Thirteen years ago, Debra Ann St. Hilaire worked for a commercial weight loss program that emphasized weight loss but not so much nutrition. She could fit into her skinny pants, but she says the program wore on her health and forced compromises to her lifestyle. And when she retired, the weight came back anyway.
St. Hilaire began researching ways to ensure the best results possible — both health and weight loss — and found a low-inflammatory, low-glycemic way of eating. She created her own program for herself. Then for friends and family. Then for strangers.
A year ago, she started Mend-A-Body Solutions.
Now St. Hilaire has nearly 40 coaches and staff members to work with people in multiple states. And she’s two pant sizes smaller.
Name: Debra Ann (Ann is not my middle name) St. Hilaire
Age: 45
Town: Lewiston
Married/relationship/single: Married to Marc for 24 years
Job: Owner/president of Mend-A-Body Solutions
How is Mend-A-Body different than, say, other well-known weight-loss programs? We evaluate the customer’s current lifestyle through an extensive medical history and lifestyle survey in order to be effective in recommendations. There is no “Mend-A-Body” food. People don’t want a program that restricts them or creates a reliance on packaged foods. We carry a very large, online selection of healthy food alternatives along with the education to offer replacements that mimic the person’s prior choices and preferences. Lastly, and certainly the largest contributor for client success, is our coach staff. Mend-A-Body coaches are all graduates of our program and go through extensive training.
What was an average meal like for you before and what’s it like now? I certainly didn’t eat enough FIBER. People don’t realize what a huge advantage it is to incorporate fiber, eat often and limit your sugars. I now incorporate fiber into every meal and snack, eat more often, limit my processed foods to a great extent and visit the evil villains instead of having them in my home. If I make a dessert at home, it can taste amazing and will be healthy. Mostly if I have something extra naughty, I will go out to have it, so that it is the exception and won’t be available for an easy reoccurrence.
In doing this, what’s been your most surprising discovery? The remarkable willingness of our clients to take initiatives when they have been exposed to the education of why they should forfeit their old habits, and their openness to new suggestions when they can see the almost instant gratification on a health or weight-loss front. We love to show our clients how easy and fun healthy can be.
Have any “big losers?” Yes. There are so many incredible stories. We have a coach that lost 14 pounds in three days, 21 pounds in 10 days and is now up to almost 70 pounds in about four months.
What’s the biggest mistake you think people make as they try to get healthy? They focus on shrinking their waistline with no regard to the longevity of the method being employed to get them there and no concern for it being a reasonable long-term adaptation. If you are looking at your plate and thinking that you can’t wait to get the pounds off so you can get onto something better, the results are going to be short-term.
Any tips? Ask questions. Get your doctor involved. Don’t play your own expert. Make sure that you are getting tangible results. Evaluate your thought processes along the way to make sure that your choices can be maintained. Do it the healthy way, not just the skinny way. Recognize that the scale is only one way to measure progress. We have clients frequently report that they are wearing pant sizes from past days at much higher weights because they have reduced the inflammation in their bodies. If you knew that you could be down two pant sizes with just a marginal weight loss, would you really care? I weigh 10 pounds more than when I taught weight loss in a past program and wear TWO pant sizes smaller. Inches matter.
You have a recipe for Mend-A-Body Pie that uses sugar-free chocolate chips and peanut butter powder. Really? Oh yes we most certainly do! We take pride in showing people that being healthy can taste GREAT! It sneaks under the fussiest of radars.
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- Debra Ann St. Hilaire, owner and founder of Mend-A-Body Solutions, a weight loss plan.
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