After years of being super hard on myself and focusing intently on every morsel of food I put into my body, I finally am done with it.
About five years ago I started Crossfit. I began because I needed something different. I started getting really interested in olympic lifting, snatches and clean and jerks, but I also wanted a daily workout plan that would incorporate functional activity, running and other kinds of weight lifting.
After not having an amazing experience at Crossfit, a girlfriend of mine urged me to try out her gym, Crossfit Southie. On day one I got my first double under and I was hooked. I finally met girls who weren’t obsessed with how they looked or what they had on, they just wanted to squat. (I’ve always described myself as the kind of girl who will be on the platform lifting heavy with a bow in my hair.)
Since then so much has changed. I have become obsessed with what I am capable of. At 36 years of age I am doing things I NEVER thought I would do. Just the other day I walked on my hands. That’s right.. walking on my hands!
I focus on doing cool things with my body and pushing myself past former limits. Do you know how amazing it feels to throw 150 pounds over your head if you’ve NEVER thrown 150 pounds over your head before? Or get yourself up on top of the bar in a bar muscle up?! It’s incredible and empowering.
It’s given me a reason to wake up. I’m so incredibly passionate about it. When I was training for bikini competitions my coach told me food is fuel. I don’t believe that for the record, food is much more than fuel, but that’s another story. But now I’m much more apt to believe that because I can look at food and say, “is this going to make me feel good when I train tomorrow?” and it heavily weighs on my decision of what I’m going to eat. And because I am passionate about training, I WANT to eat healthier things.
It’s taken me years, and sometimes I still regress from time to time, but I’m getting further and further away from that girl who has been AFRAID to eat a banana because “it has too many carbs.” Now I can eat a few bites of a sandwich or some cake and be like, “Dang, that was good!” and not beat myself up over it. That stress isn’t going to give you a six pack anyway.
And trust me, I look at myself now and wish that I had a little less fat on my tummy or that my arms were more ripped, but at what expense? Will my training take a hit? Will my lifts go down? Will I have to spend more time doing boring cardio? Will I have to say no to going out for dinner or drinks?
Right now I just want to enjoy life, train hard, have fun with my friends, be healthy and live life. I feel like a normal girl again. And all of the stress I’ve felt never got me anywhere. You can’t stress yourself into a body you love, if anything it makes it worse. The happier you are and feel the more positive hormones you have flowing through your body and the better your body will be!
Not to say I’m perfect all of the time because every now and then I get back into that negative mindset but I continue to work on myself all the time and constantly reassure myself of positive things. And it helps to wear more flattering things or make my hair look extra good on days I don’t feel too hot You just have to always be working on this and it gets easier.
There is a time a place for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
There is a time and place for training hard to achieve a personal fitness goal.
There is a time and place for reigning in your diet and ONLY eating clean eating recipes.
But there is no time or place for hating on yourself for something you can’t or don’t really want to change.
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Whether it’s 5 or 50 pounds, we can help you get healthy and lose weight!
Your Coach,
Kyra