Who Am I:
Hello, I’m Doug Keeney. It is a pleasure to have you here reading about my story. After a long time of denying my true calling I have opted to break way from the stability of the corporate world and jump back on the path of helping people. Keen-Eyed Coaching is my new journey as an Integrative Health Coach and through it I will provide my services, knowledge, and experience to you in order to achieve your goals and dreams.
Where I was:
To give you insight into my background let me explain about my past and what brought me to this point in time. I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and love being active in the outdoors by partaking in sports and spending time with friends. Yet, many don’t realize that I have battled with my weight since my teenage years and much of it came from my lack of and self-esteem and not caring for myself. I can tell you that I have done every diet under the sun to control my weight and bring about change, with limited success during those times. It was not until I made the connection that Diet’s don’t work and that lifestyle changes do. This knowledge is what brought out my weight loss and put me back in control of my health.
Just for comparison of where I am today to where I was, today I stand 6 ft 3 inches and have a 34 inch waist and maintain a weight around 228 lb. At one of my worst points I was closing in on 300+ lb. with a 44-46 inch waist. I had become self-loathing, had no self-esteem and could not stand to look at myself in the mirror. I turned to foods, especially sugary, carb stuffed junk foods to console myself. In addition I was also struggling with coming to terms with who I am at my core. Back in the 80s and 90s the world was not very accepting towards gay men. When I finally told folks about who I truly was an incredible thing happened. I started to lose weight and my self esteem started coming back.
It was as this time that I started to gain the base understanding that there was more to overall health and wellbeing than the physical activity and dietary aspects. I learned that one needed to feed and exercise their mind and spirt just as much as they need to feed and exercise their body. Yet it would be a great many years later before this understanding would truly come to light for me.
From my mid twenties to my late thirties I continued to experience the yo-yo of weight and esteem issues. In an attempt to control my weight and happiness I became more active in sports and athletic activities. Consider it the spark that got me interested in becoming a force of change and inspire others to make changes themselves. Yet, the pattern of gain and loss continued until I was 40 when I discovered the philosophy of the Paleo life style. This was not a diet by any stretch of the imagination as it truly was a lifestyle that I chose to live by. When I adopted the lifestyle I was again hovering around 260+ lb. (I have to say I hate scales) and within six months I was able to lose 50 lb.
After my success I started having people ask me how I did it and state what and inspiration I was. They started to seek out coaching and assistance in helping them do the same things within their lives. (GRIN) You could say that the Universe once again was smacking me upside the head though these interactions, though I still was not listening fully to it until now.
Where I am going:
It wasn’t until 2014 when I was talking with my sister, who is an Integrative Health Coach, that I got the ultimate smack up side the head. She was seeking insights from me about my dietary successes and what I did to maintain good health. We also touched on other training that I have done in regards to my Reiki and Shamanistic work. This is when the light dawned on me and I stated to myself, “Doug, you could be a health coach. You have been doing it all along and are great at it.” So, taking the queue from the Devine and my sister, I enrolled into at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and in August of 2015 I launch Keen-eyed Coaching my health coaching business.
I look forward to working with you to achieve your goals and provide insights on how to improve your overall all wellbeing.