Whether you are dealing with
a mild case of chronic stress and anxiety about food, exercise, your body and your weight –
not enough to really disrupt your life – but enough to keep you anxious and stressed out about your body and yourself –
or something more serious, life-disrupting or even life-threatening – like a full blown eating disorder…
I have been there, done that, have the t-shirt and wrote the books - Literally!
My body and diet drama began as a child, but it didn’t get “serious” until high school. At seventeen, I was hospitalized for anorexia at 80 pounds. By twenty-five, I’d been in treatment 4 more times. During my hospitalizations for anorexia, while they were working on my mommy issues and my daddy issues and my “mental state,” they followed a basic “calories in more than calories out equals weight gain” equation for my body. They wouldn’t let me exercise, and they made me eat – a LOT. And as expected, I gained weight. (And I wasn’t very happy about it.)
In college, things got really stressful. I knew how to lose weight – I was really good at it – and I knew what the hospital did to make me gain weight – but how would I be able to follow the magic equation of calories in equals calories out to maintain my weight? It was terrifying because I was afraid of eating too much and gaining weight – but I was also afraid of not eating enough, losing weight, and ending up back in the hospital. Somehow, I managed to maintain my weight.
But then in my mid-20s something horrible started to happen. I started to gain weight! I shouldn’t have – I was still making sure my calories in equaled my calories out. So I began to eat less and exercise more. And I still gained weight!! But every time I brought it up to the “professionals,” their response what that I was still in an “eating disorder mindset” or that I had “body dysmorphia.” They basically told me I was crazy and sent me to more therapy.
I tried new diets, new exercise programs, personal trainers and nothing worked – I was still gaining weight. I got all sorts of medical tests done, but it didn’t help. It didn’t seem to matter that I was doing everything the experts were telling me to do – I did not get the results they promised me. And by the time I was 30, I was 200 pounds.
FINALLY, DURING ONE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL I HAD A CHOICE TO MAKE: TO NOT LIVE OR TO LIVE A DIFFERENT WAY
That was the beginning of Happy Calories Don't Count®
That living a different way was the beginning of Happy Calories Don't Count®
Along the way I discovered Pilates. For the first time in my life, I felt connected to my body. I felt good in my body. And I knew I needed to do it – forever. I’ve run my own boutique classical, authentic Pilates studio, Power Within Pilates, since 2004. And with every session, I witnessed the relationship a client had with his or her body. I discovered that I wasn’t “the only one” with issues – in fact, I was pretty darn sane and healthy!! I learned that no one has a “perfect” body and that my sessions were as much “Life Coaching” as they were personal training.
At business networking events people would ask me what my “secret” was. They asked me what I ate. They asked me what I did for exercise. I found these types of questions frustrating because I knew they didn’t really want to hear – or have time for – my answer. They wanted superficial chit chat and I wanted a deeper conversation. So I wrote a book – Happy Calories Don’t Count (neither does unhappy exercise) – and have never looked back. That book was the beginning of my deepest transformation. By working with clients, teaching classes and speaking at events, I’ve learned to identify and articulate the underlying cultural fallacies that keep us all stuck – eating disorder or not. I’ve learned to refine my message and turn it into a customizable framework that will take you from a state of anxiety and pain around food, exercise and your body into a sense of freedom, peace, joy – AND sustainable health, weight loss and wellbeing.
FIND FREEDOM FROM FOOD
MAKE PEACE WITH YOURSELF
CREATE A BODY YOU LOVE
Do I sound like the person you're looking for?
DON'T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!
CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!
For anyone who has ever struggled, truly and painfully struggled with their body and thought, “What’s wrong with me, why won’t it work for me?” The teachings of Carmela Ramaglia will set you free.
~ Ali, Amazon Reviewer
Happy Calories Don’t Count (1st edition)
LIFE CHANGING!
If you have ever struggled with body image or weight loss/gain/loss you HAVE to meet this woman!
~ Julie Anne Jones
YOU HEALED MY SPIRIT AND PSYCHE
You made me look at something that haunted me for life in a way that heals my spirit and psyche. We’ve all been so conditioned to hate food and/or our bodies. You’re like a real-life superhero.
~ Mindy Lee Caron
I'M FREE FROM FOOD AND WEIGHT OBSESSION!
Carmela, I wanted to thank you and let you know that you have been the final step for me in my journey to freedom from food and weight obsession. It feels like new ground, as I feel like a new person. Thank you!
~ Rachel Horvath
I HAVE LOST 30 POUNDS SO FAR!
Just wanted to update you that I have lost 30 pounds so far. WOW! I am SO thankful for you teaching me to trust and build a relationship with my body. I feel so much more connected and tuned in with it. Just wanted to remind you how precious your work is and how much you help.
~ A. Milan
THIS IS THE ONLY PROGRAM THAT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT!
I have to say Carmela that this is really the ONLY program that is completely off the diet and exercise teeter-totter, and I have done a LOT of research. It is seriously amazing, so thank you!
~ Paige H.
CARMELA’S APPROACH IS TRULY REVOLUTIONARY!
