Then boom, everything changed in nearly an instant 

I stumbled upon something called the “Lean Life Challenge” with friends, coached by none other than Whitney Jones, a 3x Miss Fitness Olympia. I initially thought, “This isn’t for me. I’m active, I hike, I work out – this isn’t my jam.” But curiosity got the better of me, and I joined because I want to gain more muscle. Little did I know what I was in for.

Counting “macros” (short for macronutrients) became the name of the game, and I didn’t even know what that meant until I joined this challenge. It means agreeing to track every morsel that enters your body and meeting exact goals each day of grams of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. I won’t lie; it was a pain in the ass. The first week was a huge change in behavior once I pushed through some initially strong resistance. (I also said I’m not willing to cook – go figure). 

Within days, I had a shocking revelation – I had been severely undernourished and overtrained for a very, very long time. A body composition scan revealed more body fat than I’d ever imagined. My blood work showed some red flags too.  

For about a day, I grieved the illusion of my “fit and healthy” self. In reality, I was “skinny fat,” exhausting my body’s resources and making myself unhealthy without even knowing it. And my extreme physical endeavors were accomplished mostly with mental strength, while I was running up my body’s “credit cards” and likely on the verge of bankruptcy. 

“All progress starts from telling the truth.” – Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach 

I am committed to a life of progress and growth, so I faced the hard truth and have embarked on a journey to nourish my body with what it needs. I am also working with a new doc to address some previously unknown underlying health issues like inflammation, toxic exposure, leaky gut, hormone deficiencies, and metabolic quirks. I even started wearing a continuous glucose monitor for a few months to understand my body’s reaction to different foods and activities.

Whenever you are faced with making big changes in your life, you will initially resist for all sorts of reasons. Some resistance to change is neurological and evolutionary, intended to protect us. The part of your brain that is constantly scanning the world for threats (called the amygdala), often sends false signals to other parts of your brain and body that something is a danger when in fact it is good for you. We resist change for other reasons too,  like complacency/comfort, not wanting to put the time and energy into learning or doing something new. Then there is the ole pride thing, accepting that our “beliefs” are not true and our “behaviors” are not positive. 

When I signed up (and paid for) for the lean life challenge, I was in full on resistance mode. You gotta laugh at this now. I signed up for something, I paid for it, then I resisted doing it. Can you relate? When I filled out their intake form, I wrote down a long list of what I wasn’t willing to do. Like cook, or eat meat, or stop my daily runs to Dunkin for wakeup wraps for me and my rescue golden retriever named Boomer. 

But I am also someone who is driven to excel, so I wasn’t going to do this “challenge” half-ass, especially when in a group of friends holding each other accountable. So I dove in head first. The 1st week of January was ridiculous. I was either buying food, preparing it, eating it, cleaning up from it, or figuring out how to track it all on the app as a near full-time job. It was time and energy consuming and not sustainable for the long run. But I quickly learned fast ways to meal prep, use the app, and get a sense of what kinds of foods have what amounts of macros in them, so I could hit my goal each day.

It’s the same dynamic when you start ANYTHING, like getting a big freight train moving. Once you take action, release resistance, put in the initial energy, get momentum, feel quick wins, you become more efficient, effective and motivated to keep it going. 

“Be Willing to Destroy Anything In Your Life That Isn’t Excellent.”   – Joe Polish 

I also came to face a shattering of my beliefs on the topic of fitness, nutrition, and health. Do you understand the difference between what you believe and what you know? What you know is a truth you have actually experienced and you know that you know that you know it to be true. What you believe is often something handed to you by your family of origin, or what you read, or who you listen to. 

It takes humility to admit that something you believed isn’t accurate and a willingness to adopt new beliefs until they become a “knowing” or are also shattered. In the last month, I had to admit that nearly everything I believed in my quest for fitness, nutrition, and health was wrong. Once I discovered that, I had a choice. Change or resist in order to protect my flawed beliefs. I decided to change. Trust me, I have had my moments of self-shaming. ”Why did it take me freaking 57 years to figure this out when I care about my health and fitness?” But I don’t let negative thoughts linger or stop me from moving forward with truth. All we have is today. 

Fast forward a month, and my life is unrecognizable. I’m eating more, working out less, and shedding body fat while building muscle nearly effortlessly. And I mean shedding. I am strong in the gym, my body has dramatically changed, and people are noticing. I am waking up between 4:30-5 am with energy for the day. I’m amazed at how little I knew about nutrition, muscle building, fat loss, and body composition, despite being an athlete all my life. Counting macros, coaching, and divine inspiration led me here.

As I journey through this transformation, I’ve absorbed over 100 hours of wisdom from experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Don Layman, Dr. Gabrielle Lyons, Dr. Andy Galpin, Dr. Bill Campbell, Dr. Layne Norton, and many more. I’m just scratching the surface of understanding our bodies, what they truly need, and how to keep them healthy, fit, and strong. It’s like going from kindergarten to seventh grade in a flash! And I am voraciously learning more each day. 

Keep in mind that my physical health was not an area I even understood needed prioritization this year. It wasn’t my focus as I just hiked rim-to-rim of the grand canyon in 1 day, do multi-day backpacking treks with a 35-pound pack on my back, and lift heavy weights in the gym. But I am in an intention of “allowing” and set my identity as one of being healthy, and that gave the divine permission to swoop in and present me with the truth and  this opportunity to truly embrace that identity and transform my life. It was my job to simply accept it and participate.