Speaker 1: I won't lend my body out out everything that I'm
Speaker 1: made do. Won't spend my life trying to change. I'm
Speaker 1: learning to love who I am. I get I'm strong,
Speaker 1: I feel free, I know who every part of me.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful and I will always out way. If you
Speaker 1: feel it with your eyes in the air, she'll s
Speaker 1: love to the mood. I am there. Say good one
Speaker 1: day and time did you and die out? Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Outweigh Today it's just me Lisa, and I'm joined
Speaker 1: by an amazing guest, a Lennie, who's a registered dietitian.
Speaker 1: Welcome a Lennie, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm super excited to be here. I'm so excited, and
Speaker 1: I just keep meeting amazing health professionals on Instagram like you,
Speaker 1: and you happen to be local to where I live,
Speaker 1: which is on Long Island, so even better. Hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: meet when things come down a little bit with COVID
Speaker 1: over here. But I think that it's really easy when
Speaker 1: you're on social media to get sucked down the rabbit
Speaker 1: hole of one way nutritionists perform and think that's what
Speaker 1: nutrition is. And it's really great to know that obviously,
Speaker 1: or maybe not so obviously. The trend has become a
Speaker 1: lot more anti diet. But once you kind of foray
Speaker 1: into that world by way of Instagram, you keep finding
Speaker 1: more and more people, so it's it's such an exciting
Speaker 1: time for sure. It's definitely um. I've been on Instagram
Speaker 1: like professionally for a few years now, but when I
Speaker 1: first started, this anti diet movement was not there, and
Speaker 1: I found as a dietitian in a larger sized body,
Speaker 1: I was definitely like I had never seen another dietitian
Speaker 1: on Instagram that wasn't a larger sized body. My original
Speaker 1: name before All Bodies Nutrition was the Curvy Dietitian, and
Speaker 1: that's how I started it, and I ended up changing
Speaker 1: it because I felt like excluded bodies that were not curvy.
Speaker 1: So I like, on my journey of you know, wanting
Speaker 1: to promote diversity of body size, I found that I
Speaker 1: wanted to use the name that was all encompassing because
Speaker 1: we are all not meant to have the same type
Speaker 1: of body and so in general, definitely, this anti diet
Speaker 1: trends has been very prevalent for the past year, which
Speaker 1: is really great to meet other dietitians not just locally,
Speaker 1: but like across the country and even across the world
Speaker 1: who have this message in this outlook, and how it's
Speaker 1: really changing the face of what you would think nutrition
Speaker 1: should be quote unquote. So it's super cool. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wish we met earlier. Like like you said, I I
Speaker 1: started using Instagram professionally to speak about I don't know
Speaker 1: if I was calling it an anti diet message, but
Speaker 1: I mean it was starting to look a lot like
Speaker 1: what you hear me say today. But I too was,
Speaker 1: you know, in my sphere, the only person that was
Speaker 1: saying it. But I was a smaller body. So it's
Speaker 1: really great to kind of I think, being juxtaposition to
Speaker 1: who you know. I think as as quote unquote hard
Speaker 1: a time as I had showing up to a platform
Speaker 1: where all dietitians we're not saying what I was saying,
Speaker 1: it was probably still more well received than perhaps you
Speaker 1: because of you know the implications of what curvy means
Speaker 1: or what bigger bodies might mean in terms of health,
Speaker 1: which we're going to break down. What I love is
Speaker 1: that you've really been owning your own personal body for
Speaker 1: a long time, and you said specifically that when you
Speaker 1: came to Instagram, you didn't see other bodies that looked
Speaker 1: like yours as registered dietitians showing up. But I'm curious,
Speaker 1: what about in real life? Did you have any registered
Speaker 1: dietitians who were model behavior that looked like you, that
Speaker 1: you looked up to. I would say definitely, like just
Speaker 1: going through dietetics like the DPD, which are the requirements
Speaker 1: we had to take to be able to apply for
Speaker 1: the dietetic internship, Like there were maybe one or two
Speaker 1: other girls that were in larger sized bodies. It was
Speaker 1: definitely different. I mean, I guess thankfully, like at that time,
Speaker 1: like it wasn't something that bothered me. But throughout the
Speaker 1: years of like having interns when I used to work
Speaker 1: in clinical and I did receive interns that were in
Speaker 1: different sized bodies, they expressed to me how like hey,
Speaker 1: like how did you how did you feel? And I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I was never treated differently by professors,
Speaker 1: but definitely when I was in my internship, certain preceptors
Speaker 1: that I had had a bias towards me, and uh,
Speaker 1: it definitely felt not so great. But as I've gotten older,
Speaker 1: I realized, like it just comes down to their their
