Developing a Healthy Relationship with Food: Claudia’s Story

Claudia is a busy working professional who began to experience unexplained weight gain, despite being pretty physically active and attuned to what she was putting in her body. However, her attention became something that was ruining her relationship with food—obsessively counting calories and macros, and feeling like a failure if she indulged in a craving. She knew she needed to work towards developing a healthy relationship with food again. 

After her primary care physician referred her to Culina Health, Claudia began working with Stacey Wiesenthal, MS, RD to come up with a sustainable plan for weight loss, as well as to develop more healthy eating habits, without veering into restriction or perfectionism territory.

Read on to hear from Claudia about how she achieved weight loss, the challenges she overcame along the way, and how her outlook on food and diet have evolved since working with a registered dietitian!

Understanding Weight Gain, Rewiring Patterns

What led you to seek help from an RD?

I had been experiencing rapid, unexplained weight gain for a couple of years. I went to see my primary care provider to run some tests and labs, and try and understand what was happening with my body. My labs looked healthy, and she confirmed that nothing was overtly amiss with my health that would explain my weight gain. She suggested I see a registered dietitian at Culina Health to go a bit deeper on my diet and lifestyle to learn more about my weight gain and see what could be done.

What was your relationship with food and your body like prior to working with an RD?

Before coming to Culina Health, I was very unhappy with my body, and would often try to combat my weight gain with aggressive and restrictive diets, purely with the goal of weight loss. However, the second I “slipped up,” I would binge eat to assuage my guilt and shame. This led me to feel like I was constantly on a diet, and constantly mad at myself—but not changing anything about my weight. At the time, I did not have a healthy relationship with food.

Working with a Culina Health Registered Dietitian

What plan of action did you and your RD come up with?

When I first began working with Stacey, our first step was simply looking at what I was eating in a day and discussing healthy habits. For a few weeks I would take pictures of all the food I ate and at the end of the week we would discuss how I felt after each meal and how I could change it to feel better. Quickly, I was better able to do these exercises on my own, and monitoring my food intake, even for a short period of time, opened my eyes to some eating habits I hadn’t been aware of that I worked with Stacey to change. It also helped me with mindful eating and becoming more present with my eating habits. 

What challenges did you encounter on your nutrition journey and how did you overcome them? 

A few months into working with my RD, I injured my ankle and had to be on crutches for three months! I am only now starting to be able to do physical activity again. Exercise and moving my body had been a cornerstone of my health and wellness journey because of the endorphins it created. So not being able to work out or move my body much was extremely difficult. I also began to spiral a bit about whether the sustained weight loss I was seeing was really progress or if I was just losing muscle. 

Ultimately, working with Stacey and having her support was crucial for navigating the period of my journey where I couldn’t do as much physical activity. She helped me come up with exercises I was able to do safely, and we found that I didn’t gain any weight back, likely due to the development of the positive eating habits we had worked on together. Because the optimizations to my diet that hadn’t been working previously were already put in motion, I was able to sustain my weight loss in a healthy way.

What was the most surprising thing about your nutrition care journey?

It shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was— the fact that the hard part of my weight loss journey was not each individual day, but rather the consistency in sticking to healthy eating habits. It has been pretty easy day-to-day to follow the advice my RD has given me and the plan we have come up with, but it’s also easy to view every day as a cheat day and backslide into unhealthy eating habits. In some ways, this journey has been so much easier than I expected, but in other ways, it’s been harder.

What specific meal plans, diet changes, and/or lifestyle habits did you make in tandem with your RD?

The most significant changes I made were understanding the composition of what I was eating in pursuit of a balanced meal, working to acknowledge when I am full, and to stop eating when I am full. In short, I was learning to listen to my body. 

Results and Achievements

Since working with an RD, what specific changes to your health have occurred?

Since working with Stacey, I have lost about 15 pounds. My clothes fit better, I have more energy, and am feeling strong and good in my body.

What types of changes to your life and mindset have occurred since working with an RD?

Historically I have had a hard time leaving food on my plate, due to how my family ate when I was growing up. Learning that this is in fact ok and not wasteful has been really hard for me, but I’ve been able to do it. If I get full partway through a meal, I put it in the fridge, and can enjoy the rest of it at another time, when I’m hungry! I have also become a lot kinder to myself. My RD always says that some food is good for your body and some is good for your mind. I no longer feel guilty if I have a day where I need to eat a chocolate bar, and a small deviation from my ideal eating pattern no longer sends me into a tailspin, because I know that my baseline is a balanced diet. Stacey has helped me realize that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that small actions in the right direction are better than striving for perfection. I now also understand so much more about healthy living—it’s not a fad diet or an ultra-restrictive lifestyle…it’s balance. 

What would you say to others who might be considering a journey with nutrition?

I have always been a big advocate for therapy, and I think seeing a RD should fall into that category, too. I think everyone has something to learn about how they fuel their body, and the perspective of having someone you don’t know, who has the educational background supporting you is immensely helpful, regardless of where you are in your life and what you want. No matter where someone is in life, I think we can all benefit from developing a healthy relationship with food.

Hear Directly from Stacey Wiesenthal, MS, RD

What was it like working with Claudia on her health and nutrition journey?

I have been so lucky to be able to work with Claudia on her health and wellness journey. She came to Culina initially because she was looking to lose weight, but I think she found so much more. Like many others, Claudia had tried diets in the past and she would be successful, however these changes were short lived, because the changes weren’t sustainable. In each of our sessions, we have been focusing on strengthening her relationship with food, while ensuring she felt comfortable in her body and working towards weight loss and long-term weight management. Claudia has been very engaged and dedicated throughout her work together, and committed to putting in the time and effort to make changes. 

Throughout our work and education, Claudia became more aware of what she was eating and started incorporating more non-starchy veggies with her meals. She became more aware of mindless snacking, and she also worked very hard on allowing some indulgences which may have been restricted in the past. Claudia has been able to maintain her goals and healthy habits even when life has thrown challenges her way—such as grief, physical injury, unexpected work travel, as well as positive testing grounds for her newfound habits, such as social celebrations. She’s achieved so much by allowing herself grace, ditching a restriction mindset, nourishing herself with nutrient-dense, filling foods, and committing to a consistent exercise routine. I’m so proud of Claudia and know these habits are here to stay!

How can other people navigating similar challenges to Claudia get help?

Whether someone is looking for help navigating sustainable weight loss, maintaining a routine amid injury or difficult times, or just wants to develop a healthier relationship with food, book a session with a Culina Health RD today. Our diverse team of providers speak different languages, come from different cultures, have different specialties, and are based in different locations—this allows us to match our patients based on the provider who will best understand them and their needs. Plus, Culina Health is in-network with most major insurance providers, making it accessible and affordable for the vast majority of our patients.