by Maddy Curley
As a coach and a competitive athlete, I'm often asked about my diet. I actually have a very lenient diet and one that I think almost anyone could follow! So, here's how it came about. After gymnastics, I, like every gymnast, got "fat". Or at least what we gymnasts would consider fat: 5 to 20 pounds overweight. We are used to training four hours a day, six days a week all while in school. There really aren't enough hours in the day to overeat! But then, the day comes when you quit or basically "retire" from the sport and suddenly the thousand calories you burned at practice that you are still eating pile on to your body. And boy does it come fast!
The first couple years after gymnastics I had no idea what to do with this extra weight. I started reading SELF, Women's Health and basically any magazine that said anything about losing weight to figure out how to eat. I also didn't have CrossFit at this time, so my exercise was a painfully boring 30 minutes on the elliptical or stair stepper.
I tried every annoying diet I read about, but if you have a sweet tooth, none of these diets are very helpful. Finally, one broken down day in the Barnes and Noble, I stumbled upon a book called Weigh Down while looking for a Bible study book. The cover had a skinny woman named Gwen Shamblin on it with big Tennessee hair. I opened it and she told me I was not a failure, that I was just trying too hard to control food. I'm in. Tell me what to do, Gwen.
Basically, the approach is SO SIMPLE. Just wait for hunger and stop eating before you're full. After nine weeks of trying this plan (and waiting for hunger is WAY harder than you think, but it is possible) I lost all my post gymnastics weight and felt like I wasn't constantly stressing about food. It was a very freeing feeling. There are still times when I get off and eat when I'm not hungry, but it's such a simple formula to fall back on and I've seen amazing results from people who stick to it.
So that's it. That's why I'm known as the girl that carries around half a Snickers bar in my purse, because I want to stop before I'm full and sometime I just want a taste of something sweet.
Questions/comments for Maddy about her diet? Find her on Instagram and Twitter: @maddycurley - or post below.
Maddy Curley is a CrossFit L1 Instructor, Coach at Brick CrossFit, and an actress in Los Angeles, CA. She is a former collegiate gymnast now on a mission to strengthen the minds and bodies of others. We welcomed Maddy as a Fashletics Ambassador in April of 2014. Click here for her full profile.
Read More
