HEALTH AND FITNESS COACH KNOWS THE DEMONS THAT MAY LIE WITHIN
Clients can relate to a coach or counsellor who has walked a mile in their shoes.
Wellness coach and fitness instructor Sophie Bélisle has it all going on. She teaches spin classes at GoodLife and works with clients individually for competition training or other personal goals involving physical or mental health.
Bélisle also knows how it feels to struggle with demons. As a young girl, on into her 20s, she was a successful runway model.
It’s a glamorous concept and the dream of many, but the lifestyle is fraught with pitfalls, and was especially so 20 years ago when there was no accommodating different body types.
Long after the “Twiggy” era, thin was still in.
After Bélisle hit puberty, she worried that she wasn’t thin enough. That simple thought, combined with some underlying anxieties, sent her on a spiral that ended up in hospital care.
“When you get older, it all makes sense,” says the 36-yearold. “But when you’re in that business — I went to Paris and got a lot of different modelling contracts — you get lost in a business that is very superficial.
“Maybe your nose isn’t right, or they’re looking for a specific type of person.
“For a young girl, a young woman, that really affects you,” Bélisle says. “You want to change everything about yourself — you’re not good enough for anything or anyone.”
Without being aware of it, Bélisle was suffering from anorexia nervosa by the time she was about 20. A visit to her family doctor ended up in a trip to the hospital emergency room.
At hospital, the presence of her close family members helped deliver the message of how serious her condition had become.
“I got a wake-up call,” Bélisle says. “My doctor was pretty much saying, ‘Your body is shutting down right now.’ “
Bélisle was overcome with emotion, but resolved that she was going to work her way out of her dilemma. She knew the person who was denying herself food was not her true self.
By her mid-20s, Bélisle had decided that modelling wasn’t right for her. The experience with body-image issues directed her into social work and counselling. The scars remain. Bélisle says she will always have the traumatic experience of her youth in the back of her mind.
“I have my own coach I work with,” she says. Today, when she advises and trains clients who typically want to lose weight, Bélisle often finds herself engaged in discussions over the root causes of over-eating.
Mental health and stress issues are often linked to physical health challenges.
Bélisle is a certified suicide intervention facilitator, a diversity facilitator and certified boot camp instructor among her many qualifications.
Based in Orléans, she works mostly in Ottawa’s east end and instructs in English and French.
She has been a fitness coach for a decade and set up her own business about five years ago.
Coaches and teachers typically love to be organized, and Bélisle is no exception. She advises clients to keep a journal of their progress and went to the trouble of publishing a colour, hardcover “Wellness Journal” for clients that includes workout and food goals, as well as whole food suggestions and portions.
Mental health, fitness and nutrition are the tenets of her instruction.
While she tends to have more female clients than men, she works with both. Some are aiming to prepare for specific competitions, such as bodybuilding.
As for diet advice, Bélisle doesn’t get too specific.
“I’m a food agnostic,” she says. “Who am I to say, ‘Be a vegan,’ or, ‘Eat more meat.’ I try to make the best of all types.”
Before working with a client, Bélisle conducts a lengthy interview to assess a person’s background and goals. Those who get lured by fad diets and quick fixes from the TV ads are on the wrong track. Bélisle believes it takes about 90 days to make a lifestyle change that will stick, whether that means a change in diet or exercise routine, or both.
“You need to give it time,” she says.
“Talk to a coach. Set a goal. It will happen. Where do you see yourself in a three months, six months, a year? It’s not going to happen overnight.”
For those paralyzed by inertia, Bélisle advises that small changes can add up to big things: The early to bed, early to rise mantra of Benjamin Franklin. Find time to go for daily walks.
“It’s a small change but your self-confidence builds and you say to yourself, ‘I can do this,’ ” she says.
Teaching fitness is a labour of love for Bélisle. She likes nothing better than leading the way in a boot camp environment or a spin class. In her spare time, she competes in duathlons, running and cycling.
Her website is sophiebelisle. com.