Speaker 1: inability to see outside of themselves and like what nutrition
Speaker 1: is supposed supposed to quote unquote look like. And you
Speaker 1: know I have to say, like, um, I went to
Speaker 1: l U Post which is on Long Island for my
Speaker 1: internship and my masters and everything, and like I was
Speaker 1: never made to feel any different. But you know, there
Speaker 1: are times where I'm sure I saw a new patient
Speaker 1: who didn't know what I looked like and they came
Speaker 1: in to me. And this was before I was a
Speaker 1: wait inclusive dietitian, and I'm sure they had some sort
Speaker 1: of bias. But you know, that's why I do what
Speaker 1: I do to try to spread the message of like,
Speaker 1: everyone's body is different and even if we all ate
Speaker 1: the same exact things and move the same way, we
Speaker 1: would still look completely differently. Yeah, And I mean, I
Speaker 1: think when you're talking about your preceptors, you have the
Speaker 1: preceptors if you're unfamiliar. When we go through our training
Speaker 1: to become a registered dietitian, we do an internship and
Speaker 1: it's supervised by other registered dietitians. So the dietitians that
Speaker 1: are above us, so to speak, that are training us,
Speaker 1: are called our preceptors. And a lot of older generations
Speaker 1: as well as current generations have weight stigma, so the
Speaker 1: belief that a bigger body means that you are less
Speaker 1: healthy and therefore your behaviors are less healthy. And there's
Speaker 1: this idea that you know, you just make the healthy
Speaker 1: choices and we'll all look the same. But hopefully we're
Speaker 1: continuing to break this down in the podcast. But there's
Speaker 1: something about your personal confidence I think that has kind
Speaker 1: of carried you through probably difficult moments that would have
Speaker 1: otherwise broken somebody else down in your same exact body.
Speaker 1: So I think there's something about your personal confidence that
Speaker 1: you know, really shines through or your self worth or
Speaker 1: something that has maybe not always been tied to your
Speaker 1: body tracts definitely like from my whole life, and I
Speaker 1: mean that's something that maybe we'll progress talking about, like
Speaker 1: my personal journey, which like I don't highlight on my
Speaker 1: feed anymore because it's not relevant to other people, Like
Speaker 1: what body weight my body has gone through or changes
Speaker 1: my body has gone through has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: what anyone else's body should or should not do, and
Speaker 1: that's just you know, how my body works. But definitely
Speaker 1: self worth where I realized like I am a worthy
Speaker 1: person and I am a competent person regardless of what
Speaker 1: size I am, or what weight I am, or whether
Speaker 1: or not my stomach is flat or not. And as
Speaker 1: far as my knowledge goes of nutrition and working with
Speaker 1: clients depending on like what their situation is is totally
Speaker 1: separate from that. That's awesome. So your work, if it
Speaker 1: hasn't come through, is really centered around eating disorders in females,
Speaker 1: specifically in larger bodies. And I love that you're targeting
Speaker 1: that because we do hear from a lot of our
Speaker 1: audience that they feel unseen and unheard either on our
Speaker 1: podcast or in real life, because they relate to everything
Speaker 1: we talked about on this podcast when it comes to
Speaker 1: overthinking about food all the time, obsessing, you know, using
Speaker 1: exercise for the wrong reasons, rumination, guilt, dieting. But they
Speaker 1: look different than me and Amy, my co host, and
Speaker 1: some of the guests that we have on also, we
Speaker 1: try to really have all guests on that I think
Speaker 1: bring valuable information. We don't, you know, judge based on
Speaker 1: body size, but ultimately people need to see people that
Speaker 1: look like them to understand. But essentially it boils down
Speaker 1: to the fact that yes, what we're saying speaks to them,
Speaker 1: but they still don't think they deserve to raise their
Speaker 1: hand and say I have a problem because they're still
Speaker 1: occupying a bigger body where their doctors are telling them
Speaker 1: to lose weight and their family friends are telling them
Speaker 1: to lose weight, And how could that be an eating disorder? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And I realized prior to becoming a dietitian,
Speaker 1: I did a lot of like bonds here work dealing
Speaker 1: with eating disorders. It just so happened that the dietitian
Speaker 1: that I was previously working with, she did specialize in
Speaker 1: working with eating disorders. So I spent many years and
Speaker 1: outpatient eating disorder program for adolescents, and a lot of
Speaker 1: the things that I saw there, I started to see
Speaker 1: in clients that were coming to me wanting to lose
Speaker 1: weight because their b m I was a certain size,
Speaker 1: or their weight was a certain size, or the doctor
Speaker 1: said they had to lose weight, whatever the thing may
Speaker 1: have been, and they were exhibiting the same symptoms as
Speaker 1: the eating just our patients that I had worked with.
