The Nutrition Chronicles of a Dancer
The Struggle
With What to Eat and When

Nutrition Chronicles of a dancer? What does this have to do with belly dancing? Everything... without the proper fuel we can't utilize our bodies to their fullest capacity, whether that is thinking, working, playing, working out, performing, teaching or dancing.

Linda here, you know, the business side of the Shimmy Chronicles. I want to share with you the story of my own nutrition battles. I realize that my story is only one tiny part of this total picture, but, after all it is the only one with which I am familiar. Each one of us has our own particular issues with food, all very important and they define who we are... or who we think we are. In these pages, I really want to hear everyone's individual story, so, please write in and tell me yours. Because everyone will have different issues, it is my intention to help you hunt down and find solutions to yours. Let's get started!

When I was younger, I had the metabolism of the speed of light. I could eat anything or nothing and it didn't matter. I could drink at will and who cared, least of all me. I spent my whole childhood and most of my adult life slender. If I felt like I needed to slim down at any point, I would just stop eating, or I would eat salad. This is how it is done, right?

Then I hit this dreaded point where things definitely changed. I now look in the mirror and just don't recognize who looks back. That can't be me, I am slender. Who is that gal with the poochy tummy and thunder thighs? And where did that double chin come from?

First thing I did was join the gym and faithfully attended 4 workouts a week for over 2 years. I did this for 2 reasons, the first to maintain my physical strength and the second to get rid of those thunder thighs! After a while, I realized that I absolutely loved resistance training! The total physicality of it all, the sense of conquering the barbells once again, and I can definitely feel muscles that I never knew I could have. I also never knew that your arms could sweat! Wow. Cool.

But, sadly, after the initial first few pounds dropped off, no other weight was lost. My trainer very patiently explained that muscle weighs more than fat. He also said that weight does not matter as much as inches and to quit obsessing on the weight part only. More importantly, my nutritional habits had a lot to do with my lack of progress.

Matter of fact, I think at this point, nutrition has everything to do with it. I have trained myself over the years to have no appetite. If I didn't absolutely need food to survive, I would not eat it. I now have to force myself to eat -and that is the first thing that gets put on the back burner when I am in a hurry. Fortunately I have supplemented with micronutrients(vitamins)for a couple of years, but, I still need to work on ingesting the necessary macronutrients(real food)! My trainer is not amused when I tell him that instead of eating I will just take more supplements and workout more.

Does this improper eating routine make a difference in my size, shape and weight? None that I can see. I believe my trainer when he says it is actually making that fat stay on. And in what other ways is this bad habit turned lifestyle affecting my performance? I bet a lot.

Fellow dancers, I would love to stand tall and tell you that adding those inches/pounds does not affect me. I would love to tell you that it does not bother me that I can't fit into my old costumes and that I am totally secure within my skin. I want to say that with age has come wisdom and I can rise above the need to worry about my appearance. But, that would be a lie. So, since I am picking myself apart publicly, might as well take a look at my self esteem at the same time. I wonder, how does the state of my self esteem affect my performance, my nutritional habits and my weight? When you are done reading this page, take a look into this facet with me.

Recently I was reading Think and Grow Rich and ran across this comment: if you are unhappy with something in your life, why are you tolerating it?

That's simple. It really is that simple. So, I have decided to quit tolerating this issue that I have with food. I also thought that I could count of this journal to keep from slipping off that path... I always do what I say I am going to do, so if I publicly tell you of my new project, I will now have to do it.

I have put together a weight loss plan and will begin implementing this plan tomorrow. My trainer and I have redone my resistance/exercise program to more closely follow the plan goals. Regardless what happens with this new goal, I can never quit working out or dancing, these things have always been more for my mental health than my physical health.

A word about personal trainers. My trainer is a very real person with professional training who has been very inspiring and motivational to me. If you can afford it and/or if you need the extra accountability, consider hiring one of your own. If you cannot, please inform yourself of the proper ways to do things(stay tuned, we are working on this for you too) and then enlist the help of a spouse, partner, friend or relative to help you stay inspired and motivated. I hope that this Nutrition Chronicles will serve this purpose for you as well.

Please join me and share your own experiences and struggles. Submit your story, your comments and thoughts to the blog and I will transfer them to these pages. Remember that my goal with the Shimmy Chronicles is to empower, encourage and support all of us, so align your comments with this goal please. Thanks and see you tomorrow for the first day of my great new nutrition based fat loss plan.

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