Kelli has helped me in so many ways, but the main thing I’ve gained from working with her is obtaining a healthier relationship and mindset with food - food, calories and fat are not the enemy! I would regularly lower my calories during the week and cut things out because I didn’t want to eat “bad” food, and then end up binging on the weekends or at family gatherings consistently. This led to a very unhealthy seesaw of emotions, weight gain and loss, and beating myself up. Kelli gave me real, practical things I could do during my week to get me where I am now, which is eating all kinds of delicious food, losing weight at a healthy pace, and making better choices about what I consume and how much. The best part is that I’m eating healthier but don’t feel deprived and that will help me continue this lifestyle for the long haul.

Wendy 32yo  //  Nutrition Coaching Client

My name is Steve and I am a professional bass player. I met Kelli while she worked at a gym near me and it was the first time I ever met a dietitian.  I’d always considered myself reasonably knowledgeable about food and healthy eating….so I thought!  I went to her because while I was hitting the gym regularly, I just couldn’t understand why I was only making little progress in weight loss.  What I learned even on my first session with her, really changed everything.  She has a SUPER simple approach.  This isn’t hardcore suffering type of ‘no pain no gain’ mentality here, but just easy, simple and common sense (to me now!)  My weight went down really quickly then, 45 lbs in less than a year, my cholesterol went down, and most of all, I just feel the difference in how I move and breathe.  Was so worth it!

Steve 58yo  //  Nutrition Coaching Client

Doing the food sensitivity test and working with Kelli has been absolutely life changing. I had tried to do some food elimination experiments on my own, and had some success, but was still confused and frustrated when I would have issues and couldn't narrow down a culprit. My Fibromyalgia symptoms used to be so bad that it hurt to even get a hug from my son. In the few months I have been working with Kelly, my symptoms have all but disappeared and I have even started doing jiu-jitsu. 

Tambra 45yo  //  Food Senstivity Testing Client

The only thing you really need to know from this is that Kelli is AMAZING. 

I have struggled for years to get my health back on track and lose weight. Over the last three months, Kelli has done wonders to help me succeed. I have been able to make major life changes, and I have completely changed my relationship with myself and food. She is supportive, insightful and I feel like she genuinely listens. Whenever I tried any health or weight loss “program” I always felt like it was so general, and honestly it never took how I was feeling into account. Kelli does exactly that. When I told her something wasn’t working or that I was frustrated, she listened and offered alternative ways to do things. She’s extremely knowledgeable in her field and I would highly recommend her to anyone! In 3 months, we have been able to completely change my thyroid health lowering some of my {antibody} levels from over 1300 to just under 200!!! 

Kelli has made a huge difference in my life, and I am so excited to keep working with her on our new goal of weight loss! 

Allie O. 28yo  //  Nutrition Coaching Client

Thank you for everything! this has been a great experience and has taught me a lot :) I'm excited to move forward on my fitness journey and use the knowledge I have gained working with you and put it into practice. I feel like I have gained a better relationship with food over these last 8 weeks and it has really shown me just how much I was starving my body before. For the longest time I was barely eating 1200 calories on a good day and I thought that was healthy. I love food and I felt constantly hungry which led to binge eating. Throughout the 8 weeks I have never felt starved and even when I did go off menu I did it in moderation when normally it would have been an all out feast lol. Thank you for being so amazing!!!!

Rachelle H. 30yo  //  Custom Meal Plan Client

Everything is going well.  I'm really enjoying doing these meal plans.  I am feeling so comfortable in the kitchen.  I don't even craving eating out anymore and when I do one bite feels like a brick in my stomach.  These meal plans make healthy eating so easy, one less thing to think about and takes away a lot of stress when there is already so much going on (postpartum 6 months.)

Raquel S. 27 yo  //  Custom Meal Plan Client and Now Weekly Meal Plan Subscriber

"Kelli has been such a help in my weight loss journey.  Not only is she very knowledgeable about nutrition and healthy eating, she’s a great “life” coach.  Kelli helped me explore what I’ll do next once I reach my goal weight.  Sometimes you get so focused in the journey, you don’t think about what you’re going to do when you get there.  I appreciate that so much. Thank you."

I have struggled with food and eating for most of my life.  I began restricting calories at age 12 and had a full-blown eating disorder by age 14.  At 24, I was hospitalized for several months for anorexia nervous.  I came out 17 pounds heavier but still messed up inside.  After being hospitalized, I never went quite back to the extremes I had gone to before, but I did lose weight again gradually as stress took over.  I ended up reaching a sort of no-mans land.  I did not exactly have an eating disorder but I was underweight and constantly obsessed over calorie intake and weight.  Exercise, particularly cardio, became an obsession during this time.  While during teenage years, I merely restricted calories, during my early twenties, distance running became a socially acceptable way to control weight and get rid of calories.  It should also be noted that, for as long as I can remember, I have had GI issues, diarrhea, stomach upset, sometimes vomiting especially when I am stressed or anxious.  When I get stressed, I completely lose any desire to eat.

Once I adopted my first child at 29, exercise went away again for a couple of years and it was back to calorie restriction.  Then, once I felt ready to get back to the gym, I found lifting.  That changed a lot of things for me.  I began seeing food as fuel to build strength rather than as an enemy.  I definitely gained muscle but did not gain weight (lost body fat).

After a series of injuries that left me weak and depressed and very underweight, I decided to start with a new trainer.  He emphasized over and over again how much needed to gain weight, how dangerously low my body fat was.  I did gain some weight back to my normal weight (still underweight), but he was not satisfied with that.  I finally agreed to try to gain some weight up to a weight we both agreed on and to meet with a dietitian to help accomplish that.  That's when I met Kelli (May 2016).

We set up a plan, adding several hundred calories to my meal plan to sustain a slow weight gain, adding protein especially.  During this time, the GI issues that have plagued me my whole life continued and even got worse as the increased food aggravated things.  Over the next few months, we even began to think something might be seriously wrong, I was having diarrhea daily and vomiting several times per week.  I got an endoscopy done and while it showed damage and inflammation, it did not show why or how to treat it.  Meanwhile, Kelli had been encouraging me to consider food sensitivity testing, both for the GI issues and for some autoimmune type symptoms I had been having for the past couple of years.  After 4 months of being really sick, I was finally ready to try it.  I have had amazing results.  I stopped vomiting within 24 hours and stopped having diarrhea after about 72.  It has now been three months since I started the diet and I have not vomited once.  I have had no migraines for the past couple of months and am not having inflammation type pain anymore either.  I have managed to gain weight, 7 pounds over the past 8 months, which puts me at my goal weight so I can now move into a maintenance phase.  If you are having unexplained GI issues or autoimmune issues, I would highly recommend doing food sensitivity testing.  It has given me my life back.

Kelli Shallal, MPH, RD