Speaker 1: And it kind of made me please and say, like, okay,
Speaker 1: regardless of your body size, if you come to me
Speaker 1: with disordered eating habits, or an eating disorder. My recommendations
Speaker 1: are going to basically be the same thing whether or
Speaker 1: not you're considered underweight by the b m I skill
Speaker 1: or overweight or obese. And that's when I really started
Speaker 1: to make that switch from not promoting intentional weight loss,
Speaker 1: because what I explained to people is that your body
Speaker 1: is smart and it knows what to do. But if
Speaker 1: you have all these years of trauma surrounded by food,
Speaker 1: if you've been trying to lose weight your whole entire
Speaker 1: life and you're constantly on a diet, you're so out
Speaker 1: of touch with what your body is natural like hunger
Speaker 1: and satiety cues are, or what your body's natural affinity
Speaker 1: for movement is or isn't. And so if you've spent
Speaker 1: so much time and energy focusing on these things and
Speaker 1: you're still in a larger sized body, you need to
Speaker 1: heal whatever that may be. And in the end, your body,
Speaker 1: your body weight may decline, but it may go up
Speaker 1: or may stay the same. We're not really sure, you know,
Speaker 1: But it's just healing those issues or obstacles like I
Speaker 1: like to call them. It's really the main focus. So
Speaker 1: whether it's someone who is diagnosed clinically with an eating disweater,
Speaker 1: or someone who just comes to me who had disweatered
Speaker 1: eating symptoms. And I think that that's just so important
Speaker 1: for everyone to hear. Whatever body size you currently occupy
Speaker 1: or have occupied in the past, you are worthy of
Speaker 1: coming home to your body first and foremost. And coming
Speaker 1: home does not mean effort, force, restriction, discipline will plower.
Speaker 1: It means love, compassion, care, nourishment, um support. And it's
Speaker 1: important to know that if you're listening and you're a
Speaker 1: bigger body or you let I think it's important for
Speaker 1: also smaller all bodies to really hear this message because
Speaker 1: we we all bring the stigma. I bring the stigma,
Speaker 1: you know, we all bring the stigma that somebody can
Speaker 1: do more. But what if they've already done the most
Speaker 1: and we don't know it and they're really hurting. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, the main takeaway I really want to be
Speaker 1: loud and clear on this podcast is that anybody, any
Speaker 1: physical body and anybody, any person can have an eating
Speaker 1: disorder act a hundred percent. And I think it's important
Speaker 1: for us to do this work and to continue to
Speaker 1: do you know, there's a lot of research that's being
Speaker 1: done that's really reshaping how things are looked at in
Speaker 1: a clinical like hopefully it will trickle up to a
Speaker 1: clinical setting um and how it's viewed there, because right now,
Speaker 1: I haven't worked in a clinical setting in a few
Speaker 1: years now, but when I did, there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of as you know, like wait, stigma and bias, and
Speaker 1: people are not getting adequate care. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like, regardless of your body size, you
Speaker 1: should feel good with what you're eating, and you should
Speaker 1: feel good in the way that you move your body,
Speaker 1: and forcing yourself to do something is not going to
Speaker 1: just make a difference your your body is smart. It's
Speaker 1: always gonna end up where it's supposed to end up
Speaker 1: as long as you're listening to it. Yeah, what are
Speaker 1: some of the stigmas that exist around eating disorders and
Speaker 1: bigger bodies, both from the healthcare practitioner, the individual, and
Speaker 1: just society. As far as the individual who doesn't feel
Speaker 1: that they're allowed quote unquote to have an eating diswater
Speaker 1: or or have disordered eating because they are in a
Speaker 1: larger body is really dangerous because there are like medical
Speaker 1: implications of you know, whatever the habits, maybe regarding restriction
Speaker 1: or any like actual eating, diswater behaviors as far as
Speaker 1: the practitioner goes. And I know when I was working
Speaker 1: with various physicians and like the local error gardens City
Speaker 1: Manhattan things like that, they don't look at the individual
Speaker 1: as a whole and they just say like, oh, this
Speaker 1: person is pre diabetic, so tell them to lose weight,
Speaker 1: Like that's what they would tell me. And I would say, well,
Speaker 1: what if someone comes to me and they're pre diabetic
Speaker 1: and they're at a quote unquote normal weight, what are
Speaker 1: my recommendations done? Has nothing to do with your weight.
