I never took to typical sports as a kid. Around 11 years old, I played one year of baseball and despised every moment of it. I dabbled in soccer and basketball briefly but was never interested. My love was horses. I rode horses since before I could walk, which is a family tradition on my mother’s side. We owned “backyard” horses on the 10 acres I grew up on. No barn, rings or even saddles most of the time. My mom built them a shed one year and they refused to go under it, even in downpours and snow storms.
I was 17 when I did my first exercise class in a little gym in my little hometown. It was a jazzercise class. I absolutely loved it. I loved how moving my body brought me into the present moment; when I was exercising I didn’t think about anything else. I loved the feeling of getting better at the exercises and the feeling of getting stronger. I felt empowered and confident, which was a big deal for me in my teens.
The gym became a comforting and homey place for me. I took up strength training, tried all kinds of fitness classes, and discovered yoga. In my twenties I dabbled in endurance races like Tough Mudders and Spartan Races, and I even ran a half marathon. As I approached my 30’s, my desire to physically challenge myself in that way ebbed and I settled into strength training and yoga, primarily.
I started teaching fitness classes in 2013 (bootcamps, Body Pump, Body Combat,) received my NASM personal training certification in 2015, and went through a 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017. By 2016 I had given up my “day job” and was working in the fitness industry full time.
The year prior to the pandemic, I stopped coaching weight loss. This was inspired by my own decision to personally give up dieting for good and address my own disordered eating thoughts and behaviors I’d lived with since the age of 12. While undergoing my own healing through therapy, adopting intuitive eating, reading books and listening to podcasts, I educated myself into a place where I could no longer coach weight loss without violating my ethics. 
I discovered the concept of diet culture, a set of beliefs held within our society that values thinness over physical health and emotional well-being, and the enormous economy reliant upon convincing women they need to look a certain way to be of value.
I learned that diets (including diets marketed as “lifestyles”) have a 95% failure rate, not because people who seek to lose weight lack willpower or need to try harder, but because of a physiological chain reaction that happens in our brain when we attempt to restrict or deprive ourselves of food.
I learned that 3 out of 4 women suffer from disordered eating and/or an eating disorder. That meant that 3 out of 4 women coming to me for training to “lose X lbs” were dealing with a dysfunctional relationship with food and their bodies.
I discovered Health at Every Size, an approach to public health that seeks to de-emphasise weight loss as a health goal, and reduce weight stigma. HAES recognizes, “that health outcomes are primarily driven by social, economic, and environmental factors, requiring a social and political response. It also supports people of all sizes in adopting healthy behaviors. It is an inclusive movement, recognizing that our social characteristics, such as our size, race, national origin, sexuality, gender, disability status, and other attributes, are assets, and acknowledges and challenges the structural and systemic forces that impinge on living well.” ~ Lindo Bacon, PhD (www.haescommunity.com)
Now, my fitness coaching is through a lens of self care, body respect, and anti-diet principles. I help women exercise in a way that emphasizes feeling good, listening to their bodies, and ditching perfectionism so workouts can be enjoyable and free from anxiety and judgment. I encourage my clients to nurture their other vital pillars of health like rest, social support, and mental health. Being physically active is an important piece of our wellness, however, hyper-focusing on physical fitness not only isn’t a balanced approach, it’s also not a silver bullet for our health or happiness.
