Sherri Clarke - Lifexcel Carolina

Sherri Clarke

  • Sherri Clarke, MS, RD, LDN, NASM CPT, founder
  • Hometown: Maggie Valley, North Carolina
  • Tuscola High School
  • BA in Health, Physical Education, Exercise and Sport Science – UNC Chapel Hill
  • MS in Nutrition – Winthrop University
  • Registered Dietitian since 1995
  • Certified Personal Trainer since 2013
“Sometimes the very thing we are embarrassed about or want to hide about ourselves has made us uniquely qualified to help others who are going through the same struggles.”

I was 13, loving life growing up in a middle class family in Maggie Valley, NC. I lived with my parents and two older brothers. One sunny Saturday afternoon I was watching an Atlanta Braves baseball game when the news came. My dad was dead at age 48 from a massive heart attack. He was 30 pounds overweight and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day but he had never been diagnosed with any heart disease so it was a shock. It was June 11, 1983 and it was the end of life as I knew it. I had no idea how to deal with my emotions. I unknowingly turned to the only drug I could get my hands on – food.

During the next several years I developed a love/hate relationship with food. I found a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream quite comforting. On the other hand I abhorred what it did to my thighs. I wanted to put the brownie down but seemed powerless to do so. When I was 16, my best friend died in a car accident. By now I had unknowingly laid down a habit. Food equaled comfort. Food equaled love. I was so in control of every area of my life, except food. Not until I went to college and saw a therapist and a Dietitian was I able to understand my actions and chart a course to change the path I was on. I had to relive my father’s death and mourn him, which I had never done. I had to learn new coping skills so that when stress came my way again I did not turn to food. It was hard work – mentally and physically but I made a decision to change my life. Overweight people think food is their problem. It’s not the problem. It’s what they have chosen to be their solution. It’s just a really, really bad solution.

As I progressed through my life I wondered why weight loss is so focused on telling people how much and what to eat but it’s rare to find a place that addresses WHY someone eats. Society tells us that overweight people are lazy and lack willpower. Willpower had very little to do with why I was overweight. My senior year in high school I was all-conference in basketball and the female athlete of the year. I graduated 16th out of 330 students and was the female scholar athlete of the year. I was President of my high school chorus. I was not lazy and I did not lack willpower. My problem was that food served a much bigger role than providing my body fuel. That had to change.

I created Lifexcel for people who struggle like I did. I want to help people identify why they are resistant to the very changes they say they want to make. I want to help people transform their lives. Life is too short to spend one more day tortured by your eating behavior.
Lifexcel Carolina is a unique environment that I hope you will find inspirational, supportive and non-judgmental. Our aim is to surround you with a team of professionals who meet you were you are and give you the tools you need to change your life forever.