Speaker 1: My recommendations whether you're a normal weight or overweight or
Speaker 1: obese and you're pre diabetic, it's going to be the
Speaker 1: same thing. So doing more like health centered recommendations and
Speaker 1: not weight centered recommendations will improve patient outcomes. So this
Speaker 1: is definitely something that practitioners and physicians should be paying
Speaker 1: attention to. But it's just reframing people's understanding of like
Speaker 1: what actual health is and it's not one size. And
Speaker 1: I mean I've had hundreds of patients back when I
Speaker 1: used to work like in a physician's office, and I
Speaker 1: would just see back to back patients people with high cholesterol,
Speaker 1: you know, not taking care of themselves, but their weight
Speaker 1: was considered normal, So what would someone's recommendation be. Then
Speaker 1: you know there's no weight recommendations for those patients. There's
Speaker 1: obviously other recommendations that will actually improve their lab values
Speaker 1: and things like that. So just refocusing how we look
Speaker 1: at health and how to actually improve health. And you
Speaker 1: have a really unique background because you were on the
Speaker 1: track for premed transition to becoming an r D and
Speaker 1: you have PCOS where the general recommendation is to lose weight.
Speaker 1: That being said, I feel like we could sub that
Speaker 1: into an entire episode, So we're not going to dive
Speaker 1: too deep on that just yet. But if you're listening
Speaker 1: right now and you're super interested on dealing with pcos
Speaker 1: or why doctors may say just lose weight and things
Speaker 1: will improve, join us when a Lenny comes back, which
Speaker 1: is going to be in about two weeks from this
Speaker 1: episode's air date, So just so you know, that's why
Speaker 1: I'm not diving a little bit further now, but I
Speaker 1: really want to dive into that on our second episode,
Speaker 1: where we could get a little bit more nitty gritty
Speaker 1: into disease states managing them with weight and outcomes related
Speaker 1: to do so, So why are the symptoms of an
Speaker 1: eating disorder more important to really think about rather than
Speaker 1: just way or b AM I well weight and b
Speaker 1: M I. Both of those things are not actual habits,
Speaker 1: and the symptoms are the habits that you form. And
Speaker 1: so what I find is a lot of individuals, whether
Speaker 1: they're quote unquote considered a normal sized body or a
Speaker 1: larger sized body, a lot of times those symptoms are
Speaker 1: encouraged like restriction, cutting out food groups, motivational Monday, let's restart,
Speaker 1: let's reset Monday, cheat days, all those things. Those are
Speaker 1: disordered habits to have, and all of those disordered habits
Speaker 1: are geared towards shrinking your body. And so when we
Speaker 1: talk about shrinking our bodies just scientifically, like I explain
Speaker 1: to people, your body isn't just like selectively loose fat.
Speaker 1: It doesn't just say this person has a lot of
Speaker 1: fat on their body and we're just gonna use that
Speaker 1: up as energy. It's very taxing on the body to
Speaker 1: actually burn fat for fuel when you aren't giving it
Speaker 1: adequate energy and carbohydrates. It actually may be easier for
Speaker 1: it to use your own muscle mass, which we know
Speaker 1: is important for so many different things, not just strengthen
Speaker 1: things like that, but your immune system all these different things.
