I am Thom.
65 acres, rolling hills, forests, two brooks, and a river were the playground and imaginarium of a young, nervous boy in central Maine.
As a young man, I lived on a small New England family farm. It was a building and parcel of land that had been in my family for well over a hundred years, and the land around me told the story of where I came from. I spent my formative years exploring and imagining whole-cloth worlds among the trees, the rolling hills, old pastures, and old outbuildings that spread out across our small parcel of land.
That sense of imagination and wonder was where I went when things in our home were tense and hard. It was where I escaped when my parent’s marriage ended. I took myself to the woods, to the fields, to the sound of birch tree leaves twinkling in the summer breezes, to find comfort and peace in the chaos.
I knew getting OUT THERE was where my happy was.
Food as Comfort
When I couldn’t get out into the woods, as New England weather was often stormy and prone to change by the hour, I would be found tucked away in my room, tucked into a book, and more often than not, tucked into something soothing to eat.
For me, and given that we didn’t have a kitchen pantry stocked with fresh veg and fruit, it was often chips, crackers, peanut butter, cheese, and other foods that were cheap to buy, and very easy to overeat.
I wasn’t known for my athletic prowess. My brother was the “sporty” son. I was the “brainy” son, having been labeled Gifted and Talented at a very young age, simply because of my love of language and reading. That was just the start of things.
The pressure to perform well at school (stress), along with family tension (more stress), and the general stress of being that awkward quiet young man who had no idea who he was (I had an idea that I loved differently than anyone around me, but had no idea what being gay was, let alone how to explain it in words - more stress), was a LOT.
Adding all of this up? I was a larger kid.
And made fun of relentlessly for it.
Creamy peanut butter and I have a storied, torrid love affair that I’ve had to make my peace with.
Pushing 270 lbs, out of breath and strength, and thinking a bushy beard would cover up and steal attention from a body that was simply not working the way it could.
After high school, and right before I came out of the closet, I had fallen into a deep, anxious pit and took that all out on my body. I had lost control in my life, apart from one area - food.
Flexing what little control I had over anything it seemed, I developed an eating disorder, and drove my weight down (along with every other part of my energy, spirit, and self) to a place that was neither sustainable nor healthy for my body.
Over and over, this happened across my 20s and 30s, and when I finally got to the doctor’s office in 2017, the results of this dietary chaos were pretty self-evident.
Turning forty felt like a milestone for me, so I took myself to the doctor’s for a check up and physical. It felt like a thing I needed to start doing with some regularity.
Up until that point, I had quite a patchwork of diet and exercise routines. I had been caught up with trying to keep up with everyone around me, trying to fit in, to belong.
The results from that physical and blood test?
High blood pressure, very high cholesterol, high levels of anxiety, and stress, and if changes weren’t made, I’d need to be put on medications to manage these systems in my body.
I wanted time, first.
As the weight dropped, I soon learned that this extra skin was going to be part of me for the rest of my life.
I still struggle with making peace with this part, but I know that under that extra bit of me is a core of power and strength that I’ve only just started to know and love.
I knew, for a fact, I wasn’t ready to be in and out of the doctor’s office, having blood drawn and meds changed over and over. I didn’t want to struggle the medicines, the side effects, and given what I’d seen as a kid growing up, I knew there had to be other options for me to attempt, first. I wanted to know if I could get my arms around my health before I relied on medicine and science to do some of the lifting for me.
That time, I thought, may come in the future, but not yet. Not yet, please, I silently begged.
I asked my doctor for a slice of time. He gave me six months.
I went to the internet, almost immediately, and went searching for a solution that would work for me.
At that point I’d done:
fasting
keto
low-fat
vegan
I’d also:
ran myself into the ground (literally, fell on the ground with torn cartilage)
signed up and cancelled SO MANY gym memberships
had a constant internal monologue of “I can’t I can’t I can’t” that bugged me at every damn attempt.
So, when I found advice that made sense - the same advice that I coach my clients with today (eating withing a framework of macronutrients, nothing is off the menu as long as it’s accounted for) and learned the basics about movement that suited my body (a simple gym routine, how to adjust each move for my body and the intensity that made sense for me) - I ran with it.
No more hiding behind a bushy beard here!
I am a certified Personal Trainer through NASM, and a Level 2 Master Health Coach, certified through Precision Nutrition.
Knowledge put to Action is my ethos. DOING is part of the vibe over here.
Currently, I am working with an active group of clients through my virtual coaching platform.
Some are here for the structure and and scaffolding that I provide with my Bedrock Membership. Others are here for a more 1:1 coaching that I offer through my Foundation Membership. Still others are seeking a deeper, more meaningful coaching experience offered through my Change Coaching program.
All plans are built on the solid foundations of Eating Well and Joyful Movement.
I practice client-centered coaching, where we work on what YOU want to tackle first, and build on those skills as we move forward.
I invite you to reach out and chat with me (book a free consultation at the link above), or find me on my social media and drop a message.
I’m deeply proud of what I’m doing over here, and my clients know this is more than just a job for me.
Being Coach Thom is who I am, and I’d love to have you on my team.
