I have received some inquiries lately asking if I am still offering coaching. Yes, most definitely. And still at the introductory price. The details are on this page.
Sometimes, we have all the knowledge we need. I know a lot of you have read the Thin Within book, done all the workbooks, read Get Thin Stay Thin and have been on the Thin Within website for a while. I know, too, that some of you know that this approach works.
What you may feel like you are missing is support. That is what I want to offer you. That is one reason why I offer videos and blog posts here at this site. As you know, much of the blog content chronicles my own journey to release 100 pounds using these principles. Many of the posts and videos, though, I did specifically with you in mind.
Blog posts and videos can be really helpful (I hope!), but sometimes we need someone to walk with us. That is why I am offering the coaching option. I know you can do this! Whatever is holding you back, we can hurdle it together.
This is how it works:
1. When you contact me with your inquiry, I will respond in email.
2. We will arrange our first phone call which is 30 minutes in length. This is free so you can get a sense of if you think this may help you or not. It also gives you a chance to see if we connect in a way that you are comfortable with.
3. Before that first free call, I ask you to consider these questions:
What is your story relative to food and body image?
What is your experience with Thin Within?
What have been the hurdles you have faced in applying the principles?
How have you attempted to manage these hurdles?
What victories have you experienced in applying the principles?
What challenges seem to be a theme for you?
What are your goals physically, spiritually, and emotionally relative to this journey?
What expectations do you have for our four sessions?
What else do you feel is important for me to know?
4. During our first call, we will talk about the things on the list above. I will offer you feedback, some insights, and thoughts that I hope will encourage you. I will then ask you how you feel about going forward. You can take time after the call to decide this, of course. There is no obligation whatsoever. One of the things I will ask you to consider, too, is if you feel one of three different levels of accountability (or a personalized accountability plan) might be helpful. This is not required, but some find it helpful.
5. If you decide that you would like to proceed, then we can work out payment in one of two ways. You can either send me a check and we can start after I receive and cash your check or you can pay me via pay pal.
6. I will shoot you an email giving you a “first assignment.” The assignments will be prayerfully constructed to suit you and your specific situation. I will always eagerly receive your feedback so we can personalize this experience for you. For instance, some may need to invite God back into this process and want accountability that includes quiet time with the Lord. An assignment for this person might be to eat only when at a 0, but to read a psalm (or portion of a psalm) each time before eating, praising God for His character and that he has made her body to be so reliable. Another person may feel she needs to work through some forgiveness issues and I will ask her how she feels about doing that. That person, I may ask to do the material in chapters 19 and 20 (on forgiveness) in the Thin Within book. Those who are struggling to break free from a dieting mentality will be given different assignments from those who have been free from that for a while. Together we will craft a unique approach for you that shows you that you can be victorious.
7. We will use our calendars to set up our calls, hopefully for the next four weeks.
Each week you will be offered a unique assignment and each call we will talk about the assignment and anything else that you feel is pertinent.
I know just how much of a struggle this journey was for me (and can still BE!), but if *I* can do it, ANYONE can! That means you! The thing that helped me the most was having someone who had been down this path ahead of me cheering me on, routing for me, and fielding questions I had along the way. That is what I hope to be for you. Give it some prayer and thought. I know $100 and four weeks is a commitment.
And if you wonder about the money and why I charge for this service at all, it is because I want to help my husband by contributing to defray the costs of having our daughter in a private Christian college. We will also be helping our son get established in a place of his own once he returns from bible college in May.
What questions do you have about the Life Coaching/Thin Within Mentoring service? I would be more than happy to field your questions here so others can benefit from your questions.
For years, I have been asked if I will “mentor” or coach others through the process of releasing weight. This is a journey we are on and sometimes it is helpful to walk with someone else who has been on the path before.
Until August of 2012, my focus involved kids living at home and our homeschooling endeavors. I didn’t feel that I had the freedom to offer coaching.
The nest is now empty so it is with great joy that I now offer weight-loss/life coaching. While I can’t do this for free–college tuition is expensive!–I hope to make it as affordable as possible.
My introductory price is four one-hour coaching phone sessions for $100. These can be scheduled in a way that suits you, though, I recommend weekly and it includes additional time in email. I am offering an initial half-hour consultation for free. So, basically:
1 – Email exchange prior to free consult
1 – 30 minute free consultation via telephone
4 – 60 minute phone consultations
Email exchanges (between phone visits).
