Inspiring Conversations with Theresa Paganini of The Monarch Effect

Today we’d like to introduce you to Theresa Paganini.

Hi Theresa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My mother struggled with depression, low-self worth and obesity her entire life. I grew up watching her abuse herself with both her words and food, which just broke my heart. Although she taught me differently, children tend to learn more from what they see than what they hear, so I started to follow in her footsteps.

I battled my first eating disorder in my early teens as a result of depression and low-self worth. I then went in the complete opposite direction and traded anorexia for binge eating when I started to work in fast food a few years later. As I continued to gain weight, I struggled more and more with depression. I didn’t look good, I didn’t feel good, I was lonely, and I was unable to participate in my favorite hobbies because I was just too unfit to do them.

After a few “aha” moments, I understood I needed to make a change, not just to my diet but to my mindset. I needed to believe I was worthy of love and effort, most especially from myself. I realized that If I wanted long-term success with self-confidence and weight loss, I needed to stop abusing myself with my thoughts, my words, and my food and instead love myself with them. So, I taught myself new ways to think, speak, eat and behave until I created a healthy mind and body that allowed me to live the life I wanted.

For the last 20 years, I’ve maintained a healthy weight living an active and fulfilling lifestyle filled with love, laughter, friendships, adventures, and a rewarding business helping others like myself. I firmly believe no one should go through life feeling less. That’s why I use my own journey to teach others how to recognize their own worth so they believe in their ability to create a healthy body, confident mind, and fulfilling life.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Is any road smooth? Haha, no. Speaking specifically about starting my business, I definitely took some knocks. First, when I decided to quit my lucrative and cushy corporate job to start this business, I did it without a plan. I didn’t yet have an LLC established, I didn’t have the required certifications, nor did I have a business plan. Needless to say, that made all of my decisions thereafter very haphazard and fear based – fear of being broke and not being able to pay my bills! So, instead of creating the life-changing, emotional eating business I intended, I grew the business the fastest way I knew how – by personal training.

That switch in objective almost killed me! Because I was brandy new to the business, I kept my prices low and offered incentives for referrals. I also taught five fitness classes a week at a local gym to supplement my income and meet more potential clients. It didn’t take long for my calendar to fill until I was working 14 hour days.

After a few years of that, my own health began to suffer. I ended up with severe adrenal fatigue and my body started breaking down. I finally had to throw in the towel and admit defeat. I ended up transferring my evening clients to other trainers and allowed natural attrition to cut my business down even further. This seemed to spark three years of incredibly bad luck. My boyfriend opened a gym that struggled from the get-go. We had challenges with the landlord, the staff, the city, the neighboring company, the equipment… you name it! At the same time, my boyfriend was opening the gym, my father lost his battle with cancer and died. Shortly after that, I was diagnosed with a blood disorder that was akin to cancer, which needless to say, scared us both to death. From there, the bad luck only continued – my mother was in a tragic car accident and almost died, my boyfriend’s mother, who had beaten breast cancer years before, was diagnosed with a more aggressive cancer that was a result of the treatment from the breast cancer; his grandmother and uncle both died of cancer, and both a friend and a client of mine died of cancer also. All of this in a 3-year span. It was all so incredibly sad and stressful that is was really quite surreal.

Then our luck finally turned. We permanently closed down our gym two weeks before COVID forced a shut down of all gyms in AZ. That actually ended up in our favor because we were able to sell all of our gym equipment very quickly and easily as people were desperate to build up their home gyms. I was finally able to take a breath and grieve for everyone we had lost those past three years. COVID also forced me to slow down, take care of myself, work through all of the events and failures of the past few years, and recalibrate my mind, body, and spirit. I came out the other side with a renewed energy and purpose.

With that renewal, I regained my passion and vision for my business. I ended up finalizing my Love Yourself Lean online emotional eating program and have begun to build my business back up with the right objective and focus – to help change people’s lives. Unlike the first time around, I am following my own advice and taking care of myself as well as others as I rebuild. It is easy to forget life’s lessons and fall back on old habits during stressful times, but I’m staying present this time and using my own teachings to keep me healthy in mind, body and spirit. Helping others has never been so fulfilling!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So many people that struggle with weight loss do so not because of a lack of willpower but because they have a poor relationship with themselves and food. They label certain foods as “good” and “bad”, which simply gives food power over how they feel about themselves after they eat. These same people struggle with feelings of guilt and shame, which trigger binges that sabotage their weight loss efforts and steal their self-worth. Other characteristics of those that struggle with this disordered way of eating is a drive for perfection, a penchant for acting in extremes (ex: severe restriction and then bingeing), and a need for control. None of these characteristics allow for the vulnerability necessary to experience their emotions authentically. Hence the need for food as a distraction or comfort.

