Browse some of the health coaching success stories from happy, healthy clients!
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life … Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs
“Lazy Doesn’t Run Marathons”
Meet Jess, the blogger behind Fit Chick In the City. Before working with me, Jess was what I call a “grazer”. She had a sense of what foods made her feel best, but didn’t necessarily eat them on a regular basis. In fact, her meals were more like snacks that occurred throughout the day and were driven by cravings and convenience. As a personal trainer and fitness blogger, her schedule is crazy. She is constantly on the go and her days start extremely early. She struggled with what to eat for breakfast and complained that she was uninspired in her kitchen.
When I met Jess, she was training for the NYC Marathon. After one session in particular when she proclaimed that her healthy eating had suffered because she was feeling “lazy,” I put it to her simply and said, “lazy doesn’t run marathons.” With that, a light bulb went off and the rest, as they say, is history.
At the end of our six month program, Jess had made drastic changes to her health and lifestyle. Her clothes fit better, her bloating was gone, she learned how to listen to her body and truly understand how to eat for her own ultimate wellness, she prioritizes sleep and self care, she cooks on a regular basis and grazing no longer has a place in her life.
Read more about what Jess has to say about what it’s like to work with a Health Coach …
Caroline, a blogger and photography student, came to me in a place of transition. Having recently moved to NYC, she was in an un-comfy place regarding big life changes — graduating from college, living on her own for the first time and starting her first job. All of the change and uncertainty was affecting her physical and emotional health. In fact, she says she “didn’t recognize herself at all anymore.” So she did the smart thing and sought support.
Caroline says, “perhaps the biggest thing I took away from working with a health coach might not have been anything related to diet or exercise. Marissa helped me see how important it is to do what I love, surround myself with people I care about and set aside time for myself. I found that the times when I was doing the things I love: photography, blog design, reading, painting, blogging, etc., I felt more fulfilled and in turn, thought a lot less about food and exercise.”
Read more about Caroline’s experience working with a health coach on her blog, Sweet Caroline.
“Finally Feel Clean and Whole”
In Beth’s words: “Marissa exceeded my expectations about working with a health coach. She’s positive, honest, and goes above and beyond to give a level of personalized attention and support that is unmatched. Marissa is a great role model in demonstrating how easy it is to incorporate healthy living when you have a busy schedule.”
“With Marissa, I learned that food not only affects how I look, but also my mental and emotional well-being,” Beth said.
“Priceless”
Kristin, a self-employed publicist and marketing strategist, started coaching with me because she just “wanted to feel better.” What she didn’t realize was that many of her daily habits and food choices that she thought were healthy were actually causing her migraines, afternoon snacking and allergies. We made some tiny tweaks to her diet and brought more awareness into her lifestyle choices which added up to life-changing results – no more migraines or cravings and her allergies are now under control.
“Working with Marissa has changed so much more than my eating and exercise habits – she changed the way I think. She really honed in on my individual lifestyle needs, goals and challenges, and works with me to continuously improve my health habits. For the first time, I can actually feel what my body is telling me and how to give it what it needs. I couldn’t even put a price on the value Marissa has given me.”
When we met, Katie was an aspiring health coach who needed a little nudge to get out of her own way. Six months later and she has a growing health coaching practice and confidence to boot. I think Katie tells the story best.“Interested in becoming a health coach myself, I thoroughly researched hundreds of health coaches before I approached Marissa to work with me. I wanted to be able to walk my talk and also build a thriving practice of my own, but needed support to do it all. I was drawn to Marissa’s brand and the successful business she had built. I wanted the same for myself. Working with Marissa took me from 0 to 60. Not only did Marissa encourage me to find my groove with making my own health and wellness a priority, she helped me overcome my fears about starting my own business. In just 6 short months I not only ran my first half marathon, I also launched my web site, taught my first tele-class, and started my first group coaching program. Marissa held my hand every step of the way and made what once felt impossible and overwhelming become fun and manageable!”
“Life Changing!”
As a healthy living blogger, Kara was always focused on health and nutrition, but felt challenged to make the right choices in her daily life.
She sums up our work together best:
“Working with Marissa was life-changing for me. I was doing the same things I had always done – things I thought were “right” – and getting the same (undesirable) results. She showed me how to improve the quality of my lifestyle by 1,000%…and made it seem so simple. She taught me exactly how to make positive changes toward a better lifestyle, and walked me through every single step for bettering myself, not only when it came to nutrition and exercise, but personal and professional development. All of her suggestions were personalized for me. She worked with me to set goals and made it all feel do-able, even though my life was extremely busy at the time. She opened up a whole new world to me and has helped me learn how to make healthy, clean eating a lifestyle…but at the same time, she taught me that it’s okay to go a little off course (and how to get back on track)! I feel SO much better about myself and so much happier.”
