A new year, new opportunities. Without practice, rich in experience

A new year, new opportunities, new happiness. This new year this is really true for me. On December thirty-one I closed the doors of my practice. After working as a weight consultant for four years, I decided to quit.

Six years ago I had big plans for my practice, I had mapped out a whole path for myself. However this dream stranded and then I had to make decisions.

Starting a new study

The plan to study weight management was born during our trip in 2011. After years of working in healthcare, I decided to stop working in order to be at home for our (chronically ill) sons. I did want to start a study.

Actually a bit because I felt that outsiders thought it was just ‘weird’that I became a stay-at-home mom and so now I could say that I was doing a study again. Coming from a healthcare background and always being very interested in health and nutrition, the choice to study weight management was easily made. I took this study at the LOI and after a year of hard work and learning I took the exam.

I was not the only one

Even during college, the topic ‘ marketing yourself’ came up. I couldn’t find anyone in my immediate environment who was a weight consultant and actually never heard anyone about it at all. Until I took the exam and found myself in the exam room with at least 170 other people. Clearly I was not the only one. When I got my papers, I had my plans all ready.

I was able to start my practice and then also started looking around me. To my great surprise there were already at least 5 weight consultants in my village and the other surrounding villages.

Not a protected profession

In addition, every gym in the area turned out to have its own eating ideas, several celebrities were launching a weight loss book at the time, and it turned out that the profession of weight consultant, was not a protected profession. Everyone can call themselves experts by experience and therefore nutritionists. The competition was fierce.

In practice

But anyway, full of spontaneity and enthusiasm, I started my own practice and in the beginning it actually went really well. I had many clients who lost many kilos’s and began to make a name for themselves. In the meantime I also followed the training to coach children and saw the future brightly.

the apple symbolized my practice.

Losing weight within a few weeks

And then the requests came in, from mothers asking if I could help their child lose weight in a few weeks (summer) vacation. I noticed that the method I worked with. Slow ( 500 grams per week) but effective, so no yo-yo effect, just isn’t of this time anymore. One always wants to lose weight quickly, but now it seems to be even worse. My ‘change your lifestyle’ method does not appeal to people at all anymore.

People want to lose weight fast, now and then lose 5 kilos immediately.

Planning

I also counseled many people online this time. Especially lately, this has been a lot easier to schedule. After all, I have a home practice and with children, it is difficult to schedule appointments at home. I also noticed that I became more and more enthusiastic about my blog site. I am getting more and more readers and collaborations, that I am actually working full time on this.

Actually, I noticed that the positive thing I was doing six years ago when I started my studies started to bother me more and more. After good conversations I decided to close the doors of my practice.

Regret

Whether I regret the courses I took? No, certainly not. Sometimes I think, I regret the amount of time I put in.

I could have given that attention better to my children. But absolutely no regrets. We – as a family- have become so much healthier because of it.

We eat healthier and exercise more. Plus I learned how it all works to set up my own business, so I have absolutely no regrets.

What about this year

Being bored, now that my practice is closed, is certainly not going to bore me either. I also no longer feel obliged to be busy for the outside world. Lately I have been running my blog site full-time and having so much fun doing this. Now I can also do this with heart and soul. A new year with new opportunities.

Keep them coming.