Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kaitlin Kreczmer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Kaitlin, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

By the time I was 29 years old, I weighed over 250 pounds. And I say over 250 pounds because I had become so ashamed of my size, and my body, that I had stopped weighing myself.

I spent most of my life feeling like I was the girl on the outside looking in – never quite having the appearance and body that society said was acceptable or desirable. Society made me feel like I was different, that I didn’t belong. I grew up with flaming red hair at a time when red hair wasn’t popular, I had braces, head gear, glasses…all of the things…and I was the fat kid – in the 80s and 90s, a time when the ideal body was pencil thin.

Because society and the media suggested that somebody who looked like me wasn’t enough, I believed them and so did my peers. They teased me, ostracized me, criticized me, excluded me, so I turned inward and I also turned to food. Food became my happy place and my best friend; Food never judged me, never shamed me and it was always there for me. So much so that it became my addiction – something that I constantly had to have to feel good and feel secure.

But, at age 29 I also my ah-ha moment. I was watching one of my favourite shows on TLC – My 600 Pound Life. I had a realization that if my life didn’t drastically change one of two things was going to happen to me before my 30th birthday: I was either going to be featured on My 600 Pound Life or I was just going to die because my heart and body couldn’t keep up anymore. I wasn’t ok with either of those options.

And so, I set out to transform my life – because I knew that wasn’t the end for me. I recognized that there was something I had to offer the world.

I sought help through counseling which is when I learnt that my eating was an addiction, that I had chosen food to hide my pain and hurt from a past of feeling like I wasn’t good enough, that my body wasn’t enough. I went through an almost three-year journey of self-discovery and as I re-learnt who I was, how to change my narrative, find out what brought me pleasure and learn to replace my coping habits with healthy routines I began to flourish in confidence and my weight dropped. To date, I’ve melted a little over 100 pounds off my body, naturally, and have an incredibly healthy and balanced relationship with food!
I learnt that self-perception is EVERYTHING! So, I stopped making excuses and placing blame.

As a result, I am now a body image and mindset mentor for women and I have the privilege of helping women to rise from despondence and take control of life by securing their self-worth and confidence. I help women to build accepting relationships between mind and body and develop healthy habits for dealing with stress and emotions.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hey Girl!

I’m Kaitlin, International Best-selling author, public speaker & Body Image and Mindset Mentor specializing in self-worth and confidence.

I spent 30 years with body image issues. Without self-assurance, I was confused about my body, my life and my self-worth. I masked my insecurities with humour, making jokes about my body, coping with food, developing food binging habits and depression; and DAMN, did I ever compare myself to others. Internally, I was despondent, sitting at rock bottom and blaming every person and circumstance around me.

Rock bottom came with two choices 1) die 2) be featured on an episode of My 600 Pound Life. But Rock bottom also came with a third choice. The CHOICE to SHOW UP, help myself and now help other women RECLAIM CONTROL!

It was at that time I finally took accountability, stopped making excuses and vowed to dig up the roots of my negative body image beliefs. I secured my self-worth and confidence, losing 100 pounds along the way, naturally, by trusting in myself, then quit my mundane life and FINALLY detached my appearance from my value.

I founded Master Your Body – Mindset Coaching to elevate and empower other determined women, like you, to rise up from despondence and take control of life!

I designed and developed my core 12-month program, MYBody, MYLife with systems and strategies that WORK to reprogram your settings and delete the misconceptions that have been engrained in you by the media, family, culture and yourself for far too long. As your mentor, I will help you change your narrative, provide consistent accountability and discover where your passion and joy truly lies. My job is to help you live passionatly in the moment so you take the appropriate action steps, which include going OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE to reclaim your future!

I told myself so many lies in the past, I’ve got no more lies left to give. I’ve got you!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The greatest lesson I had to unlearn was the idea that I was not worthy of good things or that I was incapable of running my own business.

Outside influences like society, media and culture consistently have us doubting ourselves, physically and emotionally. Because these doubts are engrained in us time and time again, we start replacing OUR thoughts with negative beliefs and concepts that prevent us from moving forward or achieving personal success. Let’s face it, we are not born into this world thinking negatively of ourselves, nor are we born with with this instant pressure to compare ourselves to others. Both are learned behaviours.

Some of the concepts I thought were true for me included the idea that diet and exercise are vicious, life-long cycles, certain foods are bad and eating them makes me a bad person, that healthy is skinny, success is only a financial measurement, I’m not good enough to attract the right man, nobody will be sexually attracted to me etc.

Those beliefs prevented me from believing in myself and my potential for YEARS. It wasn’t until I learned that the foregoing learned concepts are not natural thought patterns.

Here’s the thing….We are put on this earth to experience joy, and thoughts like those above do not bring joy, and, therefore, are not natural thoughts. Once I allowed myself to be aware of my inner thoughts and noted the good vs the bad and when they occurred, I was able to filter through and replace all thoughts that were preventing me from feeling confident, thinking outside the box and, most importantly, believing in myself. Changing the narrative and refocusing on what mattered to me, helped me to flourish and believe that I am worthy and capable of anything that I put my mind to.

I think that is the greatest contribution to my tenacity and entrepreneurial success.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I only recently founded Master Your Body – Mindset Coaching in 2022, but there is no NO DOUBT in my mind that I would do it all over again. Supporting, encouraging and empowering women is most definitiely my passion. I have a vision of a world where all women feel beautiful in their skin and confident in their bodies and I want to contribute to that by being a mentor, accountability partner and beacon of hope. The more I can share my story and the more women that I can connect with and serve, the more proud I feel. At the end of the day, I think that is my idea of success – being a woman supporting other women the best way I know how.

I think if I had developed my own assurance sooner, and stepped into my confidence at a younger age, I would still be in the same profession – perhaps on an even larger scale.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bohobeachboutique.ca/pages/body-and-mindset-coaching
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/masteryourbody.mindsetcoaching
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/coachkaitlin
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/coach-kaitlin-kreczmer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb3FEo5HqJ-9OndiUjb_B1A