It has been a long time since I have sat
down to write a blog. Even longer since I have decided to write a blog specifically about my health and fitness journey. I think a part of the reason is, much like my
health and fitness, my decision to share bits of myself online for the world
has gone through a natural ebb and flow.
I’m sitting in a tiny town in Northern
(ish) Ontario. This is not only a town that I feel privileged to call a small
piece of home – it is also a town that I feel inspired to write and create in.
It is a town that I grew up coming to. A place that feels peaceful in all of
its beauty. Cotton candy sunsets. Waves that you hear from your bedroom window.
That kind of beautiful, almost annoyingly romantic town. It’s the town where me and my sisters
and best friend created our very first online project together – a
music/lifestyle YouTube channel called Lives of BW. Yes, at that time we were
no more than 17. Boys were sparse and our confidence was even moreso. But we
were fabulous. BW stood for bitter wenches.
Can’t knock that creativity.
This was also the place that I really
started to commit to Muscles with Meags. I blogged, worked out, tried to make
healthy decisions on vacation. And it was here about two years ago that I was
in the best physical shape of my life and rocking some surface confidence like
no other.
 |
| Back in that day! |
Now I’m back, two years later with a new take
on Muscles with Meags. I started my vacation feeling just fine. Right before my
sister Emilie and I left, I found an old blackberry of mine from 2014-2015. I
thought it would be fun to charge er up and take a look at some of the photos I
took back then. So I threw it in the car and away we went. We arrived at our
little abode for the week and I plugged the blackberry in. Who woulda thunk it?
My old phone was riddled with pictures of sunsets, and progress photos of my
tiny biceps and once flat stomach. My initial reaction was to feel sad. How
could I have let myself go? This is a town that I really felt my fitness
journey come alive, and here I was, back again, with no more baby biceps and a
lot of derailed progress. The first few days of my vacation I reached for the
phone – hoping that looking at my photos would spark some sort of inspiration.
The same kind of inspiration that kickstarted my journey two years ago… but I
haven’t found it yet.
I did not intend for this post to be a sap fest about the body confidence I once had. It was actually meant to be the opposite. After I snapped myself out of this little low, I started thinking about why my progress could have derailed, and why I wasn’t working my health and fitness business as adamantly as I was back then. I came up with a few reasons.
I did not intend for this post to be a sap fest about the body confidence I once had. It was actually meant to be the opposite. After I snapped myself out of this little low, I started thinking about why my progress could have derailed, and why I wasn’t working my health and fitness business as adamantly as I was back then. I came up with a few reasons.
1)
I started to feel uncomfortable
with sharing progress pictures as a means of selling women on a healthy
lifestyle. I don’t want to sugar coat it. Nearly every woman I helped over the
last two years has been a result of people looking at my before/after photos. And
that is how I was sold on the lifestyle too. Don’t get me wrong – a body that
you are proud of is something to be celebrated. And I celebrate woman that do
so! But is that type of sale sustainable for a girl like me? Well if it was, I
don’t think I’d be in the space that I am now. I started to try and work
“Muscles with Meags” without showing ANY physical pictures of my body
altogether, and instead focusing on sustainable INNER results. More creativity.
Better focus. A healthy mindset and attitude. But those things weren’t
attracting people the way a body shot was. Why was that? I could give a long
list of reasons why people, young and old, crave a toned body. But I think you
already know those reasons. I don’t know if I could in good conscious, add to
that. I still want to help women on their journeys, and I believe in every
product I’ve ever shared. I would ideally still like to show my progress every
once in a while, but I crave a little
innovation.
2)
Sometimes, I think I said
things that I didn’t mean. I re-read a few of my blog posts and what was meant
to be honest and well –intentioned seemed arrogant and un-relatable. I was a
fit #girlboss last year. I also lived with my parents. I spent hours stalking
fit girls on instagram, thought frequently about my online image, was sometimes
unhappy in my size 3 dress, had a face full of acne because of stress and
hating my job, and chased around relationships that were controlling and
emotionally draining/abusive. Not such a boss now, huh?
I remember a small turning
point. I went into my office, and I was talking to a new work friend about how
she was enjoying her pregnancy. And among other things, she said, “My doctor
told me I have to gain some weight!
Which is strange because I’ve never been underweight.” And then placing
her hands on her tummy and smiling she said, “my belly has always been plushy
and wonderful!” THAT is a girl boss.
