In August of 2019, Kelly, who was already a dedicated athlete, decided to go full send on her nutrition journey. Kelly’s love of learning, discipline, and pure grit served her well as she tackled challenge after challenge and truly embraced twists and turns of working towards whole-life health. Learn a little bit more about her experience below.
Kelly, tell us a little about your relationship with food and nutrition before you started nutrition coaching at Renew.
It wasn’t great. I typically have an “all-or-nothing” mentality, and that definitely carried over into nutrition. I would crush restrictive nutrition programs for 30, 60, 90 days - but then constantly swung back to the “nothing” phase. It created a negative relationship with food because there was no balance - it was either completely restrictive and zero fun, or a “food field day” with significant regression. And it’s really hard when you view food as destructive instead of fuel.
What did you gain and lose during your nutrition journey with Renew?
Sustainability! Lauren and I tried a lot of different techniques - tracking macros, intuitive eating, daily food checklists, workout schedules. We kept trying new things until I landed on intermittent fasting. Everyone knows that I’ll talk to you about it for days if you’ll listen, haha! But it works for me and it’s something that I will probably do for the rest of my life. It also helped me gain a more balanced and positive relationship with food. I’m cognizant of what I eat, and think about things before I eat them. But if I want a treat (I love treats), I eat it. I don’t feel guilty about it. I’ve lost 11 pounds and 4% body fat!
What is currently your favorite healthy meal?
I am on a salmon kick right now! Salmon with rice or pasta and roasted okra. Or Indian food - butter chicken or chicken tikka masala, rice and green beans.
If I looked in your kitchen, what foods would I always find on hand?
Coffee, peanut butter, oatmeal, turkey deli meat, chocolate covered almonds, Halo Top, and Waterloo.
How have you surprised yourself since starting your nutrition journey at Renew?
Non-Scale Victories! Nutrition used to be 100% about weight and physical appearance for me. Really, the only thing that mattered was being “skinny”. The weightloss came with time, but I absolutely loved experiencing the impacts nutrition had on my energy levels, sleep quality, gym performance, food choices and attitude.
Open ended question… What's different now?
To put it simply, balance. Now I trust the process, and that it’s not a magical overnight cure. There are still ups and downs - but the more sustainable and balanced my nutrition plan is - the shorter distance between those peaks and valleys, with an overall positive (decreasing) trend line.
Obviously we're never done with our wellness journeys. What's next for you?
I will definitely continue intermittent fasting - combined with tracking macros or intuitive eating. And honestly, more Renew! I typically don’t love doing things in life that I’m not naturally good at, but working out is becoming a lot more enjoyable in conjunction with my nutrition progression. I really want to get a freaking pull-up!
If your current self could give one piece of advice to yourself 6 months ago, what would you say?
It’s a little cliche, but honestly - just stay the course. I think my nutrition journey was ideal in that I tried a lot of different things. Because the results and progress weren’t instantaneous, I was able to reevaluate and re-establish my relationship with food. It was so helpful working with Lauren, because giving up wasn’t an option for us. She genuinely cared about my progress as much as I did - so we were committed to putting in the work. And that commitment plus accountability is always going to yield results.