As nutrition coaches, we have the privilege of building close relationships with our clients as we help guide them towards their goals - be those related to aesthetics or fat loss goals, performance goals, or goals of optimal health. Along the way, as we work on building a better relationship with food and our habits, we get to share parts of our stories that are relevant to our coaching styles. We’re taking time this year to share more about us, our nutrition journeys and transformations, our road to becoming nutrition coaches and educators, and the amazing clients we have the privilege of working with. 

Our capacity to live a fulfilled life starts and ends with how we treat ourselves, how we treat others and the mindset that we carry with us through it all. Change doesn’t happen in one fell swoop, it’s about the seemingly small steps we take along the way that add up over time.

HOW I BECAME A NUTRITION COACH

After enduring a rigorous program at one of the top design schools in the country and starting a career as a designer, I realized that what I really loved was supporting people in being their best. While I could do that in some aspects of my work as a designer, it was less direct than I wanted and I decided to turn my lifelong passion for health and fitness into a career. I still wasn’t exactly sure what that looked like, but after meeting Kate many years ago and learning about the work that she was doing, I knew that I wanted in and I haven’t looked back since.

With experience as a lifelong athlete, yogi, meal prep kitchen manager, CrossFit coach, and everything in between, I think it’s apparent that I believe in a holistic approach to health. This belief, along with my love for learning and supporting others in living their best life, has brought me here to this career of helping others do the same. I believe that nutrition is about so much more than the food you put into your body and that building habits in all areas of your life is what creates long-term change.

WORKING AS A NUTRITION COACH

One of my biggest missions as a coach is to encourage my clients to embrace their own journey and to recognize that it is just that - a journey that takes time and patience. We are always a work in progress. Our health is personal and our challenges and experiences are our own.

I feel so grateful to do the work that I do! My favorite part of coaching is witnessing when clients feel freedom in their relationship with food and the transformation that clients experience as they pursue their goals and understand how good they can feel all the time! And I believe that reaching your goals can be enjoyable - no crash diets, perfectionism, or “off limits” foods list required.

For those reasons, I love working with:

• Those committed to making and maintaining sustainable changes beyond the number on the scale and focusing on building better habits, their relationship with food, and how they feel, look, and perform.

• Those who want to get stronger, faster, and fitter but are struggling to make their nutrition match their performance goals.

• Those who are ready to let go of a mindset of “bad” foods, cheat days, and perpetual dieting and implement a more flexible and streamlined approach to both nutrition and meal prep.

MY OWN NUTRITION JOURNEY

As I think back on my own personal journey with my health nutrition, I can see that it has never really been about aesthetic goals, but more about performing and continuing to evolve as the best version of myself through all seasons of life. After diving deeper into learning more about nutrition and starting to work with a coach of my own, I was able to really dial in on what I was eating and pay attention to my nutrition outside of the gym. Having the accountability, knowledge, and support of a coach allowed me to understand my personal nutrition and that has made all the difference in how I perform and recover.

In recent years, as I’ve shifted away from athletic competition and have focused more on my overall health (and having a healthy pregnancy and being an example to my baby), my goals of looking and feeling my best haven’t changed. In fact, my nutrition has become a source of consistency and habit for me that allows me to handle a really demanding schedule, balancing several jobs (because I love what I do!), and a husband in a demanding career; and it has for sure set me up for this new chapter of motherhood. For someone who lives a really jam-packed life, understanding how to manage my own nutrition has been crucial in helping me balance my busy lifestyle with my continued quest for being my best self.

MEET MY CLIENT: Will Cole

Nutrition Client Testimonial from a busy dad with fat loss goals and goals towards improved overall health

As a very busy dad and husband with a full-time job and a demanding schedule, Will’s goals were in learning how to make himself a priority again by regaining control of his health so he could show up as his best self for those in his life. Working with Will was such a joy because he was not only committed to the process of change but also to the process of learning along the way in order to get there. He had an open mind, asked a lot of great questions, was communicative, and trusted me and the process, even when he felt unsure at times. As someone who was fairly new to macro tracking, he learned how to use it as a tool for aligning with his goals and not only dropped 35 pounds but over 18 inches in his body measurements. He improved his sleep habits, learned how to navigate many busy weekends out of town traveling for his kids’ activities, and improved many health markers in his blood work. Along with that, he built sustainable habits to maintain the changes that he made and continues to live his best life as Super Dad!

Here’s what he had to say about working with me:

“I was fortunate enough to stumble across KLN, and the experience has been life changing. Over the years, like most of us, I have read or been told what I thought was the proper way to diet/eat and how to lose weight. While there is a lot of good information out there, there is so much about it that it is hard to know what will work for you.

That is where KLN shines.

I reached out to KLN because I wanted to get my life back and in control, and lose weight for me and my family. I had a lengthy discussion with Kate, read the coach biographies, and decided to try Coach Diana. Was Coach Diana a good fit? No, she was a FANTASTIC fit.

After several orthopedic surgeries/rehabs, work and a career, and a very busy family life (three kids and their schedules that are nothing short of hectic and busy) took me away from working out, eating what I thought was healthy, resulting in added unhealthy pounds that accumulated over the years. I tried several times to get back into a healthy lifestyle, working out and eating what I thought was healthy and right to lose weight, but it never seemed to work for me.

Next comes the COVID pandemic, and like so many people, it resulted in even more unhealthy pounds for me. To be honest, it seemed like it wasn’t possible and wasn’t even worth trying to get back to a healthy weight, as life was spiraling out of control, but that is where Coach Diana shines. She has taught me to be accountable every day, and hiccups in the process are expected and ok. She has taught me how to track my daily intake and what it does to/for me, how to adjust what I eat to what I like to eat, how to track the number of hours of sleep I get, and how important sleep is in the overall process of health.

Coach Diana is always there when I need her, providing the necessary guidance/support/information in a clear, concise, and understandable way and helps me get back on track if I veer of course. I am still working towards better health every day, but to date I have lost 30+ pounds, dropped sizes in clothes, and feel the best and healthiest I have ever felt thanks to KLN and Coach Diana. I cannot say enough about Coach Diana or KLN, but thanks to them I now have my life back, have control of my life, and know that I am doing all I can to be there for my family now. Thank you Coach Diana and KLN!”

ADVICE FROM A NUTRITION COACH

No matter what your goals are, my best advice as a nutrition coach is that there’s never a good time to start and learning what works best for you is really the key to success. There’s a lot of information out there, but when we can learn to listen to our own bodies and embrace the messy parts of the process, we never have to worry about keeping up with the Kardashians or the next “best” diet fad. Being our best selves is about just that, being our best and nobody else’s.

We are committed coaches who work with committed clients and love nothing more than helping our clients find a sustainable approach to nutrition that allows them to work towards their goals without white-knuckling their way through yo-yo diets. Learn more about our KLN team here!