Diary of a Habyt babe PT. 7
By Kate Holland - a Habyt member
I found my way to The Habyt through Christina, who is not only one of the program's awesome coaches, but the founder of The Habyt. Christina and I met in college, and even had a brief stint together as roommates in our sorority house. Over the years, I lost touch with Christina, but would see her pop up on my social feeds every once in a while. A couple of months ago, I saw her post about The Habyt. It caught my eye because it confused me. I would occasionally see her post about working out on instagram, but other than that, I only knew her as a very talented artist. To see her start a nutrition company seemed very random to me. I was even more confused when I visited the The Habyt website and read about Christina's struggle with her weight. In college, I always considered Christina a major babe. I totally envied her. I felt like I was sharing a room with an America's Top Model contestant and I was boom operator.
It turns out, I wasn't too far off base with my model theory. Christina was spotted at a mall in her early teens and ended up modeling for American Eagle. In fact, she was featured in the store's first ever aerie campaign. (Despite my extensive googling, I have not been able to unearth these photos.) But just as quickly as Christina was thrown into the modeling world, she was spit right back out. She was told she was too tall and when she put on weight (which is a thing that happens when you grow) and she no longer fit the modeling mold. Being a teen is hard enough without having your face (and body) plastered across malls all over America. Now imagine being rejected from the very world that sought you out. The pressure to meet a certain standard took a mental and physical toll on Christina, and she couldn't help but feel like a failure.
Christina went to college and took a step back from modeling. Throughout college and the years afterward, Christina continued to gained weight. She struggled to cope with the fact she used to be a model, and now felt as if she was a failure for "letting herself go." Christina tried to take control of her diet. Not knowing where to start, she turned to fad diets, even doing stints as paleo and pescatarian. She was working out, eating "healthy-ish" slowly losing weight, but she couldn't find a method that was sustainable. The problem she encountered over and over again was that she was being given misguided information. With each new diet trend, she was presented with conflicting views on what she should and should not be eating.
Being in the CrossFit world, she decided to try "macros," so she hired an online nutrition coach. While working with this coach, she learned new things about food and her body. It turns out she was actually severely under eating, which was preventing her from losing weight. She started evaluating food for it's nutritional value and disregarding her preconceived notions. Carbs don't have to be your enemy! Salads aren't always healthy! Not ever meal has to come with a side of guilt. Her body changed dramatically over the course of a just a couple of weeks. 8 years of struggling and she finally found a method that worked. And it was easy, and empowering.
People started noticing the positive changes in Christina's appearance and wanted to know her secret. Reflecting back on her nutritional journey, she realized one of her biggest frustrations was the lack of transparency in dieting world. Most diets are just a bunch of great marketing ploys and food labels tend to only highlight the good. She also didn't like being told she couldn't eat certain things. Dieting shouldn't be about deprivation, it should be about learning to include foods in your diet without feeling guilty. Sometimes you drink a glass of wine or eat a piece of cake, and that should be okay! It's all about making educated choices. The problem was that people weren't getting the right information about dieting. Christina started organically coaching her family and friends on macros and helping them learn about proper nutrition. Counting macros removes the guesswork in figuring out which foods are "good" vs "bad." The word spread and before she knew it, Christina was dedicating the all of her time to coaching.
Christina attributes The Habyt’s quick growth to the fact its a sustainable plan . People are drawn to the plan's guilt-free approach to dieting and reset in the way we think about food. In just a few weeks, it's completely changed my relationship with food. However, I think there's another key factor as to why The Habyt works.
Although I originally knew Christina as a sorority sister, it doesn't surprise me that she now in a line of work that focuses on making women feel and look good. When I was an impressionable freshman going through sorority recruitment, she barely had to persuade me to pick her house. She made me feel special. Even today, her positive energy and enthusiasm is contagious. You can tell she really cares about you and wants you to succeed. Unlike other plans, there's full transparency. The Habyt masters the balance between relying on a coach and being independent with your diet. The science behind the macros is there, but Christina's drive is what makes The Habyt such a success.