I was stuck. I knew from painful years of experience that diets didn’t work. And every alternative weight loss approach I tried left me feeling angry, deprived and frustrated. I thought the problem was me: I had a bad attitude; I needed to try harder. Then I came upon Happy Calories Don’t Count®, and I had the revelation that the problem wasn’t my failure, it was the failure of the diet and exercise model. Carmela’s approach is truly revolutionary. She puts forth a new paradigm that not only makes sense, it works. Following her five steps, I appreciate my body, enjoy my food, and made it through the holiday season having lost weight. No need for a New Year resolution this time!!!
~ Dana Lightman, Ph.D. Author, Power Optimism
I'M WEARING CLOTHES I HAVEN'T WORN IN OVER 6 YEARS!
I had been thin all my life, but ended up gaining a significant amount of weight while dealing with an illness. I tried for years to shed the excess weight but nothing worked. In one afternoon Carmela helped me see how my relationship to my body and my thoughts about food and exercise had changed when I suddenly had weight to lose. The weight started falling off and now I’m wearing clothes I haven’t worn in over six years!
~ Linda C.
THIS PROGRAM IS CHANGING MY WHOLE LIFE!
I feel more freedom than I’ve ever felt and the guilt and pressure I’ve always felt around food is little by little, day by day, fading, being replaced by how great I feel in my own skin. I have been walking around for the past 24 hours totally “in touch” and communicating with my body and it’s completely changing the way I experience every single thing in my life!
~ Julie Kick, Author, Weathering the Grief Storm
CARMELA IS GENIUS
Carmela, once again, your ability to make sense of all this and communicate it so clearly is such a blessing…thank you!
Carmela is GENUIS at synthesizing all the various modalities of “self-help” and giving us a means to really heal ourselves.
~ Linda Davie
SHE TURNS WEIGHT-LOSS ON ITS HEAD
Carmela’s “out of the box” thinking about the diet and exercise craziness most moms torture themselves with is a breath of fresh air. She’s been there and understands how complicated, confusing and maddening the battle of the bulge is for most women. Her moving, witty and immensely helpful talk turns the idea weight loss on its head and made her one of our most popular speakers at MamaCon.
~ Amy Lang, Co-Founder, MamaCon
HER ENERGY AND PASSION IS INFECTIOUS!
From the moment I first had the opportunity to work with Carmela, her wit, energy and passion for healthy living was infectious. Carmela’s approach to helping people achieve healthy body issues was hands down one of the most moving and popular topics at the conference.
~ Kim Estes, Founder Savvy Parents, Safe Kids
EVERYTHING FINALLY FEELS RIGHT AND I FEEL LIKE A NEW PERSON!
Carmela, I wanted to thank you and let you know that you have been the final step for me in my journey to freedom from food and weight obsession. Just the other day, I had a moment of surrender that made me realize the fight was over, just like the surrender you’ve talked about. I finally quit, I didn’t need to fight food or myself any longer. It happened a few days after I gave up on the lingering diet mentality thoughts (thanks to you and the teeter totter diet idea), there was no more problem to hold on to. Like I posted before ‘I want to work with my body and not with a diet,” this phrase came to me like your phrase “happy calories, don’t count,” which I absolutely love, because it is utterly true they don’t. It’s nice to eat what I want, when I wanted without the idea that I am “bad” for “emotionally eating.” What a big misunderstood concept. You cleared that all that up for me. When I surrendered, I realized that there was never a problem with me, I didn’t need to be fixed because I was never broken. I was just not in alignment with myself (a new and exciting term I learned from you), and now I understand what self sabotage actually is, it is being out of alignment with yourself. Plus, I can finally have the relationship that I wanted with my body now that the fight is over. I simply don’t care what I do with food, I give it no attention. Everything just feels right. Food really doesn’t bother me anymore because I refuse to give it any power over me. I am choosing to not focus or get emotionally involved with it. Food is just food and how I feel physically and emotionally matter more to me than trying to live up to any standard. I just let things happen and follow what feels good and makes me happy. It feels like new ground, as I feel like a new person. Thank you!
~ Rachel Horvath
THE WEIGHT FELL OFF WHILE I HAVE HAD THE BEST GASTRONOMICAL MONTHS OF MY LIFE!
I’d just like to thank you for everything: the book, the discovery session, and the one-word lifesaver of a tip. *Chill*. I followed your advice. I went on a ‘research-diet’ and unsubscribed from all of the health blog sites. I haven’t read a single nutrition/fitness article since! And I don’t miss it at all. Now, I don’t over think the amount of food I put in my mouth, however big or small it may seem. I get off the bus several stops behind my destination, when I feel like it, to stretch my legs and enjoy the weather. *Calories-shamalories.* I’ve had the best gastronomical (almost) two months of my life because I’ve been so connected with my hunger and appetite. I’ve been eating the crème de la crème without losing my mind because I’ve practiced the habit of stopping when I’m full. Sure enough, the weight fell off. I am now free to enjoy my courses and have the confidence to present my work in class. Best of all, if I never lose another single pound, I know what makes me happy and my headspace is a lot sunnier as a result!
~ Sheila G.
