After living this schedule for 8 years, and suffering the debilitating fatigue and unrelenting hunger and cravings that ensued, my body deccided to shut down on me. I went from 125 pounds to 150 pounds! (this is a lot for girl that stands 5 feet tall on a good day)
And most of this weight came on in a 2 month period!! And it happened while I was working out the hardest!!
I also diagnosed myself with hypothyroid, adrenal fatigue, pre-diabetes and severe vitamin D deficiency.
For a short time after that, I got my shit together and started taking care of myself.
I cut back on the number of hours I was working out and classes that I was coaching. I did what I needed to do to get healthy and lean again.
Fast forward about 6 months later and I was back to several workouts a day, late nights, crazy hours and a hectic schedule trying to run a gym, compete in CrossFt and build an online business.
Before I knew it I ballooned back up to 150 pounds and was feeling worse than ever.
I'm not sure why I didn't learn my lesson the first time, but this time, I just kept on working harder.
My online business was becoming successful and felt even more pressure to look my best and keep the momentum going.
Thinking I could out exercise, and out eat the problem, I started dieting harder than ever and working out even more. Guess what happened?
NOTHING!! In fact, worse than nothing. I was feeling worse and if I let up on my hectic regime even a little bit I ballooned up, looked puffy and gained fat.
I would wake up in the morning looking like the picture above.
I was working the hardest I ever had and I could not make a dent in my weight.
One of the things that was most problematic is that the approach I was taking eventually always led to a binge of some sort.
As an example, I would get a burst of motivation (a welcome break from the mental fatigue and lethargy), and I would hit the gym hard!!
Then I would be completely wiped out. On the bad days, I felt like I had been slipped a date rape drug because I was so tired, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. My hunger and cravings also skyrocketed; all I could think about was what I was gonna eat in my next meal, and what my next workout would be. I was no longer eating and exercising for health. I was addicted. A sickness.
It was like a boomerang. The longer or more intense I worked out, the harder my metabolic boomerang would whip back against me.
After seeing this phenomena play out in client after client, I gave it a name. I have come to call this phenomenon “the workout boomerang!”
The lean body I once had was slipping further and further away the harder I tried.
I kept “eating clean” and I kept working out like crazy despite having little motivation and feeling like crap.
I went on thyroid medications and took a ton of supplements and herbs. None of it worked that well.
I could not lose the fat and the fatigue and brain fog were becoming unrelenting.
Have you ever felt so tired that it actually hurts?
Or slept an entire night and felt like you were half conscious the entire time?
It is miserable right? Well, that was me.