Welcome
Learning to love yourself isn’t easy. Four years ago I was a junior in high school going through one of the hardest times in my life. The image I had of myself was completely distorted and I hated everything I saw. Finding the health and fitness industry completely changed my life. Although I haven’t experienced much change physically but mentally I have a whole new outlook. Welcome to my blog I hope you enjoy and love yourself!
Blog Post #1-Working out
I guess the most appropriate way to start this blog is with the way that I started my fitness journey. Working out and going to the gym was the first step I took when I realized I wanted to make a change in my lifestyle. I ran cross country and track in high school and although it was a great workout I began to dread it. My junior year I started getting injured and I no longer enjoyed it so I stopped running as much as I used to. Without the constant exercise I started to feel weird and I gained a very minimal amount of weight but at the time it felt as if I had gained 100 pounds. I became insecure and wanted to be able to workout without having to run several miles and that’s when I discovered weight lifting. I did my research on the internet and then started following up with a bunch of fitness influencers. Someone I admired a lot at the time was Whittney Simons. She posted workouts and fit tips while being so real and relatable. I started going to the gym and following a split. For example, I would do back and biceps on Monday, glutes and hamstrings on Tuesday etc. Lifting got me out of my rut and I followed that for two years but eventually I plateaued and school got in the way. I started to not feel sore after workouts and I was getting bored of it. First semester of my sophomore year I was extremely busy with school and then I studied abroad in Greece. I basically stopped constantly working out for 6 months and taking care of myself as I used to. I’m glad I took a break during my trip to Greece because I could fully enjoy the trip and not have to worry about anything else. When I got back I started to feel crappy about myself again. I looked in the mirror and could barely recognize who I was. Every flaw seemed so much more defined and every angle of myself looked worse. I know it’s all in my head but sometimes I just get lost in the mirror and so confused but working out again has made me feel so much better in general. My experience with exercise made me realize how connected mental health and exercise are. If I workout I already have a better image of myself and am in a better headspace for the rest of the day. Recently I’ve been taking workout classes offered by the university and I’ve been enjoying that a lot.
Blog Post #2-Food
The next part of my story is the one about food. I love food. I hate that there was ever a time where I restricted myself and thought I could only eat like five foods. The first time I remember being restrictive was in my sophomore year of high school. I thought dairy was going to make me gain weight and make my face break out so I completely cut it out of my diet. By far the worst mistake I ever made because I ended up becoming lactose intolerant. After that fiasco I got really into calorie counting which was less restrictive in the sense that I ate more of a variety of food but it was very restrictive calorie wise. I am a perfectionist no matter what so when the calorie counting app I used told me I had to hit exactly 90 grams of protein or 60 grams of fat I would try and hit exactly that and I became obsessed with it. I was on the app all day looking at the nutritional value of all my food. I don’t think counting calories is necessarily a bad thing if you know how to do it correctly and in a healthy weight. I would let the app decide how many calories I should eat a day and sometimes it just wasn’t enough and at the end of the day I couldn’t help but raid my entire fridge. Calorie counting was very hard to keep up with when I got to college so I eventually phased out of it. I think that was the best thing that could’ve happened because I got to eat without the number attached to it and I knew how much food filled me up. Ever since the beginning of high school I’ve always been conscious about the food I eat and I want to know so bad what it’s like to not feel that way. Recently I’ve been living my food life a little more but the guilt and thought of calories stays in the back of my mind. Going to Greece this winter truly did help me realize that I can eat whatever I want as long as it’s in moderation. Vegetables are a huge part of their diet so I’ve been trying my best to incorporate them a lot more into my daily diet and it makes me feel great. I haven’t mastered a specific formula for the perfect way for me to eat and I don’t think that’s ever going to happen because it’s just not possible. Life is too short to care so much about what you eat and that’s what I’m trying to live by while also keeping my health in the future in mind.
Blog Post #3– Impact
The next part of this story is just life in general I guess. Discovering health and fitness has completely changed my life. I never really knew much about anything of the sort and then I started doing my research. I found it so interesting how our body’s work and how so many factors play into fitness and health besides working out and eating well. Doing all this research on how to better myself really spiked my interest in the subject and science in general. This was in high school so it was around the time I was applying to colleges and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Now I’m majoring in exercise science on a pre nursing track. If I didn’t get into health and fitness I could have gone the route of business or something else but I love what I’m learning and I feel like I’ve been able to excel in my studies because it’s something I have a passion for. I’m so excited for my future and my interest in learning more about health and fitness was able to help with that. Consistently going to the gym has also been able to keep my mind clear and it’s a place to blow off steam. I would say I get frustrated easily so having that as an escape that leaves me with a clear mind for the rest of the day is a great thing. The most important thing is that I learned to love myself no matter how I look. Yes I have bad days where I feel completely off and not myself but going from consistent self hatred to how I am now is a huge improvement.
Health and Fitness by Alicia 