Speaker 1: So when you're losing weight and you're forcing your body
Speaker 1: to shrink itself in a in a very unhealthy, disordered manner,
Speaker 1: you're lowering your b min and you're lowering your weight,
Speaker 1: but you're also lowering your lean body mass and then
Speaker 1: your your immunity, like you said, beautifully. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: always recommend to people like people are always so concerned
Speaker 1: with like calories and how much on burning and this
Speaker 1: and that, and the worst thing that you could do
Speaker 1: is essentially like starving your body from adequate nutrients, adequate carbohydrates,
Speaker 1: adequate protein, et cetera, and shrink your lean body mass
Speaker 1: because we know it's hard, especially as we get older,
Speaker 1: to build up that lean body mass. So reframing what
Speaker 1: people think of in terms of weight loss and what
Speaker 1: it actually really means, some of my clients are like, Wow,
Speaker 1: I never even thought about that, because all you hear
Speaker 1: is like, oh, let's get healthy and lean and happy,
Speaker 1: and no one thinks about what it actually means and
Speaker 1: what the consequences on the body actually are. You just
Speaker 1: triggered a memory and it's a little off tangent, but
Speaker 1: I have. You know, I'm pretty selective in who I
Speaker 1: follow when it comes to people what they'll say about
Speaker 1: food and bodies like I have. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: want a feed that doesn't reflect. Not that I'm not
Speaker 1: open to hearing other people's thoughts, but it can be
Speaker 1: even I wouldn't say triggering for me, but it's kind
Speaker 1: of just like, oh, I can't I can't see this,
Speaker 1: you know. But recently I follow a trainer that I
Speaker 1: worked with one time in d C. The only time
Speaker 1: I ever saw a trainer one it is literally one time,
Speaker 1: and then I was like no, but he was a
Speaker 1: good trainer when it came to movement, functional movement. You know,
Speaker 1: we didn't talk about anything nutrition wise, and I never
Speaker 1: really heard him speak about anything nutrition wise. And he
Speaker 1: did a post recently about you know, should you intermittent
Speaker 1: fast or not? And I thought he was going in
Speaker 1: the direction that was going to be great, and it
Speaker 1: pivoted into it's all about the calories, calories in verse,
Speaker 1: calories out, and I was really shocked because it's really
Speaker 1: shows how insidious social media can be when it comes
Speaker 1: to following health professionals because it was so posed like
Speaker 1: I was going to really like cheer him on and
Speaker 1: be proud of what he was putting out, and yet
Speaker 1: it boiled down to just old science and treating everybody
Speaker 1: like we're the same, Like if you and I just
Speaker 1: ate the same amount, first of all, we shouldn't eat
Speaker 1: the same amount. Not that I deserve less or more
Speaker 1: than you or you more than me, but who knows, right,
Speaker 1: Like who knows what's going on in my body and
Speaker 1: what's going on in your body? That that we're just
Speaker 1: a simple math equation. And I found it so dangerous
Speaker 1: and scary that this is, you know, obviously rampant. I
Speaker 1: don't see it as much because of where my head
Speaker 1: is at, but it's still rampant. But imagine someone who
Speaker 1: isn't you with your education and your outlook. It prays
Speaker 1: on these individuals. And we could talk about how many
Speaker 1: different celebrities push these you know, unrealistic or even just
Speaker 1: trainers that maybe you like how they train and you
Speaker 1: like the recommendations training wise that they make, but then
Speaker 1: they are still rooted in diet culture, and you know,
Speaker 1: to send out that message to so many people just
Speaker 1: further makes it more difficult for voices like hours to
Speaker 1: like reach as many people as pos. They just don't know, right,
Speaker 1: Like they don't know. He doesn't know that he's saturated
Speaker 1: in diet culture or that he's perhaps suffering, like I
Speaker 1: even mean it like compare, like I had to unfollow
Speaker 1: because it just I just couldn't. And I have a
Speaker 1: really high tolerance. I really don't just unfollow somebody when
Speaker 1: I disagree with them. I don't believe in that personally.
Speaker 1: But it just really upset me that this is still,
Speaker 1: you know, going on. And I know you don't really talk,
Speaker 1: like you said, like you don't tell your personal story
Speaker 1: so much, but I did go back on your feet
Speaker 1: a little bit, and I think it's actually really helpful
Speaker 1: when you do tell parts of your personal story. And
Speaker 1: you told one story about how you were lifting at
Speaker 1: the gym and you faced some sort of stigma in
Speaker 1: doing so. Do you remember this? Which one was it?
