This past week I somehow survived a week in a shared hotel room with my mother…as well as an insanely educational experience at The Biggest Loser Resort: Amelia Islands. Im so happy I got to experience this will my Mom. She is such an important pillar of strength for me, and challenging each other this week was an awesome opportunity to bond and learn more about one another.
Though we chat a little bit about our experience above, I wanted to share with you how much it changed my perspective on food, fitness, and my overall outlook on myself and my weight. As you may know, I have struggled with my relationship with food from a very young age; emotional eating, uneducated eating, and even disordered eating. Although I have always been a somewhat active person, I had a warped perception on how to control my weight, since there was so much emphasis in the media about exercise and weight loss. Yes, activity is an incredible way to condition your heart and great aspect of a healthy lifestyle, but food is most important..and the food part was what I was getting all wrong.
Losing 87 lbs was the first time in my life I successfully achieved a weight loss goal through diet and exercise…but then I had to maintain, a skill I had not yet acquired…something I wasn't sure I could be successful at. But luckily enough I was able to be put in a position where I could educate myself on how to keep the results I had worked so hard for. Here are a few little nuggets of information I took from the experience that you can apply to not only weight loss/weight management but TO YOUR LIFE:
(I am not a registered nutritionist and this is not professional advice. If you are seriously considering changing your lifestyle, please consult a medical professional)
DO IT WITH INTENTION
In food and in exercise, quality is everything. Food wise, I will take more time to look into what I am putting in my body, whether that be reading ingredients more often or listening to what my body needs and feeding it properly. I want my body to work at its highest ability and it can only do that if I give it the right fuel! In this same vein, workouts don't necessarily need to be long and torturous. Though I love a good long run, I can get the most of of my work outs by including weight training and implementing more rest days! At the end of the day, I think it is important to be educated about your choices…just like you do your research to buy a car (or any other significant purchase), know what you are putting inside your body.
2. LISTEN TO MARY WILLETT, “DRINK YOUR WATER!”
I don’t care who you are or what you are doing, you need water! You may not care about your weight and all of these words are crap to you…but guess what? YOU STILL NEED WATER! Hydration is important for all aspects of your body’s function. I know sugary drinks (or artificial sweetened drinks…yes I’m talking to the Diet Soda crowd) are so yummy and awesome, but they can wreck not only your weight management but your bodily functions. Water is important…period.
3. LOVE WHERE YOU ARE AT
Whether you are just starting something new or you are at a fork in the road, be proud of what you are doing and the choices you are making. We commonly get caught up in all the things we could be doing “if we only got to [fill in the blank]…” Looking towards future goals is awesome, but getting so blinded by the stress of what you have to do to get there, can ruin the journey. We all have insecurities about our bodies, our jobs, …um EVERYTHING….but if we want to change something we have to have the courage to implement changes and be proud of the fact that we are starting.
Other than these little tidbits, my mother and I got to share a deeply emotional and vulnerable experience with some incredible people. We laughed, we cried, we got really sore together. The group of men and women we met this week are some warriors: they are teachers, students, cancer survivors, Mothers & Fathers, joke-tellers, goof-balls, Costco addicts but above all, they are people taking time for themselves to change for the positive. Working on something they want to change. There also was a great group of passionate educators who gave us the space to grow, while pushing us enough out of our comfort zone to flourish.
To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect when I went to the the Biggest Loser Resort, but it made me better. While there I kept flashing back to when I was younger and at the doctors office, I was always outside the growth percentile chart. I remember every time I would go to a check up, all I wanted was to be normal and inside the lines. The information I learned about my body and where I am on my journey, made me realize, that even though now I “fit in lines” I always am gonna strive to be something more. I am always going to create more goals, and thats gonna keep me evolving. The Biggest Loser Resort put me back on a positive track. It was incredible, and it reminded me: I can be incredible too.