Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

Fitness/Health have been a key component in my life since I was a young girl in gymnastics. I have always understood the importance of being healthy, but my focus and reason for working out/eating right was never for the right reason.
From a young age, I was introduced to a sport that demanded a "perfect" image (perfect being skinny and pretty). I threw up for the first time when I was 8 years old because I was told by a high level coach that I was fat, even though my body fat was almost immeasurable. This was the start of my 20 year battle with various eating disorders, self-destructive behavior (such as smoking), and a constant battle of trying to achieve perfection. For my close friends and family, I was at times almost intolerable to be around. My self-image was so distorted because of my strive for perfection, I would need constant reassurance. I worked out and ate healthy because of my fear of becoming fat. I was actually doing more damage than if I would have just ate the fast food hamburger. I got to a point a few years ago where I was only eating 500 to 600 calories/day (considered a starvation level) and working out almost every day, exerting just as much as I was putting in. On the outside everyone thought I was healthy and had a lot going for me, but my body was slowly breaking down. I finally was diagnosed with pneumonia for seven months. My lifelong battle with my body and my acceptance of itself had finally broken me down.
I was introduced to Beachbody and instantly was attracted because of the physical challenge and the idea that I, once again, could become this “perfect” person (regardless of what I had already been through). I started P90X and was able to make it through all of the workouts, but originally was VERY opposed to the diet plan. I remember taking one look at the diet plan and thinking that I was going to get fat (using layman’s terms) from eating the volume P90X wanted me to eat. I called my mom up and told her that I would do the program, but there was no way that I was going to eat all of that food. She strongly encouraged me to just to give it a try for a week EXACTLY AS IS. I agreed to do that. What happened next was amazing. I actually started to look the way that I had been striving to look in the past number of years. I had more energy and most important, I started focusing on how good I felt and how healthy I felt versus the agonizing daily mind games of seeing food only as something that would make me fat or thin, and the continual push to lose weight. I started embracing the fact that I am fortunate enough to have a muscular body because of the excellent support from the Beachbody community. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I looked at myself in the mirror and liked what I saw. I even came to the conclusion the other day that I am to the same weight I was before when I was trying to starve myself, but am MUCH healthier (I was able to wear a size 2 wedding dress a couple of months ago without starving myself … just by following the P90X program). Because of Beachbody’s total solution focus, I have embraced a healthy versus fat/thin lifestyle and mindset. I see myself different now in my “mind’s eye”. Food doesn’t have the “control” over me that it did. A “new me” has emerged, replacing the distorted image I had when I looked in the mirror. Best of all, I feel free! The chains have been broken. I feel good and I am thankful to be to a point in my life where I accept myself and am surrounded by a community of people who are “health” focused versus “look” focused (which in the end, a healthy person always looks better)!