A year ago today, I was working with an athletic trainer (whom I entrusted to help me with my training) that I had to lose weight in order to get faster, maintain endurance, and reach my goals.
While it would be much easier to either listen or run away, I spent the entire year questioning my fitness and place in the sport, even long after I finished my session package. I also didn’t know anything about training and was just so excited to work with anyone who would give me a custom tailored program (like I’ve seen the cool top athletes do), and the constant reminder that I wasn’t light enough for that weighed on me heavily as I was given workouts that drained me and didn’t address my goals even though he seemed to have a good track record otherwise.
It wasn’t so much about my weight, also that I would get a false sense of pity telling me I was doing all this training and not losing weight, never mind that I would have other athletic goals such as this one. Now, I’ve crossed the finish line of a marathon swim, with this experience now a distant memory, I don’t need any so-called “kind words” or pity for choosing that at my age and size, or really at any age and size. I enjoyed every minute of it!!!
Everyone’s bodies are different and while healthy eating is important, there comes a point where you’re just going to have to accept and be thankful for your body for being able to do what it’s already done. And that’s what I did.