It’s time to stop making excuses!
I hear women all the time complaining about their look and/or weight and internally hating another woman for her incredible attributes. I was in the fitness industry for over 15 years and in the entertainment industry for over 25 years so I know the demands that are put on women. Those two industries are extremely harsh on appearance and at times people resort to altering their look to fit a certain criteria. Perfection is sought in both industries although the “look” is completely different. In the fitness industry women are expected to look defined, toned and muscular while in the entertainment industry slim is the way to go. For me, it was always a harsh reality knowing that I didn’t fit physically in either one of the industries. At 5’1” and 108 lbs, I was too heavy for the American acting world and too thin for the Latin acting and/or fitness world. I found myself in a constant battle to try to fit in anywhere but it always seemed that I was never good enough.
After having my first daughter I started to focus more on fitness and I geared away completely from the acting industry. I taught several classes (5+) a day ranging from Zumba to Barre to Boot Camp and my body took a toll from all the excessive exercise. Even though I was strictly involved in fitness, my body did not project the body of a fitness instructor or competitor. I didn’t eat correctly and I abused my body by teaching too many daily classes. My body was constantly fluctuating and I started feeling aches and pains everywhere. I continued this abuse until about two years ago when I abruptly retired myself from the fitness industry. By then I had three daughters, three c-sections and I just knew I could not continue anymore.
Fast forward to today and I have not stepped into a gym in over a year. I have lost all my stamina, endurance and muscle definition. If I try to sprint with my daughters I quickly find myself out of breath. I start making negative remarks internally about my body while putting on a smile in front of my little girls. Then one day I had an epiphany as I took a hike with a few girlfriends to 1000 step beach in Laguna Beach. There were so many women with incredibly fit and beautiful bodies sweating their ass off going up and down the 300+ steps continuously. They had these amazing bodies because they worked really hard for it. They were winded and sweaty but they kept going up and down building more definition on their already fit bodies. And that was all I needed to see. I needed to be reminded that if you dislike something, you need to do something about it. Its easy for all of us to complain about the things we don’t like about ourselves but we find it so hard to work at bettering ourselves. We find a million excuses not to go to the gym or eat healthily but yet we don’t have any when we eat poorly or live inactively.
It’s time for us to stop hating on those that work hard to achieve their physical appearance and time for us to join their crew. It’s never too late to start anew!
