​I want to talk about a type of loss that isn't weight loss and yet it is profoundly linked to weight loss. It is the feeling of loss that people may experience when they once had lost significant amounts of weight, subsequently regained it often ending up with even more excess weight than their original weight. It is a loss of the loss if this mak...

What if your weight gain or weight loss has nothing to do with what you do eat, don't eat, want to eat, can eat, can't eat? Or, has everything to do with those things? But these reasons have nothing to do with intent or choice.What if there are many reasons outside of the food and eating discussion that is impacting on your weight?The weight loss a...

What you have to say is as important as what I have to offer. While I am knowledgeable in the field of weight management, my clients are the experts of their internal worlds. Rarely spoken about in weight loss programs are the individual's feelings of loss frustration and despair that can accompany weight issues. Sometimes this presents as a palpab...

 I really feel for anyone caught in the middle of this ideological, physical and emotional conflict. Lets say that for whatever reason you have decided you would like to lose some weight. And, you have decided this for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with image or vanity. Sure you may also feel you would like to fit in to your cloth...

As the weather starts to warm up, I brace myself for the endless advertisements urging people to get ready for a beach body, or to go on a spring clean detox. A detox that I think is a bit of an insult to the mighty liver and kidneys that do it 24/7 all year round all by themselves without the aid an expensive tonic full of ingredients we may or ma...

The idea that counselling will unravel the "root cause" of ones core issues, or will unearth the "underlying issue" somewhat troubles me. As a practicing counsellor and psychotherapist of many years, I worry that this sentiment over simplifies the complex nature of being human.These ideas run the risk of clients feeling frustrated, and more worryin...

My life as a saxophone player in a rock and roll band and what is has to do with my work as a counsellor and Psychotherapist. It wasn't long ago that I was a saxophone player in a band. Playing in bands is something I have done my whole adult life. It is something that I absolutely love and am extremely passionate about and if I am not playing I lo...

One of my first jobs after leaving school was working in a bookshop. I look back on those days and it reminds me of how dangerous it is to make assumptions about people. I had a fertile imagination and I noticed within the five or ten minutes of an interaction with a customer I had made all sorts of assumptions. For example a lady may have put out ...

Self-compassion seems a bit like a buzzword these days. And buzzwords at times can feel a bit meaningless if they don't feel appropriate or relevant. It is as if they are inserted into conversations a bit randomly.I've been reflecting on the practice of self-compassion in the context of weight management, and I think it could be very useful for our...

Books that are written by people who have had successful weight loss often frustrate me. They frustrate me because the books often get promoted and sold to billions of vulnerable people with weight issues with the implications that the author "knows" or has found the holy grail, the solution, or the "way" to successful weight loss. And, if they are...

I have been a counsellor/ psychotherapist and coach specialising in the field of weight management for many years. Sometimes clients come to see me about weight loss, sometimes it is about weight gain and sometimes it is about long-term weight maintenance. Sometimes weight issues brought them for their initial appointment but bubbling underneath th...

"Why well meaning comments and advice generally backfires when someone is tying to manage their weight."Scenarios like these play out over and over again in households across the country. Scenarios that seem innocent enough at face value, actually wreak havoc on peoples' emotional wellbeing, damage relationships, and have the potential to make peop...

As I was walking around the city today a thought I've long had, started to become more concrete. It is to do with the muddled messages both internally and externally that are wrapped up in weight loss. Just for a second, take a look around and notice how everyone is absolutely unique except for of course identical twins. Think for example of your h...

When I created my practice "When Weight Matters" I was thinking about the gulf between movements that claim our weight shouldn't' matter at all and movements that believe managing what is considered a healthy weight is essential. In between these two stances are many other factors.On the one hand focusing on body weight is fraught with the entangle...

In the weight loss world there is a relentless dialogue about what one should eat, what one shouldn't eat, when one should eat ,when one shouldn't eat, what type of exercise is best, we don't do enough exercise, maybe too much exercise is not good either and endless variations of the above should's and shouldn'ts. This is an example of the external...

As a counsellor working in this field I do understand that eating is not always physically driven and their are many emotional reasons one might overeat. Comfort, loneliness, boredom, fatigue and habit, are among many of the reasons one may overeat. I am in no way meaning to be dismissive of these very profound and complicated drivers of non hungry...

Kick the weight loss goals (the down side of goal setting) Most weight loss programs are based around setting goals, achieving goals and reaching goals. I am not so sure this always a good idea. It works really well for some people and that is fantastic, for them. It works and helps them. But for many others it is just another thing that adds to fe...

I would like to share with you a thought thats been building for many years now. Not only is this a thought but it is a rewrite of an age old saying. "You are NOT what you eat". Its even confronting putting this in print as I accept this is a challenging and indeed perhaps confronting notion. I don't dispute for one second that good quality food an...

 Courses running throughout 2014 at Sydney University Continuing Education Center. http://cce.sydney.edu.au/course/WLSS I've been working in the field of weight management for a long time now and one thing that never ceases to amaze me is just how apparently simple and yet how incredibly complicated weight management is. I suppose if it were t...

I've noticed that more and more food and recipes are being sold and promoted as "guilt free". What does this mean? There is an assumption that we will do something wrong if we eat something not labeled "guilt free". That somehow we should feel shame, we should self-flagellate, confess, apologize, promise we wont do it again. Guilt is is a painful e...