3)
Progress can derail when you
reach a desired goal. I dropped my 12 pounds. I was a size small (and sometimes
smaller). I was healthy and happy and killin it. And I wanted to stop thinking
about how much further I could go because frankly, thinking I should tone up my
stomach when an extra small dress from Forever 21 was too loose was NOT a
thing. So I decided to take it down a notch. It started off well intentioned,
and then turned into a bit of laziness. Indulging a bit too much. Not only did
I reach my physical goals, but I reached some that were attached to career and
purpose as well. And when I reached
those goals, I forgot that fitness doesn’t have a finish line.
4)
I was busy. As a health coach,
I get it all the time, and I hate using it on myself. But I was busy.
Thankfully I was busy with some pretty incredible things. When I started health
coaching, I took a chance on Team Beachbody and helping women because I felt
that it would bring me closer to my purpose. And I assure you – few people spent
more time slinging five jobs, immersed in personal development and waking up at
the crack of dawn to work out than me. I poured every ounce of commitment I had
into bettering myself. Physically and mentally – so when the time came for my
Leadership interviews – all I had to do was speak from my heart and the
universe aligned with my priorities. With that came the start of a new career
that took me on a tour and to two new apartments within 3 months – waking up at
five and smashing a workout didn’t seem feasible. And even though I remained
exercising 3 times a week, a muffin mid-day or beers after work with my stellar
work crew seemed just as important. And I think for the time, it was!
With all of this written, I am chasing a
desire to be an active health entrepreneur/enthusiast again. But this time, I
invite you on this journey, and challenge us to keep a few things in mind.
The first, your fitness can’t be measured
in a quantifiable goal. Why? Because you will more than likely reach it. And
then what? You can set a new goal, but you will also likely spend a good chunk
of time celebrating your accomplishments! Celebrating is an IMPORTANT part of
progress, but not to the point where you derail your success. How can we find a
way to keep the health industry alive and bumpin without advertising the quick
10lb weight loss, or the vanishing of cellulite within 30 days? I don’t know.
I’m still trying to figure that out. Unfortunately, we’re up against a LOT of
head honchos that are telling us what health success looks like. Fuck em.
The second, we, as a community need to try
and stop associating fatness as something to be ashamed of or insulted by. This
attitude makes exercising and eating well scary or elitist/not worth it. I
spent a lot of my young adult life in the Caribbean. One night we were in line
for dinner. I was standing with my pal JJ, and a bigger girl was serving us.
When we got up to the front, JJ said “Hey fattie, can you put some extra on my
plate?” And she did so with no objection. And then I reamed JJ out for being so
incredibly rude to such a wonderful young woman. He was labbergasted. “So I
shouldn’t call her fat?’ He looked confused. “Um, I don’t know what it’s like
at home but in Jamaica being fat isn’t an insult.” He was 13. She embraced and
loved her body. I was embarrassed.
We need to tunnel vision our successes. Don’t
compare our bloopers to someone else’s highlight reel. Get off our
infomercial/instagram/facebook binges and just focus on the workout in front of
us. For all health and fitness positivity and motivation, I recommend checking
out anything and everything created my Chalene Johnson.
We need to stop talking about how much
weight we want to lose or how much we want to tone up. Unless our weight is an
immediate health concern, maybe we should try asking “how can I clear my mind for 45 minutes?” or
“how can I be more creative?” or “how can I thank my awesome bod for keeping my
awesome blood pumping and my awesome brain working?”… The last one is a little
much, but you know what I mean.
We have to TRY to stop associating working
out with negative feelings. This one might be tricky. I am sure that one of the
reasons that I resisted exercise for so long is because I was teased as a child
for not being athletic. I always felt self-conscious in gym class and being the
best athlete was often praised in the form of good grades in gym or being
popular. I personally think that gym class shouldn’t be quantifiable in a
letter grade when you’re 12. I think I’d need to start an entirely separate
blog on education ideas. I was often compared to the size of my sisters, when
our habits were pretty much the same. That couldn’t have been good for any of
us!
Bottom line – exercise in important.
Feeding your body with GOOD food is important. But health looks different for
everyone. It’s about time we remember that.
 |
| Back to basics |
Homework Assignment:
1) Write down three things that you really like about yourself. It can be
anything.
2) Write down three things that you really
like, about your physical appearance. Now go into the mirror and saw those
things out loud.
3) Think of one reason to do a workout, no
longer than 30 minutes. The reason can not be physical unless it enhances a
certain skill or non-physical trait.
Mine:
1) I am very patient with people and thus have friends from all walks of life.
I am very passionate and enthusiastic about my/my friends ideas. I have a
lovely singing voice.
2) I have a cool nose ring. I like how I
can wear my hair in any style and get away with it. I have a nice smile.
3) Working out my arms makes it easier for
me to play guitar for long gigs!
Your turn.
xo Meags
