Meet Lara Curry

I started following Lara on Instagram about two years ago.  I’m not quite sure how I came upon her posts, but I remember thinking she was so funny.  AND she was working hard to lose weight.  Lara posted about her workouts, her Keto diet and her impressive before and after shots.  But after a while I noticed that her posts were changing.  In fact, she was changing.  She was still funny but she was being more honest and forthcoming about her weight loss struggles: binge eating, loss of control over food, mental struggles.  Today Lara shares her message about ditching the diet culture, forgetting about weight or body size and instead focusing on living a life you love and enjoy.

 

BYCfitness: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m from Calgary and I’m married and have 1 (almost 10 year old) daughter… I am an accountant by day and I love helping others bust the diet mentality in my spare time! I also love meditating, exercising, reading oracle cards, doing puzzles, and I am also a total personal development junkie!

BYCfitness: I started following you on IG as someone who was training regularly from home, trying to lose weight, following a Keto diet and who was (and still is) super funny.  You have evolved a lot in your approach to training and nutrition.  Can you tell us a bit about Lara back then? 

Well I spent about 15 years on and off of different diets, although had you asked me back then, I would have told you that I was never dieting! I knew that diets didn’t work and so I was always pursuing lifestyle changes… they would always work… until they didn’t of course! I had lost a bunch of weight and then became an online health and fitness coach. I maintained my weight loss for about 2 years before eventually developing a pretty bad binge eating disorder and slowly gaining the weight back.  I kept desperately trying to “get back on track” but felt completely out of control around food… 

 

BYCfitness: Can you tell us a bit about Lara now?  How has your perspective changed?

Now I can say that I will never pursue weight loss again.  My whole mentality and verbiage around food and weight has completely changed.  There are no bad foods or good foods and I don’t restrict anything from what I eat.  I eat nothing in “moderation” (another thing that people tend to turn into another diet!) and as a result of quitting the pursuit of weight loss I find myself way more in touch with my body than I’ve ever been, way more at peace with my body and myself in general, and just happier!

BYCfitness: What prompted you to move away from dieting and shift towards intuitive eating?

Well I had just joined WW (Weight Watchers) online again after finally realizing keto wasn’t gonna work for me (after attempting it for a year and gaining weight in that year) and my grandpa was just placed on palliative care. He lived on Vancouver island so quite a ways away and we had flown out to see him, potentially for the last time so it was one of those trips that I really wanted to be present for. There was a moment we were sitting around visiting with him and I was on my WW app stressing out in my mind about how I was gonna fit dinner into my days points… I stopped for a second and realized that I was missing out on the visit due to stressing out over food!!  In that moment I told myself I was DONE with worrying about it and I deleted all the diet apps off my phone right then (WW, my fitness pal, and some carb counter one I had) and that was that!

BYCfitness: Was there a deciding moment when you realized you wanted to help change the culture of weight loss?

Since I had had an online health and fitness business in which I was ultimately selling weight loss and helping people pursue weight loss, I needed to start sharing my current journey with everyone as well because I think it’s so important!!!  I have discovered that I am simply a part of the majority of people who have pursued weight loss that ended up gaining the weight back and developing an eating disorder! They have found that the weight cycling that comes with dieting is way harder on a persons health than to simply just maintain a heavier weight! 

BYCfitness: Do you have an underlying philosophy?  You have some great quotes on your IG such as “Losing weight is not what will make you healthier.  Adopting healthier habits including fully healing your relationship with food will” and “There are so many more interesting things about you then your weight loss”.     How are these part of your vision and guiding principles?

I ultimately think we need to take all focus off of weight and weight loss. I’ve discovered that pursuing weight loss in and of itself can (and usually does) lead to worse health (especially when considering mental health too, sometimes we forget how important that is!) I believe that health comes down to your habits and that someone can live in a larger body while having mainly very healthy habits and being quite healthy so we can’t judge people based on their body size!

BYCfitness: You’re a very funny person.  You IG posts have often made me laugh.  I think that’s why I started following you.  How does humor help you live a better life?

Well I really believe that we shouldn’t take life too seriously!!  I’m always laughing to lighten the mood and it just helps be less stressed out I think!

BYCfitness: You changed your Instagram handle from @fitandfunnymomma to @laraslosingit.  What does it mean to you?  

I originally changed it while I was still trying to lose weight and so it was to describe how I’m “losing weight and losing my mind”… since I’ve stopped pursuing weight loss I feel it still fits as I felt that I lost my mind trying to lose weight… and I always sorta feel like I’m “losing it”. 

BYCfitness: Based on your experience, what is the most important thing someone needs to consider when stuck in the weight loss mindset? 

I think the biggest thing is to realize that 95% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back and of those the majority gain back more than they lost… so if this is likely always going to be a struggle, is that how you want to live your life? Or what about forgetting about weight or body size, and instead focus on living a life you love and enjoy! 

BYCfitness: You have a huge following on IG.   Has social media helped you find your way in the world of weight loss?  Has your story helped others?

A lot of my followers joined me while I was deep in diet culture, posting my transformation Tuesday pictures, and all my weight loss motivation.. now I am helping people to realize that they don’t need to (and frankly, shouldn’t) pursue weight loss.  I’m teaching people more about intuitive eating and healing your relationship with food.

BYCfitness: Do you work privately with individuals or groups?  How can people contact you?

I have a Food Freedom community on Facebook where we all share our current struggles with diet culture. I am doing a 10 week challenge in there in which we’ll cover all the principles of intuitive eating. I will be launching my first group program within the next month or two, and I share daily in my stories on Instagram (@laraslosingit)