These are the very people I help. Through The Monarch Effect, I transform minds to transform bodies. I am a certified behavioral change specialist that teaches people how to transform their ways of thinking, speaking, eating and behaving to foster self-love so they can heal their relationship with food and finally lose weight for good. In the end, my clients create peace with food, so it no longer controls their thoughts, actions, or feelings of self-worth.

Most emotional or binge eating programs are targeted only to women, but I work with both men and women. I also work with all income levels. My Feel Not Food workbook (found on www.amazon.com) is completely interactive and provides all of the tools necessary to successfully overcome emotional eating – all for less than $20. For those that want a more personal and yet still affordable experience, they can join my Love Yourself Lean online program, which is as close to working one-on-one with me as you can get at a fraction of the cost. Lastly, I offer one-on-one sessions for those that can afford a customized journey towards a healthier relationship with food.

I absolutely love the work that I do and the people that I work with. They are comfortable with me and trust me to help them through the tough stuff without judgement. The overwhelming feedback I receive is that both my programs and I are approachable, compassionate, honest, non-judgmental and intuitive. If someone wants a safe, down-to-earth, compassionate approach to behavior change, self-love, and weight loss, then my programs will provide that.

Can you talk about how you think about risk?
My first reaction to that question is that I’m pretty conservative when it comes to risk. But then I think back on my life and I question that reaction. I think it would be true to say I am totally open to risk when I feel confident in my ability to deal with the challenges inherent with said risk.

For example, at 28 years old, when I was laid off from a pretty lucrative corporate career in Florida, I packed up my truck and left my old life behind to camp my way across the US and Canada until I reached the city of White Horse, in the Yukon Territory. During my journey there, I met a variety of amazing people, saw beautiful things, and experienced epic adventures. Once I reached White Horse, I completed a 30-day wilderness course to learn how to become an outdoor guide. We spent 15 days bushwhacking in the wilds of Canada, then the next 15 days white-water canoeing to our exit point.

Once complete, I camped my way to Alaska, where I fell in love with a little town called Homer. I spent the next two weeks living out of my tent, talking to local shopkeepers until I got a job. Throughout the winter, as I worked as a barista at a local coffee roaster, I chatted up the locals until I scored a job as a kayak guide at a high-end resort across the bay. That was exactly the job I was looking for when I left the corporate world behind. Me, my boat, the water and the wildlife. I kayaked with whales, huge schools of jellyfish that were so prolific they lifted my boat, sea otters, harbor seals and thousands upon thousands of sea stars, sea anemones and sea cucumbers. Homer has one of the largest tidal differentials in the world, so the wildlife was incredible! And I had the pleasure of sharing these wonders with the guests while basking in their love of the experience. There’s nothing as uplifting as seeing the absolute awe and delight on a child’s face when they come face to face with a sea otter, bald eagle, or a humongous sea star.

When summer was over and the job complete, I packed my things back up and hit the road again to camp my way to Arizona. There, I became certified as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer and started my fitness career. Once Spring came around again, I took off in my truck to camp my way back to the east coast to become a backpacking guide in North Carolina for the summer. I then moved to South Carolina to become a personal trainer in the winter. After a few years, I finally decided to put down some roots and re-enter the corporate world in South Carolina.

Although many thought my decision to leave the safety of my home, my relationship, and my career was both scary and insane, it was simply exciting and freeing for me. I felt confident in my ability to travel safely around the continent alone, so it wasn’t as scary for me as it was for everyone else. I knew if money ran low, I would find a way to make some more. I knew the odds of coming across someone malicious was actually pretty low, despite the news, but I also felt confident I could handle myself if I did. I knew that if I got lonely, it would only take a warm gesture to make a new friend. Basically, I knew I would be ok, so it was a risk I felt comfortable taking.

I can say the same when I decided to leave the corporate world again to open The Monarch Effect. I always knew that I was put on this earth for the very purpose of helping others feel good about themselves. I also knew that using food and fitness as my tools were also part of my destiny. So, although it took me a few years to gain the courage to walk away from the safety of a steady paycheck, I finally did it knowing I’d be ok. Once again, a calculated risk based on the belief in my ability to figure it out.

Now, after a disorganized start and a challenging middle filled challenges, sickness, and grief, I am starting again to create the business I fully believe in. There are millions of people that struggle with self-worth, obesity, and disordered eating – I refuse to let fear or past failures stop me from helping them. With all of that being said, I guess my risk tolerance depends on my level of control. I may not sky-dive, bungee jump, or run with the bulls, but I have no problem taking leaps of faith that rely on my own resiliency to make it through.

Contact Info:

• Email: theresa@themonarcheffect.com
• Website: www.themonarcheffect.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themonarcheffect_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themonarcheffect
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLtjWGBGuOSeOh9pGRHpmyQ

Image Credits
Erin Green Photography