Weight Management Therapy in Toronto by Therapists Who Truly Get It.

We use the exact strategies that made our own recoveries successful to help you eliminate your inner saboteur and break the cycle for good.

Free 30 min discovery call to discuss your needs and how we can help address your food addiction and obsessive thoughts around food.

*If residing in Ontario

How will this time be different?

In 10-12 sessions split between 30-60 minute sessions, we eliminate viscous inner saboteurs, brutal perfectionism, oppressive black-and-white thinking and quitting after just one mistake. After all, if you can recover from an eating mistake, you have not really made a mistake to begin with!!

We pride ourselves on helping people who think they are at their lowest point. We want to make weight management a sane, sound and peaceful experience.

The other difference is that we are Registered Psychotherapists and use validated methods from CBT and addiction theory, blended with our own experiences losing and managing our weight. You get the best of both worlds – validated treatment combined with the experience of people who have actually been successful at managing their weight.

Aliva's Two Advantages: Our Lived Experience and Professional Designations

Therapy with Aliva is like a "Pre-Diet"

In 10-12 sessions, we teach you how to lose weight and eliminate all the factors that have derailed you previously.

Meet Our Specialists

Every therapist on our team is a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario who has personally come through serious struggles with weight, food, or body, whether that was exercise bulimia, binge eating, anorexia, or addictive eating. We hire that way on purpose. Weight management therapy goes differently when the person across from you has actually walked through it. Whether you’re trying to lose weight, keep it off, or get the most out of weight loss medications or bariatric surgery, you’ll be working with someone who has been there and has the clinical training to help you get through it.

Danielle Watson

Registered Psychotherapist, RP

Eating Disorder Specialist.
Specializing in Eating disorders and grounded in her own recovery journey, Danielle provides expert ongoing care.

Brian Baumal

Registered Psychotherapist, RP, CRPO#3731

Clinic Founder & Food Addiction
Expert Brian built Aliva from his own lived experience, having permanently overcome an eating disorder and sustained a 100-pound weight loss.

Julie Lewis

Registered Psychotherapist, RP, MACP. CRPO#11014

Specializes in weight management, eating disorders, and food addiction, while supporting clients utilizing GLP-1 medications or navigating bariatric surgery.

Aliva Psychotherapy

What is weight management therapy?

Everyone visiting this page has started with a diet and within a short period – like two weeks to two months – has quit. In fact, the only thing that has been consistent in your efforts is that you often give-up after a short period of time. This is likely because you have been very hard on yourself when you diet.

At Aliva, we address this with a “been there done that” attitude. Our lived experience with weight management gives us a special kind of empathy and even lighthearted humour around weight management. Brian has overcome binge eating disorder and exercise bulimia. Danielle has overcome anorexia. Because we have the battlescars from what you are going through now, people feel very comfortable talking to us in a way they cannot with other therapists.

Our main goal is NOT to “ditch the diets”. What Aliva wants to do is normalize your relationship with food and body BEFORE you lose weight and/or use weight loss medications and/or surgery. This “pre-diet” preparation allows you to rebound from mistakes, spot cognitive errors and address negative behaviours that have derailed you previously. In other words, we put your mistakes behind you BEFORE you start to lose weight. Once you normalize your relationships with food and body managing weight becomes much easier.

We don't offer diets. We offer depth!

The top things that make our clients beat their heads agains a brick wall:

Let’s get at the root of what has prevented you from previous success.

Weight Management Therapy

How does our lived experience with weight management help you directly?

Let our lived experience be the start of your own journey.

Working with Aliva is Like a "Pre-Diet"

After 10 years of practice, we know the people coming through our door all have the same expereinces – inner saboteurs, giving up too early, engaging in unsustainable weight loss and black and white thinking. In our first 10-12 sessions lasting between 30 to 60 minutes, we use addiction treatment methods and validated CBT to eliminate all of these derailing factors. When they are gone, your relationship with food and body are healed and managing weight becomes much easier.

We Want To Make Therapy Fun and Approachable

Honestly, therapy and eating problems are indeed serious issues. However, at the same time we want to make the process approachable. We also want you to understand why we do what we do in-session, so you can always ask us if you have questions.

We Are One of the Few Therapy Organizations Treating Both Binge Eating and Food Addiction

It’s time to get technical for a moment. Binge Eating Disorder has been around for a very long time, and there are established treatment protocols for it. However, Food Addiction is very new, and it is a much more compulsive and even destructive relationship with food. At Aliva, we believe we are one of the few organizations that works with both of these paradigms. The benefit to you is that you get more comprehensive treatment for your weight management.

We Know Your Enemies are Speed and Perfectionism - Do You?!

