Trying to be Superwoman: When the quest for optimal health becomes a dangerous obsession.

If you went to Deakin Univeristy in Burwood you would know who Sophie “the body” Di Falco was. She was the smokin hot leggy babe that was ALWAYS in the gym. I’m like 99% sure there was even a facebook group created about her and how babin she was. I remember walking past the gym one day and seeing her on the stepper and thinking to myself ‘Hot damn..! I’ve gotta get on that thing!’. She had a wafer thin frame and legs longer then my entire body. Once I started instructing she became one of my regular Wednesday night Body Pumpers and a close friend. I knew she had an incredible fitness journey and last week I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing it on my blog. Her journey will resonate with many, and although your exercise regime may not be extreme as what Soph experienced, the implications of over training and under-eating are very real and something you should monitor when embarking on a fat loss journey.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Sophie for having the courage to speak up about her story and I hope that this will inspire others to find a fat loss program that will be long term, healthy and sustainable.. and hopefully include a little more weights & a little less cardio!

 Thank you Hun, you are truly a beautiful soul xx

Sophie: My whole life I have always wanted to be the thinnest, healthiest and fittest person I could possibly be. I could never do enough exercise. Since the age of eight I have struggled with accepting my body and have been on a very restricted diet. I battled with anorexia for a lot of my childhood years and trust me it is not fun. My self-prescribed diet consisted of strictly fruit, vegetables, any fat free products (99% not the 97% type), artificial sweeteners, coffee, cereal, bread (no seeds of course because that contained fat), pasta and rice (so pretty much any food that didn’t have more than 2.5 grams of fat per serve.) We are all taught to believe that fat is evil. Little did I know I had it all WRONG!!

I was so unhappy with my body that I threw myself in to exercise because it was the only thing that made me feel good. I would do up to 7 hours of exercise a day. A typical day would be an ab class, body pump or boxing class, spin class, 1 hour of core exercises and about 2 hours of power walking. I worked out 7 days a week. Things really had spiraled out of control and I was seriously addicted. During this time I never saw any results in the gym and this was sooooo frustrating because I spent every waking hour there. Surely this meant I should just do more exercise right? I mean I always felt so good when I did it and it was social and so much fun.

My obsession with exercise and what I thought was ‘healthy eating’ was actually ruining my body, my restricted diet and exercise habits have cause a lot of damage including adrenal fatigue, dangerously low blood pressure, thyroid dysfunction, amenorrhea (no periods for those males out there), nutrient deficiencies (due to lack of fat in my diet), abnormal hormone levels, terrible sleep habits (only 5hrs a night) and the list just goes on and on.

 

I don’t know when it clicked but one day I decided it all had to change. I starting planning rest days (something I still struggle with), I cut my 5 hours of cardio out and only did only sprint intervals or walking (no steady state cardio). I replaced my cardio with weights (and heavy weights too). I feared getting chunky/bulky (whatever you want to call it). But I had done my research and from everything I had read that wasn’t going to happen, so I gave myself a deadline of 3 months and in this time I would change it all up and see what happened.

To my surprise, Instead of getting fat or bulky I started getting strong and lean. I was getting tone and shape, which I had never seen before. I had put on a kilo which scared me and that's when I decided to ditch the scales. I decided that I would measure my health by the way in felt. I had done a complete 360 with the way I approached healthy eating and exercise.

I experimented with my diet and started to incorporate some really nourishing and amazing super foods (Green smoothies, apple cider vinegar, chia seeds, kale, super food this super food that). You name it I’ve tried it!. I went from avoiding all fats, eating low protein and eating a diet completely comprising of carbs to a diet full of good fats, high protein and moderately low carb. I was scared at first. Actually that’s an understatement I was quietly (loudly) SH**ING myself. I thought that straight away I was going to get fat because we all know that eating fat causes weight gain right?? Well that’s what the media has us all believing. If it is fat free then it must be good. WRONG!!

It has taken me a long time, but I finally realize that your life really needs to be about balance. I knew I had to change what I was doing, but I just kept digging my head in the sand rather then finding a solution.

I now have my Masters degree in Human Nutrition and can now say that I am the happiest I have been with my healthy way of living. I don’t feel bad if I skip a day at the gym or eat something naughty every once in a while. It keeps me on track and allows me to rest my body.

So to sum up what I have learnt is to listen to your body, look after it as it is the only one you have. Enjoy the exercise you do- find exercise that makes you happy and that you will actually do everyday. And enjoy food!! Eat as close to nature as possible, as fresh produce is so much tastier. Obsessing about calories is just not worth your time. Just eat mindfully. Love life!!

Sophie xx

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