Rebuilding a Healthy Relationship with Food and Fitness

Shame will try to hold you in the dark places because vulnerably exposing the not-so-pretty parts of your story is scary. However, sometimes the not-so-pretty parts are the ones someone needs to hear...⁣⁣

Bear with me friend, this is part of my journey I STILL struggle to talk about.⁣⁣

I remember my relationship with food and “health” turning south as early as middle school.⁣⁣

I grew up when it was cool to be Nicole Ritchie thin, and I was always very athletic. I was also bullied A LOT, and the combination of the two did a serious number on me. I wasn’t brought up in a body positive household, mom was always on a diet. My Sophomore year of high school was when things got the worst. I was counting calories like it was my JOB, and when the scale didn’t budge, I would just go workout more.⁣⁣

This cycle continued on and on and on until I was in college. There finding a balance was EVEN HARDER, I had free reign of a gym and a very limited number of meals on my meal plan.⁣⁣

Then I got really, really sick and almost lost my life. I got pulled out of college and felt like my world was inside out. I completely gave up on life, and gained a ton of weight, but the disordered thoughts and behaviors were still there.⁣⁣⁣⁣

To this day, it’s still a battle I fight DAILY.⁣⁣

To be truly free of an unhealthy mind-set and harmful behaviors, you have to look at fitness + health as part of your self-CARE, not your self-WORTH.⁣⁣

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4 tips that have helped me:⁣⁣

1. Find a healthy community - honestly this has had the BIGGEST impact.⁣⁣

2. Identify your triggers and eliminate them - write down what needs to change, and commit to making one change at a time. (I committed to a color-coded container system that has eliminated counting calories entirely.)⁣⁣

3. Set goals + boundaries - Don’t become so obsessed with your goal that you forget there is more to your worth than whether or not you achieve it. (I have some badass best friends that let me know when I’m starting to get derailed )⁣⁣

4. Don’t let shame stop you from getting help - I thankfully 🙏🏼 never got to a point where I’ve needed outside help, but it’s 𝘖𝘒𝘈𝘠 if you do.⁣⁣