We had the good fortune of connecting with Nissa Graun and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nissa, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m originally from Chicago – a city known for amazing food like pizza, beef sandwiches and amazing hot dog stands … all of the foods that are easy to crave and even easier to add pounds to your waistline. I grew up in a home with my mom and two older brothers. Since my mom was always working to keep us afloat, and my brothers were growing, food seemed scarce … at least the junk food I wanted. I felt the need to get to my favorite junk foods first so I could have at least a little before my brothers ate all of the good stuff. This led to a life of struggling with my weight and an addiction to junk food. I first noticed I was overweight at age 12 and have been on and off restrictive diets ever since. After more than 25 years of this vicious cycle, I found a keto lifestyle that finally helped me break past constant yo yo diets. I found new information that helped me improve the way my body digested foods, which meant I was able to stick to a low carb plan for the first time ever. I lost 100+ pounds and improved health conditions I thought I was just stuck with. That’s when I decided to start blogging about what finally helped me ditch yo yo diets for good. This was the beginning of my website eatingfatisthenewskinny.com.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started my business as a hobby, writing health blogs and creating easy ketogenic recipes to help make following a keto lifestyle easier for others. In June of 2018, I was featured in People Magazine’s 100 Pounds Down Issue – and things moved quickly after that. I began turning my health blogs into books and created easy to follow courses from all of the knowledge I gained that helped me lose 100 pounds and drastically improve my health. Every quarter I run a new Keto Challenge, which is a live 3 week event that helps the challengers commit to a keto lifestyle through increased knowledge and competition. Since working to improve digestion while also overhauling your diet can be tricky for some, I recently put together a Commit to 6: 1:1 6 month weight loss coaching program with my mentor and podcast partner. While I love helping others finally ditch yo yo diets after decades of struggling with weight, writing books, keeping up with a podcast, and everything else I do in my business is not always easy since I’m also a stay at home mom of two young boys. Just as most working mothers, at times I struggle to find a work / life balance. My passion is to help others – so this is something I’ll continue to work on. I’m also what I consider an extroverted introvert. While I love being social with people, I’m very shy and definitely need time on my own to recharge. Since most of my work involves being on camera or cheering on others as they celebrate the small victories that add up to their big wins, this makes life balance a little more difficult.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m actually still relatively new to the Phoenix area. Being a stay at home mom, we love visiting all of the local parks during the day – including the splash pad at Mansel Carter Oasis Park and the Gilbert Regional Park. When we go out, we usually head to downtown Gilbert where some of our favorite restaurants are like Joe’s BBQ and Snooze. We also love local places like The Hub. If we leave the kids at home, we love Scottsdale and often visit places like Bourbon & Bones.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I struggled with yo yo diets until I came across the book Kick Your Fat in the Nuts, which is a health book written by a comedian. The author, TC Hale, basically took everything I believed to be true about health and nutrition and told me to follow the opposite advice. Ditching mainstream norms is how I was finally able to lose weight and keep it off for nearly 5 years. TC is now the co-host of our podcast, Chat the Fat, and we’ve created several courses, a membership site and we recently teamed up to go deep with our client’s with our new Commit to 6 1:1 Weight Loss Coaching Program.

Website: www.eatingfatisthenewskinny.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/eatingfatisthenewskinny

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/eatingfatisthenewskinny

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCouUtatXGhhhvehUosxeavw?

Other: www.pinterest.com/eatingfatisthenewskinny

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.