria Burgess and Cassie Evans) work with each client individually - empowering them to learn more about their thoughts and actions, which leads to sustainable weight loss.

Sarah provides convenient and flexible weight loss programs that are not created to add more stress to anyones life. Quite the contrary, theyre created to help people finally understand what it takes to lose weight in a straightforward way... Without any fad diets! She includes guidance and support every step of the way so its an enjoyable process, not a burden to bear. Between her website and her Instagram highlights, she has over 500 testimonials from clients who have successfully lost weight and kept it off long-term!

Barbara Orban (@nodietbabe)

Barbara Orban is a weight loss coach whose approach focuses on helping women change their relationship to food and their bodies as well. She created No Diet Babe to guide women through the process of weight loss without having to rely on low calorie diets that are often too restrictive and cause more harm than good. She teaches women to have a new perspective of food and helps them shatter all the unhealthy subconscious links theyve created to food, that lead to self-sabotage.

Women who have been dieting on and off throughout their entire lives will find theres absolutely nothing wrong with them and theyre able to shed weight without feeling hopelessness, guilt, or shame. Barbara is proud of helping women reach their dream weight and maintain it effortlessly by helping them change their habits and their mindset.

Through No Diet Babe, she offers private coaching and daily support as well as group coaching. She also has a 6-week course called Emerge that focuses on emotional eating and how to recover from it. She also has a podcast, the Manifesting Doll Podcast, where she combines psychology and the law of attraction to provide guidance and perspective. Barbara also has amazing subliminal audios to help her clients reprogram their subconscious mind and unlock their inner power.

Mika Pavy (@mika.fitnesspassion)

Mika Pavy is a weight loss expert from Los Angeles with 8 years of experience in the fitness industry. Shes focused on helping people tone their bodies, lose stubborn fat, and enjoy amazing results they can maintain in the long-term to change their lives for good. When she first started in the fitness industry, there was an overload of information and it was difficult to separate the right from the wrong.

She understands better than anyone that theres a lot of contradicting fitness information out there, so she is committed to teaching people the actual science behind how peoples bodies and minds work. This is how she has been able to help people have a deeper understanding and unlock their inner power to achieve the goals that once seemed impossible to reach.

Mika provides a blueprint and valuable guidance, strategies, and tools for people to reach their fitness goals ten times faster. Many of the solutions that often get so popular are only band-aids and they dont approach the root of the issue. Mika does get to the bottom of it and focuses on fixing the problem at the root so people can get their bodies and health back. All this without suffering or giving up the foods that make people happy.

Lori Doddy (@lori.doddy)

Lori Doddy is the founder of Lori Doddy Lifestyle LLC and the creator of 5 TO THRIVE, a one of a kind 12-week weight loss program designed to teach professional, driven women unique methods for eating, exercising, reducing stress, and mastering the challenges of being female in high-pressure careers. She provides a customized approach very different from anything else on the market. Its extremely effective and specifically designed to fit easily into any womans busy schedule.

Lori Doddy, Ph.D. has a 30-year career in education as a teacher, graduate professor, college dean, and Vice President. During most of her life, she battled eating disordered behaviors, yo-yo dieted, suffered debilitating migraines, and endured overwhelming stress. But 7 years ago, she hit a wall and was determined to find a healthy way to lose weight and manage the stress of a high-pressure lifestyle, which is common among professional women.

She managed to transform not only her body and mind but also her lifestyle while continuing to advance her career. On her quest, she found passion and purpose, and began coaching. Lori pursued nutrition and personal training certifications, and last year took her coaching career full-time. With her effective, unique program, Lori helps clients reach unprecedented success with massive weight loss and improved fitness levels, while advancing their careers and not sacrificing their health or any ambitions in life.

Kyle May (@tailormaydefitness)

Kyle May is an online fitness coach and founder of Tailor Mayde Fitness, whos 100% dedicated to helping busy men lose fat and keep it off without sacrificing their lifestyle. He knows what its like to struggle with weight loss because he has been through the process himself. During college, his weight reached 300 pounds and he had no confidence to speak of. He was lost, stuck in a vicious cycle, and he had no idea how to start getting his body back.

Eventually, he decided to take control and soon fell in love with fitness and weight training. Kyle turned his life around, shed all that weight, and built positive habits that allow him to be healthy and active. Today, he wants to help other men who are struggling to balance fat loss and a hectic schedule so they can reach their goals.

Kyle makes weight loss an enjoyable and incredibly educational journey that gives his clients resources they can use for a lifetime. He offers a pragmatic approach that focuses on helping people develop sustainable habits and helping them understand the root of the issue so they can take the right steps. Kyles weight loss program can be adapted to anyones lifestyle and it will be tailored to the needs of each individual so they can reach their goals with the support they need.

Dreia Walker (_cuttheweight)

Dreia Walker is a weight loss coach who is passionate about keeping others accountable towards their fitness goals. From her own experience with seeing the results real accountability can bring, Dreia has been able to transform countless lives throughout her journey.

Also an entrepreneur at heart, Dreia has multiple weight loss and fitness products to help you reach your goals even faster. Understanding that some people are restricted by time, she enables them to get the best results in the time they have at their disposal.

Knowing how much confidence you can gain from becoming your best self, it's no surprise Dreia is so passionate about her work. As big as I used to be I never imagined my future self to be so confident. I never imagined my future self to overcome not loving myself. I just didnt picture life any differently when I was 250 pounds Dreia explains. If youre looking to lose weight & build confidence, Dreia is your girl.

Lori Aloisio (@myhealthyandfreelife)

Lori Aloisio is a weight loss coach whos passionate about health and well-being. She has a Bachelors Degree in Health Care, is a registered nurse in Finland, and an avid student of alternative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and nutrition. Through her job and all her studies, she noticed that Western medicine doesnt address many important factors for overall health.

As she studied alternative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and nutrition, she became much healthier and she learned to lose weight in a way that worked for her and didnt feel restrictive at all. During the same time, she also discovered the law of attraction and she realized she had been creating her reality since she was a child. Lori rediscovered her power and she also discovered a passion for helping people lose weight.

She had amassed all this knowledge about healthy living and she was ready to share it, something she couldnt do freely while working as a nurse because there were guidelines to follow. Thats what led Lori to found Healthy And Free Life and she created the S.H.I.F.T weight loss method. She doesnt provide a quick fix that provides results that dont last. Instead, she helps people remove the source of the issue entirely and completely turn their lives around.

Make sure to follow each of these amazing weight loss coaches as they continue to help their clients reach their weight loss goals. Each of their Instagram's have been directly linked here. Finally, we would like to thank Boost Media Agency for taking the time to put this article together.

Media Details Contact: Lewis Schenk Company: Boost Media Agency Phone: 3106001787 Email: operations@boostmediaofficial.page Website: http://www.boostmediaofficial.page

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The 10 Weight Loss Coaches to Watch in 2021 - GlobeNewswire