‘My body wasn’t good enough:’ Trainer who treated exercise as punishment learns to love fitness again – Omaha World-Herald

I grew up watching personal trainers like Billy Blanks and Jillian Michaels transform their clients’ lives and inspire people all over the world. That was exactly what I aspired to be. I’ve always been an exercise enthusiast and self-proclaimed gym rat. I appreciate what exercise and healthy living can do for the body and wanted to share my passion for healthy living with clients.

However, once I became a personal trainer, my views on what it meant for me to be truly healthy and fit quickly changed for the worse. I felt the bar had been raised. I needed to be as lean, fit and toned as possible.

I constantly pushed my body to its limits in order to enhance my physical appearance, and I adopted a strict diet that excluded many of the foods that I once enjoyed. I lost my passion for fitness and healthy living. Instead, every workout was a punishment because my body wasn’t good enough, and every meal I actually enjoyed was just one more thing standing in the way of the body that a personal trainer was “supposed” to have.

One morning before heading to work, I found myself looking in the mirror with disapproval and mentally scolding the very body that I had praised months before. It was in that moment that it occurred to me that my thoughts and actions over the last few months completely contradicted the reasons that I decided to become a personal trainer in the first place.

I wanted to inspired people to live healthier lives, empower them with the tools to reach their fitness goals and encourage them to love their bodies in spite of its flaws and imperfections. I wanted them to know that their happiness should not be defined by the numbers on a scale.

I needed to begin acting according to this philosophy once more. When I am truly operating out of love and respect for my body, working out and eating right are no longer painful or arduous tasks for me. Instead, they are things that I look forward to doing because I believe my body deserves what nourishes it and makes it feel good, not what causes pain or deprivation.

These struggles with body image help me relate to many of the struggles and roadblocks that my clients encounter, so I can work with them to establish a plan of action to overcome these obstacles.

Life is all about balance: Some days I push myself to set personal records, and other days I decide to relax and binge watch TV shows instead. The most important thing is that I do not let either day define myself or my successes. After all, we only get one life and one body, so why not enjoy both while we can.

from myhealtyze http://www.myhealtyze.tk/my-body-wasnt-good-enough-trainer-who-treated-exercise-as-punishment-learns-to-love-fitness-again-omaha-world-herald/