“Someone To Be Accountable To”
Nicola came to work with me simply wanting to lose weight and have more energy. She is a social worker in the public school system — a job she finds rewarding but can also be emotionally draining. Her go-to meals included pre-made comfort meals, processed foods and several diet sodas per day. Most days lunch was non-existent or she would rely on something from the school vending machine. After only three months of working together, Nicola had lost 10 pounds and had completely overcome her diet soda addiction. By the end of her program, she was juicing regularly, had started a regular exercise program and had an arsenal of easy, healthy recipes she could rely on for lunch and dinner.
As we worked together, Nicola and I devised a realistic and flexible exercise and meal schedule that worked for her. Nicola says that one of her favorite things about the program was having “someone to be accountable to.” “I really looked forward to trying new foods and recipes so that I could report back to you on my success and experience.”
“So Much More Than Food”
Say hello to Jenny, a Manhattanite-turned-Philadelphian who works in corporate consulting. Jenny’s stressful job and work travel had taken its toll on her so she sought me out to support her with a 5-10 pound weight loss goal.
As we worked together, Jenny discovered new, nutrient-dense foods and learned how to incorporate them into her daily meals – even on the road, she learned easy recipes for go-to weeknight meals, let go of the need to clean her plate at every meal (a habit she had since childhood) and finally grasped the difference between feelings of hunger vs. boredom gaining control over her cravings.
But by the end of her six-month program, Jenny was on track to make bigger, more lasting changes than just her food and eating habits as we explored her dissatisfaction in her job at the time and focused on deepening her relationship with herself.
In Jenny’s words: “I worked with Marissa initially because I thought maybe I could drop a few pounds and learn about eating healthier from someone who was certified and knew a lot more than I did about these kinds of things. From the first meeting with Marissa, I knew that we were going to touch on more than just what to eat and what not to eat. By the end of our scheduled sessions, I had realized so much more about myself and my state of well-being than I ha realized was at stake and impacting me. My life has changed drastically since meeting Marissa and I couldn’t have done it without her support and encouragement along the way!”
“A Healthier, Happier, Less-Stressed Mommy”
Sareh is a working mother of two beautiful girls! Having moved away from NYC to rural Virginia for her husband’s job, Sareh found herself at her highest weight ever. She struggled with managing her time to make healthy dinners for her family and felt the food options in her area were to blame.
By the end of Sareh’s program, she was celebrating a 17-pound weight loss (and counting!), less stress and a plan for staying on track with her new healthy habits and time management.
Sareh says, “Not only did Marissa help me streamline my days to include healthy meals and workouts, but our bi-monthly meetings were a great way for me to de-stress just by talking out some of my frustrations. Toward the end of my 6-month session with Marissa, my dad passed away unexpectedly. I have to say that her support was imperative to me not backsliding into emotional eating or giving up during a tumultuous time. I really don’t think I can appreciate her any more for helping me tune into myself and create a better, happier, less-stressed mother to my kids.”
“No More Food Stress”
Natasha suffered from “food stress,” or not knowing what to eat. She also wanted to get in shape and lose some weight to prepare her body for a second pregnancy. When she learned she was pregnant after session 2, we shifted priorities and set new goals to focus on making her pregnancy healthy and helping her deal with morning sickness. Natasha, a writer based in Washington, D.C., explains our work together:
My work with Marissa has been nothing less than life-changing. Her entire philosophy and manner took away my food stress and gave me greater options, not fewer. Incorporating Marissa’s personalized tips and advice, I now naturally crave healthier food. Marissa put me on a healthy path, a bonus when I became pregnant during our work. I know now that this pregnancy will be exponentially healthier than my last. I feel so much better. Marissa is a great problem-solver! For instance, she gave me terrific tools so I don’t have to rely on coke and soda crackers for morning sickness. She took me off the empty carb and sugar rollercoaster. A healthy weight and a healthy diet are imperative for pregnancy and for the future of my family. I only wish I’d had Marissa on my team for my first pregnancy. I know she’ll continue to be a great resource for myself and my children as my family grows.”
