Dee Gautham Growing up, I had a bad relationship with food and my body. A lot of this stemmed from being the only Indian girl in a rural New Hampshire school-I felt really self conscious of my body and how I looked. I quietly endured an eating disorder in my teen years, and no matter how accomplished I became in academics, my personal life, or in my career, I felt consumed by deeply rooted feelings of body shame. Like so many young women, for years I swung high and low on my weight, my nutrition and exercise habits, and my body image. In my late 20’s I was working in Silicon Valley as a product manager when I fell into the world of bikini bodybuilding. At that time I was struggling with a lot of stress/emotional eating, and was constantly wrangling feelings of self-contempt. Unfortunately, this was my mental space when I started training for bikini competitions. In retrospect, this definitely was not the right time for me to compete in a sport where winning was based on your body’s aesthetics rather than performance. After I competed on stage, I spiraled. This is where my healing journey truly began: binge-eating post bikini competition. Here I was doing the same thing I always did, even with the “perfect” body (I use that term very ironically, as there is no such thing). A Season of Change The silver lining to my bikini competition days: it sparked a long-lasting love and appreciation for strength training. It also forced my issues with body image and self-worth to the surface: there was no hiding from the fact that something needed to change. I hired a therapist, and did a lot of personal work to understand my beliefs and feelings around food, body image, and exercise. And I started to heal. I shared little bits of my journey on my personal Instagram: some workout tips, nutrition insights, and tidbits about improving body image. Soon, coaching inquiries flooded in. I took on a few clients as a side gig, but the demand for my approach grew quickly. Two years ago, I quit my job to go all-in on my coaching business. What started as my personal path to a healthier and more fulfilled life has blossomed into a team of 5 coaches with clients all over the world. We are The Boss Body Revolution. The Boss Body Revolution Our approach at The Boss Body Revolution is to help women achieve their goals with a healthy mindset and healthy relationship with food. We empower positive change through education, and reject the culture of fad dieting. The word “revolution” makes me think of radically going against the grain, and that’s exactly why I chose it. We're rising up against a toxic diet culture and traditional beauty standards. We reject the idea that shame and self-hatred are acceptable sources of motivation. I want to change the way women lose weight. When women decide to lose weight, instead of: “What diet should I do this time?" I want them to ask "How should I change my relationship with food?" "How can I shift my mindset?" "How do I enjoy moving my body?” As for “Boss Body,” that’s simple. Women have a right to feel like a boss in their own body: strong, confident, and fit. The “Freeze” Emotion I’ve talked about shame a lot. Here’s why: in order to sustain lifelong healthy behaviors, you simply cannot come from a place of shame. Shame is a "freeze" emotion: it stops us from taking action. When we feel ashamed of our bodies, we're less likely to take any positive action toward accomplishing our goals. Let me give you an example. Many women come to me with a lot of shame attached to numbers: weight, BMI, etc. And I encourage them to examine how that shame-based relationship with numbers began. "Why is your worth tied to these numbers?" "Who told you that?" "Is this something you still want to believe?" "Are you willing to create a new truth that serves you better?" From "Fixed" to "Growth" This is why we start with mindset coaching at The Boss Body Revolution. Your thoughts drive your feelings, which drive your actions; starting with the right mindset is essential for sustainable health goals. Perhaps the best illustration of how mindset drives health behavior is comparing a “fixed” vs “growth” mindset. Here’s how I define fixed mindsets to my clients: “In a fixed mindset, you believe your ability to perform and execute on tasks and goals is immovable and cannot change, improve, or evolve.” And how I define growth mindsets: “In a growth mindset, you believe your abilities can be changed and improved over time.” For example: let's take a person who wants to start running, but has struggled with running in the past. A fixed mindset says: "I am so bad at running. I'm not a runner, I don't have a runner's build. I can't run.” Now a growth mindset: "I am not good at running right now, but with some practice I can improve," or "I haven't enjoyed running the past, so maybe I need to try a different approach.” You will have days when you really lack motivation to workout or eat well: whether it's stress, obligations, fatigue, etc., something inevitably gets in the way. It's during these times when mindset determines whether you sink or swim. If you’re fixed, you may think: “I’ve never succeeded before, I won't succeed this time. What's the point?" But, if you’ve shifted to a growth mindset, you know: “Today will not be my best performance in the gym and that’s ok. I am going to do it anyway because it’s just like investing: every bit counts and it adds up over time. I will continue to improve.” Words To Live By I think about Marie Forleo’s saying (and book title) “Everything is Figureoutable” every day. I often wake up to stress: I have 5 million things to accomplish in a 24 hour period. I have my business, my marriage, a new dog...it's a lot to balance. That little mantra reminds me to practice my own growth mindset, and to keep problem solving instead of getting overwhelmed. As a coach, a business owner, a wife, a daughter, and a champion of self-love for self-improvement, no matter how challenging my day is: everything is ‘figureoutable.’ Follow Dee on her personal account and The Boss Body Revolution for nutrition education, workout tips, and self-love wisdom. GET DEE'S LOOK