For $100
Isolating “weight loss” from the rest of life is counter productive, in my opinion, so that is why I consider this more an offer to do life coaching with an emphasis in getting a grip on the weight challenges.
NOTE: If what you want is coaching to help you with dieting, I am not the right choice. If you are trying to apply yourself to a Christian, non-diet approach to weight loss and maintenance, then I think I can help. Let’s talk!
If you are interested, please email me at heidi@heidibylsma.com. Tell me a bit of your story and provide me with your contact information. I want to find a balance between helping others just because I love to do that and my need to give time to earning an income for our family.
Something that God has worked with me on is related to some of the disappointments some have shared recently with not releasing more weight. This is still coming home to me, though, I must admit. I continue to be slow to learn.
In my case, when I don’t release weight, first I have to ask the Lord, honestly, if I am submitting to his will. This goes beyond this notion of 0-5 eating for me. I can *fake* 0-5 eating pretty well. You know what I mean? I can rationalize things…I have found that a subtle “dieting mentality” comes in and “helps” me with this…it will casually do an estimation of calories and whatever and say “See? I have ‘suffered’ and so I should release weight.”
But the reality God is trying to bring home to me is, the Lord wants me to love HIM more than I love food. No, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t find joy in my enjoying food, but delighting in food more than Him…well, that is a problem. He has laid on my heart that He has given me parameters within which eating food is to be enjoyed. It is like sexual intimacy…there are certain parameters. Within those parameters, it gives God joy for me to enjoy intimacy, which He created. I believe He delights in my enjoyment of food within godly parameters as well. Outside of the parameters of marriage, “sex” is indulging my fleshly lusts and is sin…Outside the parameters of my body calling for food, eating is indulging a fleshly lust and is sin. Or that is how He has broken it down for me. I need it made really simple! LOL!
It helps me to ask WHY am I eating right now? Am I eating because I am hungry and my body needs nourishment? Am I eating because I simply want to enjoy the taste (which is so fleeting!)? God has laid it on my heart to enjoy the taste of food (YES!), but only when my body needs nourishment. How perfect is that? 🙂 I can oooh and aaah about the incredible flavor of cheese enchiladas all I want when I am hungry! YIPPEEE! I get hungry pretty routinely! There will be loads of opportunities in my life to enjoy enchiladas with a totally pure conscience, eating them because my body needs sustenance! Why do I want to mess with that?
When I don’t release weight, I have to honestly evaluate if I have been truly loving eating beyond the parameters God has for me. Am I living like my body is my own to do with as I please?
For me, it comes down to that.
Sometimes, when I am not releasing weight, this is as far as I need to go to have my answer as to why.
BUT…and this is a big BUT…sometimes this is where it gets pretty tough. (As if dealing with brutal honesty over my love of my sin isn’t hard enough…) If I really truly think that I have been living for the Lord and He seems to confirm this through His Spirit, if I have been heeding His voice pretty diligently, and I am *still* not releasing weight (and this has happened before), then He has shown me to ask Him what He would have me be in this moment. How does *He* desire that I responsd? This can be so eye-opening for me. Almost every single time, He has asked me “Heidi, am I enough? Am *I* your very great reward? Or do you love losing weight or being thin more than you love knowing I am pleased with the choices you have been making?”
The answers to these questions really do a lot to expose my motivations. I have found that the Lord sometimes wants to purify my motives and can do this by restricting the movement of the scale for a season…I lived a long time losing weight with praise of men being my motivation. I love verbal accolades. I know for a fact that now the Lord wants me to love Him more than that (He always has).
Additionally, during one of these little struggles with not seeing the scale go down, God laid on my heart that I had a bit of an attitude…if *I* did *my* part, I reasoned, He would do *His* part and see to it that weight would come off. After all, wasn’t that what this was about? In essence I had a truckload of subtle, but insidious, pride going on there. I got disappointed with *God* when I didn’t see the scale doing what it “should” be doing. I was holding up my end of the bargain…now what about Him holding up His? This led to my throwing in the towel often enough. I got frustrated with God. I told you I was the Queen of Pride!
I hate that I like seeing the numbers go down on the scale better than delighting the Lord with submitting my will to Him in each moment. This time around, my journey is about learning to love Him more–no matter what happens. I am daring myself to get rid of my scale, in fact. I don’t have the courage yet. I know if I seek to put pride to death and live for the Lord, the weight will leave my body! I am just soooooo slow to learn it. I still really really like seeing the numbers get lower…nuts!
Don’t know if any of these thoughts can be helpful for anyone else or not. As always, I have been too long winded!