“Bored No More”
Lori, a NYC-based photographer, had the healthy eating thing down but was trying to fight boredom. Like most busy New Yorkers, she had a hectic schedule and needed to get control of it, instead of letting it control her. As we worked together, Lori learned to tune into her body and listen to what it was asking for. In the process, she made a shocking discovery — “what I thought was boredom with my diet, turned out to be an underlying need to spend more time in a warmer climate during the colder months,” she said. As a result of our work together, Lori ended up making some changes that would allow her the warm climate she craved. “I feel more well-rounded both with my diet and in my life,” she said.
What Happy Clients Are Saying
“Marissa was fantastic to work with. I came into it with some suspicion, having had weird in/off dieting habits for many years, not thinking that a nutritionist would be able to get to the deep seated issues that drive my eating, but Marissa was a lovely combo of coach, knowledgeable nutritionist, cheerleader and took an unshakable stand for my health, getting me to look at food and my own habits and thinking about food in a new light. She’s also funny and relatable and put me at ease to open up.”She also really “got” me after a few sessions and was able to point out that I tend to take on new projects and habits with gusto but then exhaust myself, so she encouraged me to take baby steps I’d be successful at and could grow on, versus biting off too much for me to chew and get demoralized later, and she gave me the tools to keep on track with my little changes, some of which I’ve kept after working with her, which I consider a great success. She never judged – just listened, heard me, gave me advice, and gently but firmly guided me back on the right path, and didn’t let me get away with my usual sneaky ways of talking myself out of doing something. Was great to be accountable to her and celebrate my successes with her each week which I found super motivating. I’d recommend her to anyone looking to revolutionize their way of thinking about food. Oh, and I’m no longer afraid of the kitchen – a huge thing for me!! I can’t even believe myself that that is true.” — Joanne, Business Owner & Singer, Brooklyn, NY
“Freedom From Fad Diets and the Pounds are Staying Off”
“I did fad diets like Nutrisystem and tried juice cleanses in addition to normal workouts and was seeing results for the short term. Then the pounds would start creeping back up. I realized that what I was doing was not healthy and that I needed to be more conscious of what I was putting in my body. Now I’m making healthier choices throughout the day, eating a better breakfast and have more energy as a result and the p unds are staying off!” — Jenna, Attorney, NYC
“I Never Thought I Could Do It”
“With Marissa’s program I’ve been able to make several changes to my diet and lifestyle that I never imagined I would. Best of all, they’ve been the catalysts to my 7-pound weight loss (and still going). I’ve started cooking at home more which is something I swore I’d never do and I have a consistent gym routine, even adding HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which was new to me. I’ve started eating better-for-me breakfasts and trying new foods, like quinoa. All of this has become a part of my new healthier lifestyle and is something I know I’ll sustain for a lifetime.”
Julie, News Producer
“Just What I Needed”
“I just wanted to thank you for a great week. I enjoyed the Real Food Reboot–and feel very good. In general I think it was just what I needed. First- you are incredibly professional–delivery on time- everything packaged well and labelled. Your positive energy was felt in all aspects of the “process”. – Laura, Finance Executive
“More Than Just the Numbers on the Scale”
“I started Marissa’s program with the focus of losing 10 lbs and my permanent stomachache. What I also got was better fitting clothes and no more stomach pain. On top of that, I now have the understanding of how what I EAT affects how I FEEL. I never realized that it goes far beyond just the number on the scale. Marissa helped me realize which foods make me feel my best and which ones don’t” – Lani, Style Consultant, Real Life Style
“I’m Eating MORE!”
“I have easily made major changes in my life. These are not temporary changes. I know that what I have learned will last the rest of my life. I have lost a few stubborn pounds without counting calories. I’m actually eating more!” – Ronni, Vocalist
“A New Relationship with Healthy Eating”
“Thank you for helping me develop a new relationship with healthy eating. You helped me learn that there is a different way to look at what eating healthy really means and how, once you begin, your own body wisdom helps out along the way. Changing old habits is very difficult. Correct that, I thought it had to be difficult. You helped me every step of the way. First with the logic, second, with recipes and third with your ongoing patience” – Alice, Real Estate Agent
“I Look Forward to Cooking”
“Marissa tailored a nutrition and wellness program specific to my particular lifestyle. Working with her, I used the knowledge I gained to achieve my goals of losing weight, increasing my daily energy and feeling more confident about my food choices without feeling like I am making sacrifices. I now look forward to cooking, which is something I loathed before. Marissa showed me exactly how to incorporate healthy and flavorful eating into my everyday life.” – Tiffany, Corporate Attorney
