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Hello. I’m Denise Holz
I work with emotional eaters who want to become free, who do not want to do another diet, but the real work to finally have peace and harmony within themselves. I have partnered with many individuals in empowering all aspects of their life so that their weight loss is permanent and a natural result of their inner transformation.
I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from Washington State University in 1986 and my certification in professional coaching (CPC) from Academy of Coach Training in Bellevue, WA in 2004.
In January 2004, I launched my business, Weight Loss Coach, integrating nutrition counseling with life coaching.
I began emotional eating as a teenager. I started ballet classes and had to wear a leotard and tights. Like my family, I gained weight easily. I loved to dance but hated my thighs. I also couldn’t attend ballet classes as often as I wanted to. It was out of my control. To me, my big thighs represented my many inadequacies and not being good enough. I tormented myself over this. In my shyness, I felt like a caged bird. Food filled me when I couldn’t fill myself up with what I wanted – dancing and accepting and loving myself.
In my insecurity and lack of satisfaction, I would binge and try to recover with a diet, or more often, a fast. As a compulsive overeater, I was in a cycle of being in control and then being out of control.
I wondered how I was supposed to eat to keep my weight down and my energy up. (?!) I wanted to understand how my body would like to eat, not only the day after a late night binge, but every day. I decided
I would study nutrition. Also, something deep within me longed to be set free. Growing tired of the struggle, I embarked on a healing journey.
In college, I did get to learn how my body works and how to have its support in losing fat. Beyond that, at the same time, I began to uncover why I turned to food and how my extra weight was serving me. Then, I started to turn around the dynamics that caused me to overeat. I stopped putting myself down, and started seeing my value. I moved out of shyness and started having more fun. Ultimately, I felt more free and confident. I also got to fill myself with what I really wanted: dancing and more of my genuine self. That was 20 years ago.
My work has been in clinical nutrition, weight loss, public health nutrition, sports nutrition, pharmaceutical sales and back to my passion of weight loss, now combined with life coaching.
From having worked in a weight loss clinic and with my own experience, I knew that providing nutrition education alone wasn’t enough to help people change their eating habits. In coming back to working in weight loss, this time, I wanted to know how to address the missing link of what’s going on at a deeper level that drives someone to overeat. I chose coaching because I knew the paradigm would be excellent for weight loss.
To stay fresh with new information and techniques for you, I continually attend seminars, workshops and retreats regarding nutrition, emotional eating and personal growth. Yet, my clients are my greatest teachers!
I live in Seattle, WA with my husband, dog and two cats. I still take ballet classes and love running with my dog, Charlie.
I look forward to speaking with you.
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