“I’m gonna love you ‘til you love yourself”: Body Positive’s Felicia Lee-White on Leading Fitness with Grace

By Barrett White

No matter why you’re on a health and fitness journey, Felicia Lee-White knows the real work is inside.

 

“I have a calendar with focus words in my gym,” says Felicia Lee-White, Wellness Manager of Legacy’s Body Positive program. “This month’s words are ‘Find It’. Find that it that keeps you going and keep your focus here, not on someone else.

“That gets you off track,” she continues. “If you’re looking at someone else, you don’t know their process and their program; how long they’ve been in the gym, or what their experience is. They’re all in the gym for different reasons.”

In other terms, think of a subject you’re interested in and consider how much you know about it. If someone else began to discover an interest in that subject and didn’t know as much as you do, would it be fair to compare their knowledge on that subject when they’ve been studying for a week, but you’ve been reading up on it since childhood? Of course not.

Hitting the gym is just the same: As you embark on a journey like this, it does no good to compare yourself to others of varying experience levels. “When training bodybuilders, I instruct them to stay off social for a few months,” Lee-White laughs.

To go further, Lee-White asserts that it can’t just be about putting up your blinders to other gymgoers. It also has to be about looking inward and learning to uplift yourself. “I ask my clients, ‘Why are you here?’” she says. “It’s never just about weight loss. It’s always an underlying thing that brought them in. When beaten down by society, you have to find the why. That will help you to like yourself.

“When you find that you can do that one next thing you used to not be able to do, it changes everything. Doesn’t matter if I asked you to do two step-ups and you did three – it unlocks that door. And the whole way, I’m gonna love you until you love yourself. I’ll hug you, squeeze your hands, and cheer you on.”

Lee-White’s advice to anyone beginning a workout regimen or a fitness journey is as simple as it is sage: Be realistic. Be realistic about the outcomes, the results, and the time that it takes. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” she says. “There’s such a spiritual heat to a health journey. If you focus on what motivates you, you’ll achieve that change. But it’s one day at a time. At the end of the day, whatever the results are, they’ll be there because of you.”

If you would like to schedule an appointment, please visit us online or call (832) 548-5000.