[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1570794306293{background-color: #efefef !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]I was 14 years old back to school shopping when I was in an Abercrombie & Fitch dressing room (I know, guilty as charged) literally squeezing into a pair of jeans that should have fit me. My mom was sitting in the dressing room with me, dolled up per usual, red lipstick on, petite, with her legs crossed (which I wasn’t able to do at the time). She said to me, “can’t you see a pattern here, Stell?
As I was jumping up and down trying to get into these damn jeans, I responded “Yes! They’re making these pants smaller or something. What’s going on?”
She said, “No, honey, you’re getting bigger and bigger every year.”
BOOM, like a ton of bricks it hit me. WHAT? SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH ME? I’m getting bigger and bigger? I remember the hollowness in my stomach.
Needless to say, I didn’t try on any more pants that day…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1570795245544{margin-top: 15px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1570795089277{background-color: #efefef !important;}”][vc_column_text]This was the very moment that catapulted me into the diet 🡪 diet brain 🡪 binge cycle that controlled and consumed my life for 15 years.
From that point on I went on every diet imaginable. From Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers to HCG, counting calories, the South Beach Diet and everything in between. I tried and failed. I hired personal trainers, I went to therapists, I attempted Overeaters Anonymous, I went to hypnotherapists. I felt more and more defeated, which lead to more isolation, more canceling plans, more beating myself up and feeling like my willpower was down the drain. What the hell was so wrong with me that I couldn’t “stick to this diet and lose weight?”
Waking up every day praying it would be a “good” day, but finding myself obsessed with food, what I should be eating or couldn’t be eating or what others were eating around me, I ended up most days’ knee deep in the peanut butter jar come mid afternoon when a sudden wave of anxiousness and compulsion hit. I found myself swearing “tomorrow” would be the new day and I would NEVER binge or overeat again once the clock struck midnight.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1570795104477{background-color: #efefef !important;}”][vc_column_text]Years had passed and I was still on the cycle. Thing is, it got worse. So much worse. In fact, I was bingeing and purging now. Literally inflicting harm on my body just trying to get some sanity and control back in this part of my life that felt so out of control with food. Not to mention, my weight was getting harder and harder to control and keep to a weight that I felt ok with. My face was getting rounder, my arms were getting bigger, my thighs were rubbing so hard against each other they would chafe in the summer leaving me with such painful rashes.
There I was, although years later, still feeling like the 14-year-old girl seeing the pattern that her jean size was getting bigger and bigger and this time with painful, constant daily reminders every time I saw my reflection or went to the bathroom seeing and feeling those painful rashes.
[dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”normal” size=”1″]After all this, as if it couldn’t get worse, I hit ROCK BOTTOM.[/dt_quote]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ content_placement=”top” css=”.vc_custom_1570799652316{margin-top: 30px !important;background-image: url(http://ditchdietbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/new-york-streets.jpg?id=1062) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving” css=”.vc_custom_1570804412747{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-right: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;margin-left: 20px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.9) !important;*background-color: rgb(255,255,255) !important;}”][vc_row_inner gap=”15″][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]I was living in NYC, working in high fashion as a 21-year-old, circa 2005. I was just out of college and literally, living this “dream” life… or so it appeared. I was selling footwear for a high end company and I remember this specific day like it was yesterday.
At the time I was the heaviest I had ever been. I stopped getting on the scale, I was terrified of seeing the number because it dictated my day. I knew things were pretty bad when I kept having to buy new (bigger) clothes and it was embarrassing beyond measure. I didn’t leave my apartment unless it was for work and even then I would call out just to go to the gym for hours.
It was selling season. Accounts and clients were swarming in and out of our showroom, traveling from all over the US to book our brand. Our schedules were packed and it was game time.
This specific morning though, I had gotten up at 5am and went to the gym to get my day “started right.” I had bought a new black Juicy Couture dress that I was so EXCITED to wear. It was strapless, it had an empire waist and came down to my ankles. I paired it with an amazing pair of our branded black strappy heels. My hair was curled, my makeup was on point and I FELT SO AMAZING that Wednesday morning. I actually felt good and pretty that morning getting on the subway as I headed into work.
I was seeing a client who had a few stores along the East Coast. He always came with his business partner. They were both Italian, and spoke broken English. I was sitting across from them at the table after previewing our collection when the truck hit me.
One of the men asked me “You have baby, when?” as his partner was writing the order. Again, broken English or not, I certainly got the damn point. I LOOKED PREGNANT.
