Presenter Susi Lodola MSc (MIACP)

Susi holds a Masters of Science in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Motivational Interviewing, a Higher Diploma in Psychology, a BA (Hons) in Linguistics from UCD, and a BA (First Class Honours) in Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy from IICP College (Dublin).

Susi has also attended a workshop at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia on CBT for weight loss. The Beck Institute is a leading international source for training, therapy, and resources in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, founded by the father of CBT Dr Aaron Beck.

Through her own incredible weight loss and fitness journey combined with her extensive studies in Psychology and CBT, Susi is also the founder of the ground-breaking "Mind over Body Weight Management Programme" which has helped thousands of people all over the world to learn how CBT can make lasting changes to the way they relate to food and themselves.

Susi has also appeared in various TV programmes, radio shows and is a regular contributor to articles in the Irish Times and Irish Independent.

Susi works in private practice as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist/Psychotherapist in Dublin where she helps people overcome emotional difficulties as well as coaching clients on the "Mind over Body Weight Management Programme".

CBT is a clinical psychological approach to help you make habit changes and stop that inner voice that keeps sabotaging your best efforts. Adding CBT to any weight loss programme has been proven in hundreds of studies to be more effective than diet and exercise alone.

This course will be delivered over 8 Fridays, starting 12th March, 2021 from 1pm to 2pm.

During the 8 weeks you will learn:

1. Psychology of weight loss and why it is so hard to lose weight and keep it off.

2. How CBT tools can help you-

• stop self-sabotage
• end emotional eating
• Identify your triggers
• eat mindfully
• stay motivated
• Gain self-confidence
• Understand the Psychology of weight mangement

3. Healthy nutrition for weight loss by registered Nutritional Therapist & recipes

Working on your mind to help you to make lasting changes is the missing link in most diet and weight loss programmes. Diet and weight loss programmes that focus only on food and exercise are missing a vital component – they do not look at getting your mindset right to keep you motivated and successful in the long term.

Losing weight and maintaining it, requires learning new mental skills and identifying thinking patterns, and behaviours that have hindered your weight loss in the past. Learning those new mental skills and behaviours will rewire your brain and it will make you change from the inside out.

CBT is not only applied to weight management. CBT is researched based psychological therapy to help people with emotional difficulties, such as low self-belief, stress, and lack of focus.

Learning CBT skills on this course will help you not only with making changes to your lifestyle and weight management, but also will help you to understand the human mind and how you can overcome emotional difficulties.

Who is this course for?

• You have tried many different diets in the past but found it hard to stick to them and stay motivated.
• You realise that setting New Year's resolutions don't work for you.
• You want to stop dieting and change your relationship with food.
• You want to gain self-confidence.
• You know that your mind needs to be in the right place but you just don't know how to do that.

What is included?

8 x one hour live coaching sessions on zoom with Susi, teaching CBT skills

Free access to the online "MInd over Body Weicht Management Programme" for the duration of the 8-week course. (value €145)

Worksheets, educational material, recipes ebook

2 x live coaching sessions with Olivia Beck, Nutritional Therapist

You can also avail of 1 to 1 sessions alongside the workshop with Susi or Olivia if you need additional support. Price on application.

(Workshop is subject to minimum numbers)

Olivia Beck, Nutritional Therapist, will be consulting on nutrition.

Olivia stands for nutrition being the cornerstone of good health; what you eat and the nutrients from your food affects how your body functions. Your diet and eating habits affect every system and every cell. That’s why it’s no surprise that your diet affects your digestion, hormones, mood, energy and heart. Food is full of complex, biologically active molecules that have an immense impact on our health.

She is often asked what’s the best diet for weight loss. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all. A well balanced diet combined with regular exercise can work for some, but this does not always work. There can often be an underlying cause that needs to be explored with the help of a nutritional health practitioner

We all control what we eat, when we eat and how we eat. By learning and understanding the nutritional values of our food, we can help ourselves to reach nutritional health.

Read success stories from some of the many clients who have taken part in the Mind over Body Weight Management Programme.

Carol Berigan, Dublin

First off I would like to say how much I have enjoyed the classes over the last 10 weeks, both the highs and the lows. I didn't think that I would have enjoyed them as much as I did. I found the content to be extremely informative. I would have always been of the philosophy the only way to lose weight is the old adage "you eat less and you move more" and while that does have some merit it has obviously never worked for me (I move more & forget the eat less bit 😁).

Previously, I would struggle with dieting for a while and then give up "it's obviously not working", "what's the point". But now I have a new perspective on my challenges, it's not so much an uphill battle but more of a serpentine trek through the forest while I forage my new directions.

I think some of the most important things I have taken from the course are eating mindfully, never did that before just ate everything in front of me. I also love the idea of the "5 minutes" sometimes it works and I get distracted by whatever I'm doing and sometimes it doesn't. The reasons why, setting goals and giving yourself credit are some completely new ways of looking at weight loss to me. I think I do look at the negative sides a lot and not the good things that I have done and will do, so this is something that I really want to work on.

I found the classes very friendly, a bit nerve racking at the beginning, but that changed over the course of the weeks as we got to know each other as a group. I did enjoy the sessions better when we sat around in a circle as I found it easier to participate in the group.

I would well recommend your classes to anyone who may be looking for a different perspective to weight loss.

I would like to wish you all the best with your next course of classes and who knows you might see me back in the future (but I hope not, in the best sense🤞).