Speaker 1: That someone was like approaching me in regard? Yeah? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean that has definitely happened, like the
Speaker 1: fat phobia environment of a gym. So what happened exactly
Speaker 1: if you're comfortable talking about it? Yeah, So essentially I
Speaker 1: was I had been trained by my sister who is
Speaker 1: also a dietician and a personal trainer, but she had
Speaker 1: trained me for like maybe a few years prior to
Speaker 1: me just working out on my own. So not that
Speaker 1: I'm a personal trainer by any means, but I have
Speaker 1: an idea about you know, good form, and I had
Speaker 1: a plan and all these sorts of things. I was
Speaker 1: at my gym and it had happened a few times,
Speaker 1: but that one specific, big time that you're referring to
Speaker 1: was this trainer. This was obviously pre covid um. This
Speaker 1: trainer had come up to me, and he didn't have
Speaker 1: a great bedside manner, even though he wasn't a physician,
Speaker 1: but like, you know, just the way he came up
Speaker 1: to me, it was just very abrupt in the middle
Speaker 1: of my set and was like, oh, you're working out
Speaker 1: one part of your body, but I believe I was
Speaker 1: working out another, which was bizarre in itself. And he
Speaker 1: basically was like targeting me because I was in a
Speaker 1: larger sized body and I and I didn't want to
Speaker 1: come to that conclusion and make that judgment, but I
Speaker 1: watched him throughout my hour there, however long it was.
Speaker 1: He did not go up to anyone else and there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of other people there. So in gym's they're
Speaker 1: like meant to target. They're literally told to target people
Speaker 1: who they think could become clients for you know, weight loss.
Speaker 1: And I went to the manager and the manager wasn't there,
Speaker 1: but there was someone behind the desk and I kind
Speaker 1: of got into like a little bit of a fight
Speaker 1: with her, and I was like, listen, like this has
Speaker 1: happened before. I've never said anything before, but I just
Speaker 1: wanted to let you know, like like this is what
Speaker 1: I experienced. It made me really uncomfortable and like I'm
Speaker 1: fine and I'm happy here, and I not like doubting
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. Like if I went up to them
Speaker 1: and said like, hey, can you show me how to
Speaker 1: do this? Or hey, would you like me to show
Speaker 1: you that, Like, it wasn't The conversation wasn't like that
Speaker 1: at all, and the woman was not very helpful and
Speaker 1: she was like, oh, well, that happened to me one time.
Speaker 1: And then I started training every day and I was
Speaker 1: like it was just such a bad experience. And I mean,
Speaker 1: thinking of other women in particular who are in larger
Speaker 1: sized bodies working out in the weightlifting area, it's not
Speaker 1: very common, and so it just further perpetuates. Like everyone
Speaker 1: deserves to work out however they want without getting biased
Speaker 1: from other people. Like there are people who work out
Speaker 1: there who have terrible form, look like they're going to
Speaker 1: hurt their backs, and all these other things. You can
Speaker 1: go suggest things to them too. You don't just have
Speaker 1: to walk up to someone and say, oh, let me
Speaker 1: train you. Like two things to that think. Number one
Speaker 1: is is that you felt targeted that the trainer came
Speaker 1: up to you and if I'm understanding you correct correct
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong, but assumed that because you were
Speaker 1: at the gym, and because you were training pretty hard
Speaker 1: with weight and all of that, that your goal must
Speaker 1: be to lose weight. So he or she inserted themselves
Speaker 1: and said, let me help you fix your form, do this,
Speaker 1: And you looked around and he wasn't going up to
Speaker 1: anyone else who was in particular, you know, bad form,
Speaker 1: and you weren't there to lose weight. You were there,
Speaker 1: Why were you there? This dude didn't even ask me
Speaker 1: to crack my form, which it didn't need crack thing
Speaker 1: because I was very I'm very careful with what I do,
Speaker 1: not saying it's perfect but like, but if he had
Speaker 1: made some sort of suggestion, then I would have said, okay, whatever,
Speaker 1: and even if he didn't go up to anyone else,
Speaker 1: and I would have taken it a little bit better.
Speaker 1: But it was very obvious and it wasn't super busy,
Speaker 1: so it just was like he walked around, he saw
Speaker 1: me and just like came right up to me, and
Speaker 1: it was very tired at it, and um, it's unfortunate,
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's for me, I'm fine, like I
Speaker 1: really don't care. But for other women, I don't see
Speaker 1: a lot of larger sized women at the gym that
Speaker 1: I go to. I mean, it's a diverse gym. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of different people who go, their old, young,
Speaker 1: different ethnicities and everything like that. But it's very rare
Speaker 1: for me to see a larger sized woman. And for me,
Speaker 1: who someone who has not had such a good experience
Speaker 1: in my life with exercise when I found weightlifting and
Speaker 1: I fell in love with it, like it's my favorite
Speaker 1: thing to do, like it's the best part. Well, it
Speaker 1: was the best part of my day pre COVID. But
Speaker 1: you know, it deters people from going and so I
Speaker 1: can only imagine how someone else who already feels maybe
Speaker 1: self conscious or like awkward in a place with like
Speaker 1: all men as is to be made to feel out
Speaker 1: of place, and a hundred percent agree that your experience
Speaker 1: is what you felt. And I'll also share that it's
Speaker 1: been a long time since I've been in a gym too,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, very my energy is are you? Like
Speaker 1: I can try to give off good energy, but when
Speaker 1: trainers used to approach me, I find it really soliciting,
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't say anything related to my body. But
Speaker 1: it's like I already pay a freaking expensive gym membership.
