If you’ve ever taken a personality test, chances are it was the one developed by psychol- ogists William Moulton Marston and Walter Clarke. Their DiSC program is the gold standard in personality assessment, grouping people by four main categories: Dominant, Influential, Steady, or Conscientious.

It turns out those categories describe my own clients beautifully. In fact, in my many years of practice, I’ve identified these four types of weight loss clients:

The LEADER, the take-charge client who hates being told what to do but goes all-in when something clicks.

The SOCIALIZER, who rah-rahs every weight loss idea I throw at her but has just a teeny bit of trouble staying on track because, well, you only live once!

The SUPPORTER, the busy, pragmatic soccer mom who hates the idea of anything “trendy” and who says she’s running around all the time anyway and doesn’t that count?

The PLANNER, the disciplined thinker, who loves to discuss the benefits of metabolic conditioning but would rather walk 10 miles than take a Zumba class.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know each of these types intimately. I know that a Leader would never end up at the same workout as a Supporter (unless she’s leading it!) and that a Socializer will eat very differently than a Planner. Each encounter has helped me understand that nobody loses weight the same way, and that everybody needs a custom- ized food and fitness plan that speaks directly to their personalities. That food and fit- ness plan match is what you’re holding in your hands—because for the first time, a coach (that’s me!) is going to speak your language when it comes to helping you lose weight!

You Can’t Hurry Love . . . or Change . . . or Weight Loss!

I HAVE A FRIEND who decided that she was going to quit sugar. Forever. So the day be- fore she quit, she said good-bye to her sugar by loading up on brownies and ice cream and Frappuccinos.

Sound familiar?

Hey, we all have the I’ll-Start-Monday Syndrome. For instance, every year I made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. Every year I failed. Because change does not happen on a certain date, not even January 1. Change is a process. It takes time. It requires balance and rewards.

Here are three truths about change, which reveal why my well-meaning friend was back on sugar within a week.

Truth Number One: Positive change happens organically.

Most of us approach dieting as if jumping into an unheated pool: with gritted teeth and grim determination. It doesn’t really matter if we “know” it’s the right thing to do. All we know is that it doesn’t feel very good, and the bigger the dieting change we make, the less good it feels.

Author James Clear, the habit-change guru, tells us that any change, positive or nega- tive, sets us up for resistance. And, he writes, “Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of change, not to whether it’s favorable or unfavorable.” That’s because na- ture—particularly human nature—is geared toward stability. With apologies to Science 101, a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and if that same body is forced into cross-training every day, it’s going to want to double-down on TV time.