Today we’d like to introduce you to Renee Jones

Hi Renee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I spent 40 years on the Diet Yo-Yo — just up and down the scale and clothes sizes, wandering through all the diets and plans, pills, potions, and powders trying to lose the weight AND keep it off. It didn’t work, and my diet left me tired, hungry, and cranky all the time. No wonder I failed.

Along the way, I earned a Master’s degree in counseling to help others work through their issues to heal, grow, and reach their goals. I knew what to do. I could help others deal with self-sabotage and blocks, and I’d done it myself in other areas. Yet this one thing I could not manage. I could not find a way to overcome emotional or stress eating.

Once I did figure it out, I knew I was not alone.. Emotional eating is a thing! So many give up on their health because emotional eating sabotages their efforts, and they don’t know how to overcome that drive to eat for comfort or stress relief. “Feel mad, sad, frustrated, lonely? Have a cookie. You’ll feel better!” And we do feel better for about a minute, but then we’re left with feeling bad about ourselves – plus the joy of an increase in our waistline.

We are not taught how to manage our feelings effectively, and we have an entire industry of “comfort food.” We treat what ails us with our favorite sweet or salty snack, and we think eating is our only effective option.

Once I knew how to overcome my own emotional and stress eating, I knew I had to share as a speaker and coach.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Oh gosh, no!

Well, maintaining my goal weight, yes, that has been simple. The business of speaking and coaching, that’s been a challenge.

Many people are like me – they’ve tried every diet and exercise program going. They’ve tried for so long to lose weight and to keep it off that they find it really difficult to believe it’s even possible much less sustainable. All most of us know is doing the diet to lose some weight, and then maintenance is simply a slow regaining until we have to do another diet. Statistics are not on our side for maintaining weight loss for more than a year.

So they’re a bit skeptical, and I so understand that because I was as well.

We also think we can do it ourselves if we just will. We know how to do it. It’s doing it that is the issue, and we fall prey to self-sabotage. We’re addressing the wrong issue. It’s not the diet. It’s not exercise. There was a study at Stanford, DietFits, and they found that the specific diet isn’t the issue. The real issue is overcoming emotional eating, and we are not taught how to do that. In fact, from birth, we are taught to soothe ourselves by putting something in our mouths. Think about it, when a baby cries, we put something in its mouth – the bottle, the breast, or a pacifier. Oral soothing works. It’s just that it isn’t the only thing that works.

Then there’s plenty of competition. The marketing can be really slick, too. Others, like me, are coaches rather than marketers, and it’s a whole different mind and skill set. I can tailor a program specific to you and then support you along your journey, which makes a huge difference for success. In training, I was focused on gaining and honing my skills in that area rather than the business side. Slick often sells better, so business had to become more of a focus.

The average person, however, is looking to get what they want and need. They’re trying to figure out how to choose, what to choose, and whom to trust from the plethora of options. My task is to earn their trust and then help them achieve their goals.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I’m a speaker and coach, and I help frustrated dieters eliminate emotional eating and break the Diet Yo-Yo.

I think what sets me apart is that first, I know this struggle intimately. I lived it for about 39 years too many. I’ve been there struggling, feeling bad about myself, staring down the chocolate chips in the pantry, trying every diet, pill, potion, and powder out there, and feeling hopeless that I could ever reach my goal much less maintain it. Yet I did reach my goal in 2012, and I’ve never gained it back.

Second, I know how to help someone reach their goals. I know that because I was professionally trained — a Master’s, a clinical residency, and training in classic and contemporary methods of transformation.

Third, I have years of real-world experience. I’ve been coaching for more than a decade, and before that, I spent 20 years as a hospital, hospice, and behavioral health chaplain. I have helped hundreds of people overcome emotional or stress eating and other self-sabotaging blocks so they can lose weight AND keep it off.

What do you like and dislike about the city?

For Arlington, TX

I love Arlington for the mixture of old and new. There are high-end neighborhoods, and there are parts that have the lovely rural aspects right in the middle of “town.” There are long-time homesteads with horses, donkeys, cows, chickens, and turkeys on my street along with new homes, and they blend charmingly. It gives that hometown feel.

Arlington is “Where the Metroplex comes to play.” We have Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, as well as sports venues for Texas Rangers baseball, the Dallas Cowboys football, the XFL’s Arlington Renegades, and the International Bowling Hall of Fame. One intriguing place, now a small university, was once the Top O’ Hill Terrace Tea Room, but tea wasn’t its main focus unless the police or Texas Rangers showed up. It was actually a thriving casino, complete with an escape tunnel and secret rooms to hide the gambling equipment. We have our skeletons —

Arlington is also home to a huge mission effort, Mission Arlington. They build bridges to those in need offering emergency assistance, a twelve-step program, counseling, and dental and medical clinics. I watched the genesis of this effort in 1986, and the people of Arlington continue to generously provide volunteers and resources to help those in need.

Arlington is midway between Fort Worth and Dallas, so we have many options and easy access for restaurants, theatre, museums, and historic places like the Fort Worth Stockyards. It’s a big small town in the end, so it feels like home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.backyourownbag.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/packyourownbag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/packyourownbag
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReneeJonesPackYourOwnBag
• Other: https://youtu.be/8bE5XLGNPF0?si=_N3xi5Z1mncBZwF0 TEDx Talk