Happiful October 2019
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I just try to be active. There’s<br />
a lot of research supporting a<br />
thing called NEAT, which is nonexercise<br />
activity thermogenesis.<br />
It’s not about going to the gym in<br />
the morning and killing it, but<br />
then sitting down for the rest of<br />
the day – it’s about maybe going to<br />
the gym for half an hour, and then<br />
throughout the day getting 10,000<br />
steps in. It focuses on all of that<br />
energy that you burn when you’re<br />
doing everyday things. Does that<br />
make sense?<br />
Absolutely! And something<br />
like NEAT must make exercise<br />
a lot more accessible?<br />
Yeah, exactly! If you’re a busy<br />
mum, and you’re kicking yourself<br />
because you can’t get to the gym,<br />
hang on a second – and this is<br />
something I say to my clients<br />
– because how long are you<br />
standing on your feet throughout<br />
the day? Most mothers will say it’s<br />
all day for them. I think it’s really<br />
important that we don’t try to put<br />
exercise in boxes. I don’t care how<br />
you do it, I just want you to move,<br />
and move well.<br />
You speak online about a<br />
time when food and exercise<br />
became an overwhelming<br />
obsession. What did that<br />
look like for you?<br />
There’s that whole confirmation<br />
bias, and a funnel of people all<br />
doing the same as you, so you<br />
think that what you’re doing is<br />
correct – that’s where I found<br />
myself three years ago. My<br />
objective was good health, but the<br />
reality was disordered eating, and<br />
over-exercising. It was very hard<br />
to separate the two because in<br />
my head I was like: ‘But I’m being<br />
healthy!’ But there are so many<br />
different factors that go into good<br />
health. I was so focused on two<br />
parts, that I completely neglected<br />
the rest, meaning that I was<br />
probably at my unhealthiest when<br />
I thought I was at my healthiest.<br />
How were you able to<br />
recognise that?<br />
I realised I wasn’t living freely, and<br />
I think that started to push me to<br />
question a lot of the things I was<br />
doing. It’s a really tricky place to<br />
find yourself in, and I feel guilty<br />
because I look back and I’m sure<br />
that people were copying what<br />
I was doing. I find that a really<br />
difficult emotion to sit with. It’s<br />
only now that I’ve learned loads<br />
about weight stigma, and what<br />
really constitutes health, that I<br />
have the perspective to be like:<br />
‘That was wrong. Let me show you<br />
why, and let me show you how to<br />
step away from that.’<br />
Do you have any tips for<br />
cultivating a healthy social<br />
media feed?<br />
If you’re scrolling through<br />
and something doesn’t serve<br />
you, make you feel positive,<br />
inform you, or enlighten you,<br />
then there’s no need for you to<br />
consume that. Sometimes I mute<br />
people, because it can be a little<br />
bit uncomfortable to unfollow<br />
someone you know. But you really<br />
have to protect your space.<br />
You recently opened up<br />
about your experience with<br />
domestic abuse. Was going<br />
public a difficult decision?<br />
It was difficult in the sense that<br />
I still have this horrible fear that<br />
he’s going to come round the<br />
corner and be there, or he’ll read<br />
something and come to find me.<br />
If you’re scrolling through<br />
and something doesn’t<br />
serve you, make you feel<br />
positive, inform you, or<br />
enlighten you, then<br />
there’s no need for you<br />
to consume that<br />
44 • happiful.com • <strong>October</strong> <strong>2019</strong>