Let's talk about some of the 'health hacks' you do or have heard about from your trusted fitness professionals (although not this one ;)

 You may know by now that I spent a good decade deep in Eating Disorders...

And because I spent years throwing up or severely restricting- I thought that was THE definition of disordered eating.

 Maybe you do too.

 Or, maybe you already know what took me a long while to recognize: that distorted eating habits can be extremely destructive, and they don't have to involve binging, purging, and starvation.

 Some examples pulled straight from my past experiences- and maybe your current ones…

•  Filling yourself up with drinks to subdue hunger- like bubbly waters, coffee, tea, wine (the last one being recommended by a popular fit pro) 
•  Putting off breakfast as long as possible
•  Labeling a ‘healthy’ food as a free for all.  Like eating all the baby carrots you want (while also tuning out...

An outcome that can happen for a million different reasons.

Some of the most common ones?

-Death

-Divorce

-Cancer

-Stress

-Autoimmune Disorders

-Undernourishment (purposeful or not)

-Depression

Less common reasons for weight loss:

-Seeing a therapist

-Increasing your vegetable intake

-Exercising more

-Getting more sleep

Healing your disordered eating

Research has continually proven there is no safe, sustainable way to lose weight.  And those that DO lose weight intentionally, 80% plus will regain that weight and more within 2 years.

And that lose/gain cycle is more harmful to a person’s health- everything from an increase in heart disease to a higher mortality rate overall- than just staying the same weight.

If you're privileged enough to do so, you can change your habits to improve your health- like the ones listed above.

But weight loss?

Not a healthy habit you can create.

And more often than not, it's an outcome you have no control over.

I recently came across this pic from December 11 years ago, and it made me sad.

Sad because it’s probably 1 of maybe 3 pictures of me pregnant- and I don’t think I have a single one from my first pregnancy with my daughter.

Sad because I focused so much more on what I DIDN’T like about my body back then, instead of what it was amazingly and incredibly creating.

Sad because although I didn’t enjoy being pregnant (like AT ALL), it was a really special time for my husband and I. Especially that first pregnancy that was a struggle to create, when it was just us and we had no idea how our lives would change.

Sad because the woman behind the camera is gone now, and although I have so many pics of her and her grandbabies, I have so few of her and I during these times.  Of the memories of how much she loved both me and these kids, from the very moment they were created.

All that to say...

Take the pic.

Body image messes with you, makes you believe...

I took a hike with my daughter and her friend recently.

And yup, we talked about fitness, food, and some of the misinformation about both out there (obvi).

They asked me about some of the stuff they see on social- ‘can you get rid of hip dips?’- to the consistent talk about calories in calories out.

When we came across a group of older woman having a snack break- who commented about hiking SO they could eat- we talked about never needing to earn your food.

And because they got weighed in gym class and sent home with a BMI report card last year, I know what messages they’re getting there (my son is currently watching ’Super Size Me’ in health class and every day is a debrief of that bullshit. If you don’t know how harmful that movie is @maintenancephase) has a fantastic episode that breaks it all down).

Your children, your nieces and nephews, your friends kids- they are paying attention.

Not just to how you talk about food, but what YOUR...

The idea that you can change the length of muscles is a myth.

 They have a point of origin and a point of attachment, attached to bones by tendons.  These are fixed points.  

 Unless you undergo specific limb lengthening surgery, you’re stuck with the length of the muscles you’ve got.

 When it comes to spot reducing, research continues to confirm that this isn’t a thing.  You have no control over where you gain or lose pounds.

 You can’t change your DNA, how big or small your frame is, the structure of your frame, where your body holds weight and doesn’t, or whether you’ll ever have visible abs even if you do thousands of sit ups a day.

 Listen, it’s 1,000% up to you if you choose to pursue weight loss (and you can guess I’m not the coach for you if that’s your goal).

 I just want you to have all the information, so much of which is left out of the conversation, or just...

Your weight can fluctuate from 5-8 pounds EVERY DAY for just some of these reasons:

Your body retains water after a workout to help repair muscle damage

For every one gram of carbs you eat for energy, a lower risk of cardiac diseases and production of healthy gut bacteria (among other things), you retain 3 grams of water

The medicine you take that makes your life infinitely better may cause you to either retain water OR change how your body absorbs and stores glucose

When you drink an excessive amount of alcohol, you weigh less- since alcohol is a diuretic- until your body starts retaining water from the foods and drinks you consumed in your drunken state

For many of of us, stepping on the scale works to reinforce the idea that we can and SHOULD have control over that number.

And so often that number determines not only how our day goes, but how we feel about ourselves, our value.

Whatever your relationship is with your scale, it’s always worth asking yourself if using it to...

There's a history behind how you feel about your body shape and size.

I’m white, thin, non disabled, & cis gender- and those are just a few of the many privileges I have that must be acknowledged to be an effective coach who works with humans.  Period.

And I continue to learn from people of color with lived experiences and knowledge in this field- and you should too.

So here’s just a quick synopsis of why I coach the way I do, and a list of resources at the bottom.  The more education you have, the easier it is to see how racism and fitness are linked to each other ...

Why do we idealize thinness?

A big part of it stems from the 1800’s, when white European men felt they needed to create a bullshit evolutionary hierarchy to place themselves at the top. So they ranked people according to physical traits and catalogued them to fit their narrative.

These men decided that fatness was a sign of ‘savagery’- only because it was a trait they were seeing...