Muscles With Meags 2.0

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.

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