I was asked by a family friend on Friday if I would mind being a mentor to her 16 year old daughter. The teen is looking to lose weight, develop good eating habits, and adopt an overall healthy lifestyle. She's about to start her junior year of high school and wants to look and feel great for her prom next May.
When I was 16, I was somewhat overweight and recall not being entirely comfortable in my own prom dress. I've been in her shoes. Now almost 10 years later, and having lost 80 pounds over the past few years, I realize how many people have contributed to my success along my weight loss journey. All the help and knowledge that so many people have willingly and selflessly shared. The sacrifices they've made in an effort to help me reach my goals. The time they've taken to provide tips and pointers. It's all shaped my experience and fed my personal growth.
I agreed to sit and meet with this young girl today. I told her to have some questions ready and that I would try to give her as much information as possible to help her get started on her own weight loss journey. I ended up sitting with her for over two hours discussing current/ideal habits, nutrition and training, and sharing my own experience with fitness as a whole.
Tomorrow night I'm going with her to a local sports nutrition store to get a body composition scan and get her weighed so we have a baseline to work with. I told her I'll help her with writing a meal plan based on her needs and I'd give her a training plan to get her started safely lifting weights. She really wants to get away from doing strictly cardio and that was music to my ears.
She told me she wants to be able to reciprocate the help and support me as I prep for my first show. Her whole family is planning on coming out to cheer for me. I lost 1.3 pounds this past week and set a squat PR yesterday but the highlight of my week was getting to talk with her. Being able to do for her what so many people have done for me. Fitness has enabled me to give back to the world in ways I never would have imagined.
She comes from an Italian family who loves to cook and they work hard for their money. They aren't in a position to hire trainers or coaches or pay for cookie cutter meal plans, but her mother has promised to cook me a homemade Italian cheat meal anytime I want.
Food and the chance to help someone. What more could I ask for? Be gracious, be humble, and pay it forward whenever you can.
