Wellness Coach

I have a diploma in psychology from the University of Darmstadt in clinical and educational psychology. I also hold a degree in communication from the University of Jena.

I am currently pursuing my license as a personal trainer as well as a certification in nutritional counselling. After that I plan to complete my PhD in psychology.

I received training and certification as a coach from CTI Co-Active Coaching (12 month coach education) as well as from ComTeam Gmund (12 month coach education). On top of that, I received a 12 month systemic coach training from ISB Wiesloch.

I love learning and had the chance to attend many trainings on managing personal change, personality assessments, counselling, self leadership, continuous improvement, rhetorical technique, self management, issue based problem solving, assessing and measuring status quo and progress as well as seminars on personal style.

I founded two companies (2003 in Spain, 2012 in Germany), and worked as a freelancer as well as an employee in many different countries.  I got to support many people achieve their goals as a change management and leadership consultant as well as a coach for Accenture, Deloitte and Porsche Consulting.

I started reading about nutrition when I was 12. Since then I tried all kinds of diets and forms of eating: high carb low fat, vegetarian, raw – including raw meat (while living in Urugay), Paleo, no milk products, mediterranean (while living in Spain), fruitarian (while living in Thailand), no packaged sweets, short fasts, long fasts, 2 meals a day, 5 meals a day…

The only diet I ever tried was the HCG diet and fasting (2 weeks). I was pretty happy with the results of the HCG diet, but I always bounced back to my original weight.

I started the path towards my current way of eating about 5 years ago. It took me a while to refine it so it would support all my nutritional goals and be doable – even while travelling. It won’t leave me hungry and tastes amazing. Now I am able to allow myself to eat cake, cookies and ice cream without feeling guilty –  while losing weight and gaining muscle. I also got a lot better with emotional eating and sugar cravings (and I found ways to eat around cravings that soothed my sweet tooth without sugar – and without gaining weight). My goal for my 40th birthday was to look better than ever. In some ways I reached it.
(Well, I age – don’t we all?  – but it helps to know that science says my diet will help me stay 10 years younger or even more compared to regular ways of eating.)

I was never really overweight – probably due to digestive issues. But I was scared to gain weight as people usually do as they age. Knowing that this will not be a problem with my way of eating is a big relief for me. (Some research says there is a possibility it will help me with menopause. Well, I will write about it when the time has come!)

Even though I was not overweight, I did struggle with a negative body image most of my life. I have a pear shaped body and with those curves I just did not look like the women in the magazines. What helped me was finding out about how to dress for my body shape. I took my first course in styling with 15 years and went on with self-studies and dressing myself and others until I started www.styled247.com in 2012 to help a wider audience to find their personal style. I believe that dressing for your body, personality and lifestyle can not only help tremendously with body image and self-confidence. It can also be a creative outlet, help you be more successful or simply save you time and money.

What also helped with my body image was moving. With an 60-80 hour work schedule I found it difficult to motivate myself to workout though. Or do anything fitness related at all. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to do something that I love instead of trying to force myself to do stuff other people recommend. I tried yoga and hated it. I tried jogging and got bored quickly.
Then I made some changes to the way I live and work. I mostly dance now as a workout and add in some strength conditioning. My husband and I often go to the gym together. It helps us to stay motivated. And we love competing who can plank longer. Dancing is an amazing way for me to connect with my body and to de-stress. (The way I dance I strengthen a lot of muscles that are hard to train in a gym)

De-stressing was also one of the reasons I started to work on making better use of the time I spend in bed. In other words: to manage my sleep. (What were you thinking?) I also learned about hypnosis, meditation and other relaxation techniques. As I work and travel a lot, I learned to use them „in between“ and in waiting times.

You will find me constantly reading fitness, psychology and nutrition articles and books or watching conferences and interviews with scientists and practitioners from the world of nutrition, psychology and fitness podcasts. I hope to be able to share some of the most interesting and relevant information with you through Tips from a Wellness Coach.

Through my extensive research in nutrition and using myself as a guinea pig I am convinced that there is no single “right answer” for everyone for nutrition and fitness. What I do know is that exercise alone — in other words, exercise without nutrition or lifestyle changes — does not work as all that well. Especially when you are looking at changes in body composition, such as losing fat or gaining muscle. (Several studies, including some done at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, have shown pretty conclusively that exercise on its own produces pretty disappointing results if there is not a good nutrition plan).

So what is the right nutrition for someone? Even that can be tough to figure out as current nutritional needs vary based on genetics, epigenetics, lifestyle, fitness level and fitness goals, medical conditions and treatments, previous nutrition, climate, season, sunlight exposure as well as psychological factors (and interactions between these) – there are some good options that work for most. But I found that there are some tested principles to be healthier which can be tailored to all kinds of tastes and lifestyles: Enough protein, healthy fats and vegetables.

My wellness coaching programs are based on research in psychology and brain science. It is not enough to know the science and figure out why and how a different way of eating, relaxing or exercising would be good for that one person. What is important is to make that change stick. No matter if my clients need accountability, a change in mindset or replace old habits for healthier ones – what is important is to use their brain to work with them and not against them.

As a wellness coach I support my clients figure out which kind of lifestyle makes them feel their healthiest and happiest – and motivate and inspire them to stick with their plan. I work with clients  who want to lose weight (from 5 to 200 pounds), those struggling with emotional eating, those with chronic conditions (diabetes, cancer, acne and more), those who want their diet help improve their performance at work or just prevent burnout as well as those who just want to “clean up” their diets and don’t know where to start. My passion for helping others live a more purposeful, healthier and more active life is evident in my Wellness Coach Blogs and my hands-on, personalized approach I take to wellness coaching.