If you have been struggling with your weight for decades, it makes complete sense that you want it off today, or even yesterday if you believe in time travel! Moreover, people believe – and most diets support – the idea that it is critical to be perfect with your food intake. However, from a psychology point of view, speed kills and perfectionism is dangerous. In fact these speed and perfectionism are the most imperfect things you can do for long-term weight loss from a psychological point of view. If Aliva does one thing and does it well, is we break you free from this destructive thinking.

Start with A Normal Relationship with Food

Most people tell us their goal is to start with a diet (e.g. calorie counting, keto, Intermittent Fasting, a commercial diet program) and once they have achieved their goal weight, then they will want a normal relationship with food. However, that is backwards thinking. The reason is that once you start having a normal relationship with food, your weight will go up again. Moreover, diets simply do not support long-term normal relationships with food. If you start with a normal relationship with food, your success is more likely to be long-term.

You Should Fire Us At Any Time If We Ever Sound Like Other Weight Loss Professionals.

We will NEVER passive-aggressively tell you to make a “better choice” or to “substitute blueberries for M&Ms”. We won’t tell you to drink five glasses of water before your child’s birthday party. Nor will we “invite you to consider an alternate solution.” That’s not therapy. That’s not us. And that’s not how our lived experience tells us to lose weight. We help you overcome your previous weight loss attempts, give you hope when you need it and address the inner psychological demons that derail you from weight loss.

At Aliva we want to help you accept yourself and the difficult road ahead. We want to use therapy to help you accept that long- lasting weight management will take time - but that the journey is totally worth it.

Therapy for weight management, eating disorders*, and food addiction issues – minus the shame, embarrassment, or fear—online sessions across Ontario. Serving downtown Toronto in-person or online.

Who we are

Why Work With Aliva Psychotherapy

We've been there. We get it. We love what we do.

Issues with food and body are serious. At Aliva, the first thing we do is just listen because few people truly understand eating issues, including other therapists. Our therapy is approachable, affable and effective. It may even put a smile on your face.

At Aliva Psychotherapy, we don’t give “tips”; we dive deep to uncover the psychological barriers preventing you from seeing results. From fear to procrastination, we’ve seen it all, and we’re here to help you laugh, cry, and work your way through the toughest food challenges.

If you’ve hit your lowest point with your struggles, or are sick and tired of endless cycles, we offer compassionate guidance and support. Let’s turn your past attempts into valuable lessons, and make this time different together.

We would like to show you how therapy with Aliva can be the most powerful, fun experience you’ve ever had.

Aliva was founded by Brian Baumal, RP, after he permanently lost 100 pounds and recovered from exercise bulimia and binge eating. He’s now Chair of the Sugar and Food Addiction Professionals Network and has been featured on The Food Junkies Podcast and The Kick Sugar Coach Podcast. Danielle Watson, RP joined the team grounded in her own recovery.

Every therapist who works here has done their own recovery with food, weight, or body. That’s the foundation under everything that happens in session.

Questions About Binge and Emotional Eating Treatment

Is this a diet?

NO. Diets do not work. We work on healing your relationship with food first, and then you are in a better position to make the choices you want. From the moment you were born, others decided what and how you should do it. It is about time that responsibility is put back in your hands.

How will this time be different and long-lasting?

This is ultimately individual, but we work at “de-programming” from unattainable standards. One of the most significant differences people notice is that they tend to be much easier on themselves as opposed to harder.

Do you do general psychotherapy outside of weight management?

Absolutely we do. Virtually all our patients speak to our therapists about psychological issues or concerns that are happening in their lives.

Do you help people on weight loss medications and/or those who are pre/post bariatric surgery?

Absolutely we do. In fact, many of our patients seek us out because they are starting these treatments and want to ensure that their psychological relationship with themselves, food and body are properly addressed to ensure long-term success. We have a specific section of our site devoted to people who are on weight loss medications and/or at the pre/post bariatric stage.

How long will it take to feel better?

In general, clients start to see solid improvement about six to nine months, having weekly or twice monthly sessions with our therapists. Note that sustainable weight loss (not on medications or with surgery) is 1 to 2 pounds a week.

What will we do when my progress stalls

Eagle eyed readers will notice that we say “when” your progress stalls, not “if” your progress stalls. Everyone we see will stall. Moreover, we know that stalls are what derails many people’s past weight management attempts. We want to teach you how to rebound.

Will my food noise vanish?

Keep in mind that we are exposed to food hundreds of times a day, and we have to eat anywhere from three to six times a day. Food noise is part of our lives. However, part of our treatment is to reduce food noise, espeically around snacking and give you tools to manage them.

Have more questions?

Our Approach

How Our Weight Management Therapy Works

Every new client journey starts with a free 30-minute discovery call to share your story and figure out whether we’re a good fit. Once we’ve matched you with the right therapist on our team, the weight management work itself looks like this: