One of the most common battles a woman faces in her lifetime, or at least from what I’ve observed, is the battle of losing weight, keeping it off, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Ugh, right? It can be challenging for sure, but if you have the right tools, the right coach, and the right mindset, it’ll happen. Ricki Friedman is a Motivational Health Coach who started a business called Break the Weight. With Ricki’s system, she will help guide you every single step of the way, all while helping you to achieve your healthiest lifestyle possible. She’ll be the first to tell you healthy habits don’t happen overnight nor without putting forth the effort and work, but it can happen, and BTW has a number of success stories to prove it. Keep on reading for what made Ricki want to start this business, what she loves most about her job, what’s standing in the way of you and the weight you want to lose, and lots more.
How long has Break the Weight been around and why did you start it?
Break the Weight started in 2012. It really began as a project between me and my close friend. I wasn’t in the best place and spent a lot of time focusing on myself and my body in an unhealthy way. My friend, Lulu had about 150 pounds to lose at that time and asked me if I’d help her lose weight. I didn’t really know how to do that or what it meant, but I knew this would be a great chance to stop thinking about me and focus on someone else.
So I built her a simple daily system (the one used today) and we, as a team, created a blog called Break the Weight. The idea was to put this journey of change out there so others could see what it’s like to really change your life. We blogged for 290 days and show cased the up’s and down’s of personal transformation. We we’re breaking what weighed us down. She lost 100 pounds and I started to find purpose in my life for the first time ever.
It turned into a business.
Have you always known you wanted to be in the health and wellness field? If not, when did you decide this industry was meant for you?
No, and I don’t really know how I feel about being put into that either. My main goal is to live a life of giving back. Yes, I help people change their lives and health has a lot to do with it, but the most important thing for me is that people don’t feel alone on their journey, alone in their pain. Motivation ebb and flows, change is really hard, and people just need support and accountability.
What’s your favorite part about your job? Most rewarding? Most challenging?
My favorite part of my job is being able to provide a program and system that really works. It’s great to watch my clients change the way they think about change, getting healthy and the process of motivation. The most challenging changes day by day. Sometimes I find just being my own boss really hard. Sometimes it’s when clients don’t follow through on the program. But I try my best to tell myself that I can only do so much.
Walk us thru a day in your life.
Every day is really different. I’m a morning person and I wake up around 6am. But the first thing i do is take my sweet boy logan out and sip on coffee. Our little morning walk is a great time to breathe in the fresh air and take it all in. I work out of a co-working space so I usually head down there and start checking emails, look at my schedule for the day, you know, all that fun stuff.
What do you think the main thing is that stands in the way between someone and their ability to lose weight?
People have a huge misconception when it comes to weight loss and creating healthy habits. They truly believe one needs to deprive themselves to reach success. But it’s so not about that. Losing weight is about understand when you’re HUNGRY and when you’re FULL, Truly, it’s all about the SMALL changes and what you do on a daily basis that matters. Another big concept people seem to ignore is to understand WHY they eat.
If you don’t understand WHY and the habits behind it, you’ll never really find long-term success with losing weight. Most of us are just trying to fill voids, but you need to understand the voids you’re trying to fill in order to break the habit.
I think it has a lot of to do with self-love. The more you love yourself, the kinder you treat yourself.
What inspires you?
Awesome female entrepreneurs who are changing the world. A beautiful sunset. People who travel, explore and see the world. I love that. That inspires me to live my life to the fullest.
What motto/quote do you always try to live by?
SLOW DOWN RICKI. ONE THING AT A TIME. I know it sounds so simple, but i struggle deeply with moving slower and focusing on one thing at a time. This struggle has caused a lot of stress in my life so i try my best to tell myself to slow down so I can live a less stressful life. Also, I try to remember that my energy, my mood effects everyone around me. So i always tell myself that so I can always bring something positive to the table. No one likes the person who complains a lot. Never be that person.
Anything else you want to share with my readers?
I want to say that just because you’ve been a certain way your whole life or people know you a certain way, does NOT mean you can’t change and be who you want to be. CHANGE your story. It’s your life and you’re in the drivers seat. So put your seatbelt on and screw what people think.
Thanks, Ricki!
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See past interviews here.
If you or someone you know might be a good fit for this series, reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you.