A million thanks again for all you help,

Carol.

Clair Kelly

Click the link below to read Clair’s blog about her experience and incredible weight loss attending the Mind over Body Weight Management Programme™.

https://wheresclair.com/2018/05/08/mind-over-body-loosing-weight-for-life/

Donatella Porceddu

I joined Susi’s Mind over body – CBT for weight loss program last June. It turned out to be trasformative in the way I look at food and it encouraged me to take some important steps towards a healthier lifestyle. It’s just so much more than a diet & exercise plan which never really works for me in the long run. I really enjoyed interacting with Susi. She established her presence in the Facebook weight loss group without being overwhelming and always showing understanding and kindness in every conversation. I found the program intense but excellent. There’s a bit of journaling required which turned out to be super effective in stimulating a true understanding on the underlying triggers of my overeating and bingeing. I completed the 8 weeks program to find I have dropped few pounds, but most important, I feel empowered by the new tools I learned and a changed mindset to overcome future setbacks. I feel confident I can keep up the good work! Thanks a million Susi!

Audrey O’Toole

I highly recommend this course. It has been life-changing for me. I knew I needed something different after years of slimming classes. In the 8 weeks that I did the course, I have changed my relationship with food. I have so much more awareness and can’t become unaware, so I feel like I have gotten to the root of my problem of overeating. The food plan was simple and the class was enjoyable, informative, and supportive.

I feel like I learned skills that I can apply to other areas of my life too. I lost a stone in weight during the course and am still losing weight and enjoying my food more. I am really grateful to Susi for putting together and delivering this course.

Jennifer Little

I have discovered that Susi’s tagline ‘lose weight for the last time’ might actually be possible. I’ve tried to lose weight since I was a teenager but always put it back on. With Susi’s programme I learned to change my thinking and my habits around food. My weight loss is slow but it feels different to any other experience I’ve had so now I believe I can keep it off. Each week’s theme and materials matched what I needed very well and I feel like I have made real change. Susi practices what she preaches. She has a real understanding of what issues with weight feel like and communicates with empathy and kindness. This really helped me to engage with the programme and keep going.

Anne O’Gara

What I’d like to say about your programme is that I found it very much a personal discovery of my ability to change my eating habits by thinking about and planning my day, not only my diet, but also my feelings about it as well.

Its very much a thought-provoking programme, and you deliver it in a very personal and intelligent way, helping me to rethink my own ability to change in very simple and effective ways.

Sarah Larkin

I’ve always struggled with my weight, I’d lose some for a while and then put it back on again and then some. In the last few years I have tried different weight loss programmes which worked, but only for the short term.

When we got engaged in June 2016 I said that I wanted to lose weight for the wedding, because of the continuous celebrations that followed the engagement I ended up putting on more weight. I tried several times in the 1st year of our engagement to lose weight but with so many plans being made for the wedding everything was a reason to celebrate, and my idea of celebrating is treating ourselves to dinner out or a takeaway.

A friend of Philips had previously done the programme and told him all about it as it had really helped them to lose weight. I was a little bit apprehensive about it as I felt this could be another short term solution to what was my long term problem. I obviously couldn’t have been more wrong.

After my first session I knew that this wasn’t like all the other weight loss programmes. Susi goes into detail on why you look at food the way you do, she talks about what triggers your eating habits, how you may feel mentally and physically after eating certain foods and educates you on how to make better decisions surrounding your diet and this was a huge help for me.

I would definitely recommend the programme to anyone looking to make a positive change in their lives in relation to how they look at and treat food. Without doing the programme I wouldn’t have realised my own triggers which are feel good factors, I habe now learnt that I don’t need food to reward myself.

Mary Banks

I really enjoyed the Mind over Body Weight Loss program. It was very motivating and encouraging. Unfortunately during this program we suffered a family bereavement so I found it hard to remain focused but I still found the material invaluable. Susi is always there to respond to any of our concerns. I highly recommend this program.

Aoife O’Brien

I recently completed Susi’s CBT for weight loss program. I am delighted with the results. I didn’t feel ready to join this program, but when would I ever feel ready? So I decided to bite the bullet and join. Although the focus is on losing weight, this is really more of a lifestyle change, which is exactly what I was looking for. The program uses specific tools to develop our understanding of ourselves, and put in place new habits which are better for us in the long run.

In the past I have managed to lose 2 stone at a time, by myself. But over time the weight crept back on because I didn’t tackle the underlying issues. This time I lost nearly 8Kg (17lbs) in an 8-week period which I am delighted with. I also feel equipped to keep up the good work on my own with all of the tools provided and habits developed on the course.

I started to feel more confident in myself after only a few weeks. Now I feel healthier, more confident, my clothes fit better (and some are even too big for me now!). It has had a knock on impact on other areas of my life too… applying the same tools to get similar great results!

Susi takes a sympathetic approach, but also holds you accountable to what you said you would do. She provides detailed feedback on the weekly worksheets that need to be completed. I feel I have learned some great skills and habits that I can continue to use on my weight loss journey. Thanks so much Susi for your support!

Lu Lopes

I would highly recommend Susi’s Mind over Body weight loss Programme. It is not a diet, it is about learning how to eat healthier and being conscious of your emotional eating. I am so happy I have followed this program, I have learned a lot and I know how to make healthy choices now. Susi is very supportive, helpful, always available, I felt I was always listened to and always connected with her. Thank you Susi!