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

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@Natasha_RD on Twitter and Instagram

NatashaAshleyRD on Snapchat

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