Speaker 1: I don't need to be solicited into personal training like you.
Speaker 1: I have my background and exercise physiology. I know how
Speaker 1: to work my form. I know what you're doing, you know,
Speaker 1: step off. But it really is it's like, this is
Speaker 1: my time to be in my body. If I want
Speaker 1: a personal trainer, I'm going to ask for a personal trainer.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe other people do like when a trainer
Speaker 1: comes and helps them, but I feel like a good
Speaker 1: rule of thumb, like you said, like if anyone is
Speaker 1: self conscious, they might not want extra eyes on them,
Speaker 1: especially from a professional, you know, and as they're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what feels good in their bodies and
Speaker 1: also asking permission if you would like to have a conversation.
Speaker 1: I mean, when a client comes to they're coming to you.
Speaker 1: You already have that conversation. It would be the same
Speaker 1: as me going into someone's deans and just saying, hey,
Speaker 1: I could do this, like you know, how not cool
Speaker 1: that is. So it's definitely approaching the client in a
Speaker 1: way that's like open ended and saying like, hey, is
Speaker 1: there anything you'd like to be working on? You know,
Speaker 1: but definitely that experience was and even if somebody is
Speaker 1: very you know, social media has become a quote unquote
Speaker 1: vulnerable place for a lot of young women. Even if
Speaker 1: a woman is saying I struggle with binge eating or
Speaker 1: I hate my body or blah blah blah, it's not
Speaker 1: the role of a registered dietitian I believe, or even
Speaker 1: a way inclusive one or some of the practices health
Speaker 1: at every size like you and I to say, oh,
Speaker 1: let me help you, Like yes, we will, we want
Speaker 1: to help you, but it's not our job to knock
Speaker 1: on your door. Because there's that permission to and readiness
Speaker 1: and willingness and stages of making somebody feel comfortable that
Speaker 1: already feels singled out, whether they have been or not.
Speaker 1: I think you your confidence really comes through and everything
Speaker 1: that you do, and I'm sure it has something to
Speaker 1: do with the way you grow up. I could just imagine.
Speaker 1: But you also shared another personal post that growing up
Speaker 1: you were told to cover your stomach and your butt
Speaker 1: and where oversized clothing. Who told you to do that?
Speaker 1: First of all, definitely like everyone in my family, Like
Speaker 1: I am Greek in a time, but I grew up
Speaker 1: mostly Greek, and the Greek community in general is pretty judgmental,
Speaker 1: and so my whole entire life, I was basically in
Speaker 1: a larger sized body from second grade, I would say,
Speaker 1: And so that kind of traveled with me throughout my
Speaker 1: life and as I got baker and larger, and you know,
Speaker 1: I grew That's like a whole other story. But definitely
Speaker 1: like my grandmother, my mother who suffered with like disordered eating,
Speaker 1: and that kind of translated down on us my aunt
Speaker 1: and they're still to this day, like my aunt um
Speaker 1: and other family members, they still talk about things not
Speaker 1: towards me, but like about themselves. And obviously, like you
Speaker 1: absorbed what other people say are around you. So when
Speaker 1: you're told to like, oh, pull down your shirt. I
Speaker 1: always viewed my body, whatever size it has been throughout
Speaker 1: my life as like something that I should be ashamed
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, And as I have gone through my
Speaker 1: self love journey, which I always explained to people, like
Speaker 1: is not linear, Like it wasn't like just one day
Speaker 1: I woke up and I was like, yes, like I
Speaker 1: love everything about myself. Like, that's not what self love is.
Speaker 1: It's just giving your body the grace to know that
Speaker 1: like it does great things for you. And wearing things
Speaker 1: that make you feel comfortable is important. So if wearing
Speaker 1: oversized things and things that cover your butt is something
Speaker 1: that makes you feel good uncomfortable, then you should do that.
