“One day, a lady told me: ‘I came here to lose 40 pounds I was carrying around for a while. What I lost instead was the nagging feeling that I was never good enough, which I’d been carrying around for 40 years.’ I love that quote, I think it’s the perfect encapsulation of our goal at WISEPhilosophy,” says founder and director Clare Lord. Billing itself as a long-term program for women, the initiative seeks sustainable solutions to the weight problem afflicting scores of North Americans.
Centered on honest discussion and a group approach, Clare’s program disproves the claim that diet and exercise is the end all and be all of sustainable weight loss. “That way of thinking doesn’t address the social and psychological bases of overeating and obesity,” she says. “There are behavioral and psychological roots to the problem, which must be addressed in order to get them out of the way once and for all.”
During the course of 10 to 12 months, a small group gathers to discuss a variety of topics, including anger management, self-esteem and physical activity, which are often at the core of the obesity problem. “WISE means knowing, self-actualization, gratification and mutually helping each other: those are the core values of the program, its guiding and orientating principles,” adds Clare.
