For A Fiit Future, Hatti's Health
This Is Me
Looking to make the best of life
I'm Helen! Some know me as 'Hat', 'Hatti', 'Hathi'!
In my 50's, and wanting to live out whatever time I have left in this life, fit and healthy - and for me this means losing some fat because the reality is that is causing a strain on my system, it also means increasing mobility and building strength and stamina. It means creating a lifestyle balance between work, volunteering, hobbies and family life. It means being active! And it means having fun!
A Bit Of Background...
I have struggled with nutrition and exercise for as long as I can remember. My weight has yo-yo'd and I have been a serial "dieter". In my teens I seemed to be able to eat whatever I liked but by 20 I was still slim and fairly fit with youth on my side but was starting to struggle with weight gain, poor diet and inability to maintain consistent exercise routine (well to be fair I'm not sure much of anything was that consistent !) By the time I had children in my late 20's it was all going south! Losing the weight I piled on during pregnancy was a disaster! I was diagnosed in my early thirties with binge-eating disorder but I struggled to get my head round the suggestions that I was eating emotionally - it never made sense to me as it's not how I experienced it! My "symptoms" didn't seem typical of what I understood about eating disorders (I have worked as a mental health professional all my working life but there was something I just couldn't put my finger on about my own behaviours).
Of course I have since discovered that some of my behaviour, experiences. lifestyle habits - in fact since childhood can actually be explained by the spicy way my brain works.
The Transition...
Something had to change, my habits, my lifestyle, my relationship with food needed to change, the 'brain washing' of diet culture bullshit and that awful "slimming club" that I jumped in and out of convinced for years it 'worked' but that it was me that was broken!
And so I began to learn more about nutrition. I read, I studied (of course I did a course, because I'm a serial learner!! Lol!) and my relationship with food has gradually become more positive. Shifting the habit of a lifetime, of negative labels such as 'good and bad', learning to not see any food as 'banned', no more deprivation, no more "eat as much of that as you want". (And no matter what 'that' club says, when I first joined, they DID use the term 'sin' in relation to foods - no food is sinful for goodness sake and 'synergy' my arse - a marketing ploy that had me conned for a long time! It has been a slow and ongoing process of shifting the way I see food - as nutrition!! (Don't get me wrong I have not perfected this! But I am heading in the right direction!)
And along side this, my exercise journey started to evolve, from a lifetime of serial unused gym memberships (starting off great then a couple months later couch potato again!) to beginning to last out a bit longer with Boot Camp and taking part in charity runs and 'Spartan' race, but still interspersed with a LOT of couch potato.
THEN I discovered 'The Loft Gym' now 'FLOW' and after the pandemicTHIS was a game changer! I have stuck it out and over the last few years I have strangely become a regular gym goer! Who knew that was even possible for me?! But I found an environment and community and coaches that supported my efforts to make habit changes that could.... maybe.... last?!?...
The Transformation...
Well it HAS started... (as above!) But theres a couple of key factors further driving the need for transformation. Being diagnosed with high blood pressure and being prescribed. meds was a bit of a wake-up call. Having to be "shoved" up onto the rib on it's trailer while out with the Scouts to launch for a sailing session was a reminder that I wanted to be keep being active and if I don't sort my life out I'll only be able to manage being in the cook tent, instead of still doing the abseiling and chasing about that I enjoy! Having an injury and shoulder op has added to the challenge but after a lot of rehab and support with my programme at the gym there's no more excuses.
So, yes I am still a work in progress! I know what (at least some of what) I need to do and it's time to get those healthier habits back on track AND now I'm beginning to join the dots and understanding how my ADHD has added to the pot, I am looking at building my compassion alongside finding ways to master some more consistency.
And that's why this carzy bird has started this blog / journal: for self-support, for further accountability, to remind myself about the things I am learning about myself and what helps me to get to and maintain my goals.... See you on the other side?!....