This blog post has been inspired by @Shercole – from our conversation this morning on Twitter.

My parents got divorced when I was 6 years old; shortly after the divorce I went to live with my dad and stepmother. My stepmother was a size 2. As for me, I was kinda of chunky kid and continued to be chunky as a young teenager.

I developed body image issues at a very early age.  I started running around the block when I was about 8 years old; I was running a few miles a day before I reached junior high.  One summer (I think I was 13), I not only ran but did all sorts of aerobic tapes; remember the Cindy Crawford workouts?? I also didn’t eat much at all that summer.  I would skip meals and drink fruity drinks for energy.  I lost a lot of weight that summer but I also put it back on in no time at all.  For the next three year, I yo-yo dieted.

I wasn’t happy with who I was. All I did was compare myself to others. My step mother would ground me for skipping meals because she knew I was developing an eating disorder…however, she never got me any help or education on how to be healthy.  This was in the mid-eighties, when although, eating disorders were acknowledged – they were not talked about the way they have in the last decade nor was information readily available to learn how to be healthy, lose weight and how to develop self-confidence and a good self-image.

The gym and weight room came to my rescue.  I enlisted in the Marine Corps my junior year in High School – I was 16.  I knew to be ready to ship out to Boot Camp I needed to be in excellent shape so I decided to join the local gym – I partnered up with two of the football players from my High School and began my journey in learning everything about lifting weights.  With learning how to lift weight came learning about proper nutrition on how to build lean muscle mass – I was an avid reader of Muscle and Fitness Magazine.

As I developed lean muscle mass – I lost inches and started to have a nice physique and very nice biceps.  I acknowledged that I would never be a size 2; however, I could be lean, strong and beautiful in my own way.  Instead of fitting a mold that others expected of me – I decided who I was and what made me happy.

Now, at 32, after many years spent in the gym…I’m looking for some new ways to get, be and stay lean. Thankfully, New Orleans has a lot to offer – I’ll talk about that in my next blog post: Exploring Beyond the Gym.