My own journey One Year Later…..

About where I started….

This is because my metabolism was turned down.  When you diet and lose weight your metabolism slows and then your body reaches a point where it fights to get weight back on.  The New York Times did a great article about that this week as they chronicled the biggest loser contestants and their struggle with metabolism and regaining weight.  Amanda Latona, who is One of the only Fitness Models I still follow, also shared that after competing for a long time that she gained about 20 pounds even though she was eating well and exercising.  I was RELIEVED to know that I wasn’t making this up.

I want to share what she said because I want people to know that all what you see on social media may not be the whole truth.  I am thankful she’s secure enough to share with people the other side of the game.

Excerpt of Amanda’s story

Yes I had more balance,but no I wasn’t eating cheeseburgers and ben&jerrys. I was training the same 5 days a week some days twice a day and my weight was going up. To 152lbs at my heaviest. Now , you can imagine the mental game as I know many, many of you have been through. If I was sitting on the couch eating donuts maybe I could justify that but I wasn’t. I was training, in freakin beast mode the only way I know how to train and nothing. It took me 13 months to start responding again. Yes 13 months. I now can have a cheat meal and/or my period and not fluctuate 6-8lbs, I can also gain muscle and I have perfect hormones and perfect blood work. I’m saying this because I love the way I look now, but the number on the scale would freak me out.

Hormonal issues

My metabolism wasn’t only lowered but there were hormonal consequences as well.  For the first time my monthly cycles wiped me out to the point where I would have to lay down when I wasn’t working and the cramping was worse than usual.  I later came to find out after reading Rachel Cosgrove’s book that this wasn’t in my head.  It was for real.  She suffered with the same issues with her menses after her figure show and subsequent rebound.  She  mentioned that she got up to a size 16 after her show because her body wasn’t happy with the restriction on calories and excessive working out so it rebelled on her.

My plan has been to strategically raise calories and focus on strength training and conditioning.  I am up to about 2000 calories per day and  January – April 2016 was the first time that I have not gained weight and my measurements are going down.  I still cannot get into my pants but they are at least over my butt now and can almost button.  My menses are back the way they were before I started all of that restrictive dieting and exercise.

It is what it is.  I’m coaxing my body and not forcing anything.

Body Image Activism

I can say that one of the best things to come out of this was my focus on becoming a body image activist.  I have been overwhelmed with how much of the fitness industry is rooted in self loathing, low self image, insecurity, and teaching people that happiness is rooted in having the perfect body that doesn’t exist.

It’s so silly that we beat up our best female athletes because they look….athletic.  We criticize 20 year old supermodels like Gigi Hadid because she has breasts and thighs.  It’s all so ridiculous and it’s all rooted in this idea of teaching people to hate themselves so that they buy the latest scam to make money.

A woman that has a mindset of strength and confidence won’t be as apt to buy into photoshopped scams that promise her love and happiness if she buys whatever images of perfection these hucksters are selling.

And as I have learned in the past year….none of that crap even matters.  Confidence is about how you feel about yourself not about how you look or any of that.

Understanding Eating Psychology

You just don’t have any willpower

How bad do you want it

Fuel not Food

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

These are just some of the stupid things that people say on social media when it comes to nutrition.  How about it’s deeper than this shallow way of thinking? For many people, food is self medication.  It’s their drug of choice.  Food may be the only intimate relationship that some people have.  We must get to the root of why people eat the way they do because so often it’s not about the food.  I am thankful to have gone to the eating workshops on Emotional Eating which helped me to validate so much of what i believe about our relationship to food.

I will be honest:  A lot of what we see from the Fitness Industry regarding food are the same things we see on pro anorexia and pro eating disorder websites.  People have fooled themselves into believing that their restricting and food obsessions make them hardcore when in reality, it’s just as unhealthy as someone who suffers from an eating disorder.  Hoarding Oreos and candy in your house is symptomatic of what binge eaters do and we know Restricting leads to Binge Eating.

I am so thankful to be delivered from Disordered Eating Habits.  It’s no longer a big deal to me.  I do not binge on trail mix anymore.  I don’t have to keep foods in my trunk because I am afraid of bingeing on them.  I don’t have weird food hang ups.  As a matter of fact, I end up picking the healthier option most of the time because I like it better.  I’ve been able to reintroduce my favorite foods/recipes like Protein Breads, Protein Pancakes, and even eating at my favorite Vietnamese places with no issue.  When I go on vacation, I can enjoy my cocktails.  It’s like the old days.

I believe that food restriction is unhealthy.  Period.  There’s research that says that restricting food for just 4 days impacts a hormone that regulates your metabolism and studies show that the more you restrict, the more likely you are to binge.

I am Enough

If I could teach one lesson from this whole experience to others, it would be to teach them to understand that they are enough.  You don’t need to fix yourself in order to love yourself.  Be the best you can be by committing to be 1% better every day.

One of my favorite songs out right now is by Demi Lovato and she says, “What’s wrong with being Confident?”  I’ll tell you what’s wrong with being confident…People can’t hustle you and get you to believe lies if you’re confident!

My mission is to get women to STOP YO YO DIETING.  Really anybody who engages in yo-yo dieting but I’m focusing on women because I’m tired of seeing the Before and After pictures that lie to you and say that everything you want is on the other side of thinness.  It’s so not true.  TRUST ME.

It’s become my mission to get people to stop Yo Yo Dieting.  It’s the biggest waste of time EVER and it’s damaging to your health.

This year I’ve committed to being my healthiest yet and not with any goal weight in mind, but because I celebrate somewhat of a milestone birthday and I want to keep getting better with time.  Many of the things we associate with aging can be slowed down if we take care of ourselves.

So it’s been one year and I feel stronger and better than ever. Here’s to LIVING BETTER!!!