For the longest time I wanted to be smaller. To shrink. To be thin.
I grew up thinking that slim is beautiful, skinny arms and legs, a tiny waist, being able to slip into a size 2 little black dress and have it hang in just the right way. The signs were all around me. “Nutritional shakes” and programs were all the rage when I was growing up, people were running left right and center with their sweat bands on. People were “getting physical”, going to step class, buying thigh masters and treadmills.
I didn’t get it, I just knew that being thin was what women were “supposed” to be. But I didn’t get thin….I got fat. From about age 13 to age 18, I piled on the pounds. I went from slightly chubby to full out overweight. I was 5’4″ and 185lbs in my final year of high school. I was depressed, upset with myself and unable to control my emotional eating habits. I ate for pleasure, when I was bored, when I was sad or happy and anytime in between. Food was my comfort.
Then when I was 18, I learned to control my eating and get off my butt. I learned the joy of movement with daily 10km roller blading odysseys down my little city’s ocean front sea walk. I learned to love sweat and the freedom of being able to walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. I loved that feeling. I craved more. Over the course of a year following high school graduation, I eventually lost 60lbs and for the next ten years I experimented with all kinds of fitness, workouts, dieting and all the other things that go along with a health obsession.
I lifted little weights, I stretched, I walked, I ran, I jogged, I did lunges, I did squats, I sweated in front of my TV or computer screen for hours working my butt off (literally) to videos of super cardio and then I added a bit of weight to that. I got down to 115lbs this last summer. I was slim, I had abs, I was healthy, I was eating no meat. I was doing all the things I’m “supposed to do”. But I didn’t feel very good.
In fact, I felt so poor I paid to go see a naturopath to tell me what was up. Did I have a thyroid problem? Hormone imbalance? Gluten or other food sensitivity? I couldn’t shake the feeling of being not quite right. I actually started suffering from some serious autoimmune problems. My hair was falling out in huge patches and I was freaking out. The doctors all kept saying it was just hormones from having the kids and breastfeeding, but I just didn’t believe them.
Then I started really looking into this beautiful world that exists on the periphery of fitness. A group of people that like to lift heavy things for short periods of time. Barely any of the dreaded cardio, only short bursts of running and workouts only lasted for usually no more than 30 minutes, tops. I dove head first into that world. I dragged Adrian with me. Because doing things as a couple is way more fun and it truly cements the bond you have to see each other at such a low as right after a 1000m row for time. Part of this world was the food. We switched (with no looking back) to a full primal diet. From no meat, to lots of it. From barely any fat, to more than I’d ever allowed myself since those pimply teenage days. I was in heaven.
Early on this year I had set some goals for myself. After doing the cardio based videos for over two years, I wanted the following for myself: visible abs, able to do 5 full push ups, able to do one full pull up unassisted. I hadn’t achieved them through the videos, but with the help of the “sport of fitness” I could do all of them within two months of starting. I was pumping out ten, twenty, thirty push ups at a time!
My weight shot up from 115lbs to 122lbs in one month and it wasn’t fat. I gained lean muscle and I felt strong and lean and capable. I felt beautiful. Beautiful from the inside out. I have more confidence, more strength, better endurance and best of all, I feel good. I can eat real food and not feel gross, I don’t have constant problems in my gut and I don’t feel like a balloon after every meal. I’m comfortable in my own skin and for the first time in my whole life, I can walk around naked and feel like I own the place (cause I do..in my own house. You won’t see me getting the newspaper in the buff…).
So that’s my story so far. Strong really is the new sexy and you’ll never find me trying to shrink again…
But now I want to hear your story, your goals for your future because your health is what will bring you that future. And I want you to tell the whole world about it.
Under Armour is putting on a contest called What’s Beautiful. It’s open to US and Canadian residents age 13 and older and entrants are eligible to win prizes (swag bags, trips, spa treatments, training, etc.). All you have to do is set a goal and show us how you are going to achieve it. What is the What’s Beautiful contest? Simply put, Under Armour has set out to redefine what the female athlete is. The What’s Beautiful program encourages women to share their fitness journeys and receive motivation, free gear and support from under Armour along the way.
So it’s time to set your own goal, crush it and share it with the world. You too can motivate others! The 10 women with the most epic journeys will win a trip to Florida to the Under Armour Women’s Camp Sweat where you will train with the best. Let’s do this thing!
What’s your goal?
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own.