My jaw dropped, my stomach was in knots and I couldn’t respond. NOTHING came out of my mouth. And for anyone that knows me, that NEVER happens…
I was hurt, upset, ANGRY, and now insecure as all hell and so I played it off as if I didn’t hear him.
I was counting down the minutes until this meeting was over and the minute these gentlemen left our showroom, I ran into the women’s bathroom and cried in the stall.
That was when I knew things had to change. I couldn’t live in this body anymore and I had to stop the diet 🡪 diet brain 🡪 binge cycle.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” gap=”15″ css=”.vc_custom_1571056418815{margin-top: -20px !important;padding-top: -20px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1570800611918{background-color: #6d878c !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1571054554664{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;}”]After years of education, coaching, trial and error and overcoming my struggle I’ve developed my 4 Phase Formula where I’ve helped hundreds of clients stop this madness.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1570800705941{background-color: #6d878c !important;}”][vc_column_text]Included here are the steps I took that took me away from my food obsessed, binge possessed zombie mode to feeling in control, in my power and more important, feeling normal with food.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1570800713983{background-color: #6d878c !important;}”][vc_column_text]I hope this helps you find light in the darkness of this struggle and helps you realize that you too can overcome this debilitating battle and have a relationship with food that’s on your own terms.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1570799152355{margin-top: 30px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving-fade” parallax_speed_bg=”2″ css_animation=”right-to-left” width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1571055633146{background-image: url(http://ditchdietbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ddb_ffp_p1.jpg?id=1074) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1075″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
1. Stop Fighting Your Body and Start FEEDING her
No matter how many diets you go on and fail, no matter how many “tomorrows” come and go, you have to stop restricting and depriving your body from her needs for food and nourishment. This is about making sure you’re eating enough and as often enough as you need to avoid any urges to over eat, say F it and in certain circumstances, BINGE EATING. WE MUST START HERE because when we are constantly thinking about our next meal, when we are struggling with binge and overeating, we are biologically reacting to deprivation which activates the survival response in our animal selves. We can’t possibly win this fight. Our biology will ALWAYS win. Why do you you think you always feel like “something takes over” in those moments?[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right” css=”.vc_custom_1570805555154{margin-top: -15px !important;padding-top: -15px !important;}”][dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”normal” size=”1″]ACTION: Get 4 meals in. Yes 4 meals you read that right!! “but Stell, won’t I gain weight by eating MORE this way? HELL NO! You will still release weight AND stop binge eating when eating 4 meals a day. Pick the one meal/snack that you can ADD more to because you intuitively know what you’re doing ain’t working. Once you’ve mastered this one meal, move on to another. Disclaimer: you may think you’re eating enough now.. but girl if you’re reading this, you’re not.[/dt_quote][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1570769443014{margin-top: 30px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving-fade” parallax_speed_bg=”2″ css_animation=”right-to-left” width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1571056009627{background-image: url(http://ditchdietbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ddb_ffp_p2.jpg?id=1076) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1077″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1570780670748{margin-left: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;border-left-style: solid !important;}”][vc_column_text]
2. List out and find your Pressure Cooker Recipe
Each and every person has a PRESSURE COOKER built within themselves. Certain “ingredients” of their lives go into this pressure cooker and these ingredients are looking for a release.. they’re looking for a way out.. oftentimes this can translate into an EXPLOSION with food. 🡪 THIS IS WHERE MOST PEOPLE BINGE, OVEREAT OR EMOTIONALLY EAT🡪 this cycle also reinforces diet brain and causing them continue to get further away from what they deem as “normal” with food.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right” css=”.vc_custom_1570805540166{margin-top: -15px !important;padding-top: -15px !important;}”][dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”normal” size=”1″]ACTION: On a piece of paper, in detail, get familiar with your overeating episodes or binge episodes. When do you feel crazy town with food? At night when the kids are asleep? At work mid to late afternoon? Are you usually stressed when it hits you? Are you alone? Are you at a social function or party? Do you typically pair bingeing with alcohol? What’s the environment to which you typically over do it with food? This is not about negative judgment, it’s about curiosity. Awareness is KEY to overcoming the pattern.[/dt_quote][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1570795584465{margin-top: 30px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving-fade” parallax_speed_bg=”1″ css_animation=”right-to-left” width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1571056273049{background-image: url(http://ditchdietbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ddb_ffp_p3.jpg?id=1078) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1079″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
3. Stop Hating your Body and Start Partnering with Her
If you are suffering from Diet Brain there is a high probability that you’re suffering from a not so awesome relationship with your body. Studies show that the degree to which we’re obsessing over food is the degree to which we also obsess over our body and weight. They go hand in hand. We have to stop detaching from our body and we need to start partnering with our body. This is the only way to be normal with food. This is the only way to ditch diet brain.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right” css=”.vc_custom_1570805585383{margin-top: -15px !important;padding-top: -15px !important;}”][dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”normal” size=”1″]ACTION: Social media CLEANSE. Stop looking at bodies that make you feel like shit. Start following plus sized models or liked sized women who have a similar body shape and size like you. Studies prove that when we actively show our brain like sized or bigger body images, it helps enhance our own personal body image.
