About Me

“Hi there, I’m Áine Harkin an intuitive eating counsellor and wellbeing coach based in the West Midlands. My journey in the health and wellness space started 13 years ago. After graduating with a degree in Sport and Physical Education, I started working in a health club, as a Personal Trainer, Nutrition advisor and Yoga teacher.”

Áine Harkin

My Journey

I started actively ‘dieting’ in my teenage years, triggered by feelings of comparison and social pressures to fit the ‘thin ideal’. This was encouraged by the never-ending diet adverts all around us, in magazines, online and on television programmes, all promising a ‘happy life’ when you’re thinner!

As a result of my dieting attempts, I became obsessed with food and my weight, which, since starting to ‘diet’, was fluctuating more than it ever had done in the past. I was experiencing binge eating episodes, using food to cope with emotions (both comfortable and uncomfortable), I had hormonal imbalances and a clear lack of energy and concentration.

Thankfully, at the age of 27, I was introduced to a nutritional therapist, who taught me about us all having a biologically pre-determined set point weight range that our body is always trying to achieve and maintain. At our set point weight there is an interaction of our hormones, brain activity and genetics at play. Together, they act like a ‘thermostat’ to maintain our set-point range by altering hormones and metabolism. So, if you think about what a thermostat does to maintain a certain temperature in your home, if the temperature drops it works to increase it, if it gets too warm it stops to let the temperature lower to whatever it is set at.

When I learned this, it was like the penny dropped as I realised, all those years, I had been working against my body and not with it. My relationship with food and my body started to gradually change, however, I was still struggling to move away from the dieting cycle. It had a strong hold on me, which I now know is understandable when you have been doing something for so long!

As I continued my research into food, dieting and set point weight, I discovered intuitive eating, and this is what ultimately lead me to rediscovering my own intuitive eater (that had always been there, it had just been blunted by diet culture), finally making peace with food, let go of dieting for good and settle comfortably at my natural weight range.

Reflecting back on my journey to rediscovering my intuitive eater, I understand how difficult it can be to break free from dieting and regain trust in your body, but I know that it can absolutely be done. It is a journey and like any change, it may not happen overnight but the peace and freedom you experience on the other side is 100% worth it. I can’t wait to help you experience this too.