EAT WHEN YOUR HUNGRY

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing their biggest weakness both physically and mentally and how they overcame it.

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After 6 years of dieting on and off its easy to pinpoint mentally what my struggle has been. As someone who grew up without the word or term “diet” in my vocabulary I believe I was pre-disposed to resist against dieting. My mentality prior to competing was “eat what you want and what you feel like eating when you are hungry” which I think is fairly common with many as children and young adults. Thankfully I came from a background of genetically fit parents and could get away with much of that. However, when I threw myself into competition prep and started learning about nutrition of course this all changed. I started viewing food differently. Started learning what I should and shouldnt eat. I have said this before but I do believe I would have been 100x worse off if my first prep would have been overly restrictive. But thankfully my brother Aaron Orton coached me and he never gave me a meal plan ( I would have failed miserably at eating the same things everyday anyways because I had always been into variety). He simply told me what to eat more of and what to eat less of.
He knew I would respond fairly easy with those simple terms and I did. Unfortunately when things went very south were when I started prepping with someone else who enforced meal plans, “good and bad” food mentalities, and overly restrictive prep methods. I believe this changed me for years and I am still overcoming the mental battle of this. I have been very open about dealing with BED ( Binge eating disorder) and have no shame in being honest about that. In 2012 I believe it was at its peak. My relationship with food was completely disordered. I would hide food in the bathroom so I could eat away from my ex-fiance who was also my coach. I would eat in my car. I would think about food all day long. Read menus before going to restaurants day dreaming about what I wanted to eat. I was fascinated with food, it was my every thought every waking day. I remember eating an entire box of life cereal and almond milk in my car ( yes I took a spoon and a tuppawear bowl in my car on a mission to do this and ate bowl after bowl). Completely pre-meditated. I ate two boxed of samosa girl scout cookies in my car back to back and then disposed of the boxes so no one would know. This is not normal. How I was living was extremely unhealthy and I most definitely had very disordered eating patterns. Over the last 3 years I have come a long ways from these thoughts, actions, and feelings around food but this has hands down been my biggest mental struggle.

Physically my biggest struggle has been the ups and downs of weight gain from BED and restrictive preps. I used to rebound to the point of gaining 20 lbs within weeks post show. I hated my body and was embarrassed to even look at myself in the mirror. I remember covering myself with a towel after showering even while being alone because I didnt want to know what I looked like or see myself for that matter. These yo-yo cycles were very hard on me physically and mentally. I am so glad I found a better way and this is also why I have been so adamant about teaching healthier philosophies with my trainers and business model at ADOFitness

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