Then, write a letter to your body. Tell her everything you’re thinking and feeling about her. Get it all out. The good, the bad, the ugly and uglier. Now, flip the script. Write a letter FROM your body to you. See what surfaces. Let it flow. *Bring a box of tissues with you, too.[/dt_quote][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1570795568048{margin-top: 30px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving-fade” parallax_speed_bg=”2″ css_animation=”right-to-left” width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1571056831600{background-image: url(http://ditchdietbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ddb_ffp_p4.jpg?id=1080) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1081″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
4. LIVE AS IF YOU ARE ALREADY NORMAL WITH FOOD
Map out what a normal eater looks like to you, and you specifically. Visualize yourself walking into your favorite store, gravitating toward a pair of jeans that are the size you desire to be. You walk into the dressing room and you put them on. They fit you like a glove. You FEEL so sexy, confident and ready to take on the world.
Visualize this woman sitting down to have dinner with her girlfriends and see how she acts with food. How easy it is to co-exist with certain foods. She orders anything on the menu and stops eating when she’s satisfied and she’s so CONTENT to leave food on her plate without a thought about it.
Think about this woman baking cookies with her kids and doesn’t binge in secrecy eating it in the kitchen while nobody ‘s looking. She’s not shoving chips, oreos, ice cream or peanut butter in her mouth really quickly while her husband’s showering.
She’s satisfied, content, happy and in her POWER. She is guilt free with food and food doesn’t consume her every waking thought.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right” css=”.vc_custom_1570805595714{margin-top: -15px !important;padding-top: -15px !important;}”][dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”normal” size=”1″]ACTION: How does your inner normal eater exist around food? How does your inner normal eater think about food? What does this version of yourself look like? ATTACH to this person. Close your eyes and activate all of your senses with this visualization. FEEL how she’s feeling. Hear what others are saying to her. SEE her reflection in the mirror just the way you desire. Live as if you are already here and start ACTING from this place.[/dt_quote][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row gap=”15″][vc_column width=”2/3″][ultimate_heading main_heading=”MY GIFT TO YOU” main_heading_style=”font-weight:bold;” sub_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:15px;” main_heading_margin=”margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:5px;” sub_heading_font_family=”font_family:Permanent Marker|font_call:Permanent+Marker” sub_heading_font_size=”desktop:30px;”]DITCH YOUR DIET BRAIN AND AWAKEN THE NORMAL EATER WITHIN YOU[/ultimate_heading][vc_column_text]Strategy Session
A 30-45 minute strategy session where I help you get clear on how to ditch the diet 🡪 diet brain 🡪 binge cycle and help you craft an action plan on how to become the normal eater you desire.
Apply for a free session with me by emailing me a paragraph or two telling me how you would benefit from the Ditch Diet Brain 4 Phase Formula.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”right-to-left” width=”1/3″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”1039″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline_circle_2″ lazy_loading=”true”][bsf-info-box icon=”icomoon-the7-font-the7-mail-01″ icon_size=”28″ icon_animation=”fadeInDown” heading_tag=”span” read_more=”box” link=”url:mailto%3A%20info%40ditchdietbrain.com|||” hover_effect=”style_3″ pos=”left”]Email me: info@ditchdietbrain.com[/bsf-info-box][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1570795971130{margin-top: -50px !important;}”][vc_column_text]“Stella is a certified eating psychology coach + NLP practitioner who has overcome her struggle of binge eating and bulimia of 15 years. She has helped hundreds of women do the same through her coaching practice and “velvet hammer” approach. She has an amazing ability to find the blind spots in her clients and allow them to develop the tools to re-direct their thinking and ACTIONS way from self sabotaging behaviors and into healthy ones while enjoying the process. Her methods are counter-cultural and she gets results.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]