Speaker 1: But I realized that I didn't have to do those
Speaker 1: things if I didn't want to. So I've had clients
Speaker 1: and I see a lot of girls and women on
Speaker 1: social media who are in smaller bodies than me that
Speaker 1: also struggle with that same type of thing. Um, So
Speaker 1: regardless of like where you are, you know, whatever your
Speaker 1: body size is, it's a common thing that people experience.
Speaker 1: But definitely, you know, accepting myself as I am and
Speaker 1: saying like this is okay, and this is me is
Speaker 1: something that took me a really long time to come
Speaker 1: to terms with. So I wouldn't say like I'm as
Speaker 1: like out there and confident as Lizzo, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: because she's amazing and and I always love the way
Speaker 1: she is. It's very inspiring for me, um, and for
Speaker 1: so many other women. But definitely like going against what
Speaker 1: I had usually thought was acceptable for me has been something.
Speaker 1: I love what you said that if you want to
Speaker 1: wear an oversized shirt and that's your style or what
Speaker 1: you feel comfortable in today, great, But I think it's
Speaker 1: really cool how you've it sounds like for you wearing
Speaker 1: clothing that fits you, it's more of an accurate reflection
Speaker 1: of who you are, at least right now. Then you
Speaker 1: know what you were told to be. So it's so
Speaker 1: cool to watch you kind of take your power back
Speaker 1: and unlarned things that were ingrained within you so deeply.
Speaker 1: And I think that gives confidence for other women who
Speaker 1: were in your you know, in a similar position to you,
Speaker 1: where they were told to, you know, cover up their
Speaker 1: stomach because it wasn't flat or where a strong at
Speaker 1: the beach, or only where a one piece, Especially as
Speaker 1: we get into summer is. If that's what you want
Speaker 1: to do, do it. But you can also slowly take
Speaker 1: your power back if you want to by doing things
Speaker 1: radically different. And again, I think that your confidence is
Speaker 1: really what comes through for me, for you. And you
Speaker 1: come off the same as Lizzo, I'll say like, really,
Speaker 1: I don't, I'm not such a compliment. Well, who knows,
Speaker 1: you know, And I bet Lizzo as her own major
Speaker 1: struggles with this stuff. You know, she's a performer. She
Speaker 1: can get on stage and maybe look like she turns
Speaker 1: it on. And this is a huge assumption and I
Speaker 1: don't even want to, you know, speak about it further
Speaker 1: than that, but who knows what she's going on underneath that.
Speaker 1: And I think a big turning point from you was
Speaker 1: and I woke up and I realized, like I couldn't
Speaker 1: keep trying to shrink myself anymore physically, like my body
Speaker 1: and I couldn't keep going through that cycle of like
Speaker 1: dieting and restricting and then overeating and going through that
Speaker 1: whole thing, because that's what your body's natural tendency is
Speaker 1: when you restrict something. I woke up one day and
Speaker 1: I was just like, you know what, like whatever, I
Speaker 1: am right now, it's fine, and I need to start
Speaker 1: listening to what my body is saying. And slowly but surely,
Speaker 1: that's kind of how I fell into intuitive eating. I
Speaker 1: had read the book when I was in school, but
Speaker 1: I kind of didn't even really remember that, and I
Speaker 1: just slowly started to like listen to myself. I had
Speaker 1: never listened to myself before. But accepting the fact that
Speaker 1: if I stayed at where I am right now, whatever
Speaker 1: that may be, that's fine and that's okay. And telling
Speaker 1: myself that every day over time like helped me kind
Speaker 1: of get to that place. That's such a powerful affirmation
Speaker 1: because we're never allowed to just be and you gave
Speaker 1: it to yourself radically. So let's dive even deeper to
Speaker 1: that in our second episode. So we'll wrap up here.
Speaker 1: We're gonna put all your information in the show notes below,
Speaker 1: and stay tuned. We're gonna have a Lennie back to
Speaker 1: discuss her own PCOS journey, more of how she kind
Speaker 1: of came to find that comfortability in her own body.
Speaker 1: Why health practitioners might be limited in their scope although
Speaker 1: their intentions may or may not be good. We'll find
Speaker 1: out and learning more about how you became a weight
Speaker 1: inclusive dietitian and what that really means. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for having me. This is a really great conversation
Speaker 1: to just hear your feedback and hearing like you kind
Speaker 1: of interpret things. It was definitely very insightful for me. Well,
Speaker 1: you're wonderful and we're so happy to have you. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and we'll have you back on here real soon