Hi! My
name is Natasha and I am an overweight dietitian. Though it’s been that way the
entire time I’ve been a nutritionist, that was still hard to say. I’ve been
overweight almost my entire life. To be honest, I don’t want to say these
things aloud and I don’t want to write these things down. Doing so means it’s
true and that some action HAS to take place. Am I ready for that? Deep down,
I’ve always felt like I was destined for greatness, but was too scared to be
great. Slightly above average has been the name of my game for years. But
that’s not who I feel I am inside.
To go
into the field of nutrition and be overweight is hard. So, I use therapy as an
outlet to work through matters like these. In my last session, I brought up the
fact that sometimes I am hesitant at nutrition consulting because I may not
have the typical outside appearance of a dietitian. My therapist brought up a
good point. She said, “There’s no better first client than yourself.” That
resonated and reverberated in me for what seemed like an eternity during our session.
There IS no better first client than myself!! But, how do I do this?
As a
registered dietitian, I have helped hundreds of clients improve their diets and
health over my career: from women with fibroids, to private clients with weight
loss, to pregnant women, infants in children in the WIC program, to the geriatric
population in long term care facilities, to hospitalized adults in trauma and
surgery, and even those who face the harsh reality of having dialysis
treatments for the rest of their lives. I have shared my nutrition expertise to
many and have had numerous success stories. Well, what about my story?
The
first chapter of this journey begins here! I write this (and hopefully many
more after this) to be transparent. To show how difficult it can be to lose
weight. To show that even a dietitian with almost 10 years of experience and
schooling can still have a hard time with weight loss. I want to show you that I
know where you’re coming from. I’m not some person who has been skinny their
entire life and has decided to tell you how to lose weight. I am an African
American woman from the south. I know about food and I know about temptations.
I know about the ups and downs of yo-yo dieting, weight loss pills, working out
two times a day and restricting calories to some ridiculous amount. I know
because I have done it ALL. But now I’m tired of it. I don’t want to be this
way anymore. I don’t want to live to eat. Instead I want to eat to live.
I want
you to take this journey with me. I will lose this weight and I will do it the
“right” way. I’m going to do it the healthy way: good ol’ diet and exercise. Am
I excited about it? Yes and no. I know being transparent will help others see
that it is possible, but it is also letting out a side of me that I have not
shown. Maybe this is what will catapult me into the greatness that I know is
true in my heart. I’m not sure, but we shall see.
I want
you to please email me, Facebook me, tweet me, Instagram me and Snapchat me
your weight loss stories, trials and tribulations. Let me know the difficulties
you have. And hopefully we can do this and be successful in weight loss
together! #LoseToGain
--Natasha J
NatashaAshleyRD@yahoo.com
Natasha Ashley on Facebook
@Natasha_RD on Twitter and Instagram
NatashaAshleyRD on Snapchat
Let's do it 2gether!! #LoseToGain
ReplyDeleteYES!! Let's do this!! #LoseToGain
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