About Laura Underwood

My story is a long and misled tale. I have been in the fitness industry since 1996, a long time! As I began my career,

I became a personal trainer, aerobic instructor (all kinds of fitness classes) and a yoga and pilates instructor. I mainly taught in recreation centers, I really loved that clientele, and I was dedicated to my craft and my clients. I believed in what I was teaching, and all of my patrons were buying what I was selling!  Get fit and go hard. 

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Exercise

 

All the exercise I executed (which was a lot) was very important and needed in my own mind! According to the fitness industry, exercise is the solution to dealing with stress, feeling empowered, losing body fat, and fixing sore joints, I'm not saying exercise isn't a piece of the puzzle, but there are other, more effective tools for each of these things.

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The truth is, exercise is actually a stressor, the empowerment is fleeting, in order to fix sore joints, you have to know exactly what to do, and the same applies for fat loss. The concept of eat less and move more is antiquated & for 95% of the dieting population, unsuccessful.

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Now, I exercise for function, I exercise using exercise philosophy that do not make my muscles tight, I stretch and do yoga, I meditate.

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Dieting

 

​Ugh - maybe you feel the same way. I yo yo dieted all through my 20's, 30's, and half of my 40's. Lets see, there was Paleo, Liquid Amino, (a 500 calorie a day diet) there was low carb and low fat, Keto, liquid diets, cleanses, lifestyles... and the list goes on. Literally, I was on a diet for 25 years.

I knew diets didn’t work (at least not for me) but it was the only tool I knew to get my body lean, because I always gained the weight back.

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I was probably about 46 years old when I was on a diet that was very tightly macro nutrient oriented. It required me to do a lot of food journaling and macro counting to help me gain muscle mass without gaining weight. Oh my gosh!

I was so sick of it. If I gained a half a pound, I was devastated, dieting was too much work to gain weight!

I finally said to myself as I was slumped over my computer, head in my hands - “I am never going to diet again, I’m done.” And that was it, I never looked back again.  I didn't know what this new life without dieting was going to be,

I only knew the fitness industry.  I had never ventured out of its grasp.  I was so lost.

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Results

 

​Because I had utterly destroyed my metabolism, I had to repair it - by eating. It was really hard, almost devastating to me. I slowly gained 20 pounds over the next two years. Like I said - HARD! Not hard to gain the weight, but emotionally sad and depressing, my self esteem had been based on the western fitness and nutrition paradigms! "It's your fault if you gain the weight back, if you stuck to it you wouldn't." Ugh!!  Those thoughts, making me so judgmental of myself kept me on this track of unworthiness and self disgust for

a very long time.

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After the two years, I finally stopped gaining weight and began the work of accepting myself where I was, how I was, and learning how to love myself as I am — that’s a lot of work too. Until you really work at anything, you don’t truly understand how you have been influenced (brainwashed). When I learned that it is the diet and nutrition industries that put out an inferior product (a diet) that doesn't work,

it changed my whole mind set. I started learning about the non-diet culture, and I became proud of myself! I was on the other side of practically anorexic behaviors, I had healed my metabolism, I ate food and I was ok. As I look back, I wonder why we all feel like we have to "villify" fat as much as we do.

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My Body

 

​It was really tight! I had been working in the fitness industry for 25 years. As I had stated before, I was on a diet and fitness plan to gain muscle and to eat so I wouldn't lose/gain weight. I was lifting as heavy as I could every day! I had a friend that would always ask me, ”Why do you walk like a man?" Yea, that’s awesome.

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I was just doing what I do. It's what leaders in the fitness industry do. They keep getting stronger, and more lean.

I considered myself a holistic individual, but I was blind to my lack of humanism and eccentricities.

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So now, It’s been 3 years of de-stressing my musculoskeletal system through actual muscle releasing, not massage, It is very painful, but it does work. I have incorporated a different fitness regime and a different paradigm. I started studying late 1800's philosophers to understand my brain more, how to clean up my thinking. Through my un-brainwashing process, I became non-judgmental towards myself, I not only started releasing all of the tight muscles,

I learned truths, spiritual laws, the power of positive thinking, and what unconditional love really is. I had been working way too hard.

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My Nervous System

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I focused so much time on fitness and dieting that my nervous system became stressed out. My mind focused on hating myself because I had not become what I wanted to become. Continuing to try diets that hurt me. Not being able to stick to them. Inner freaking out and being disgusted with myself took its tole! Of course it would!

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Now I spend time calming my nervous system. I stretch a lot more, I have learned workout techniques to keep me from tightening up.  I eat what will satisfy me, when I want, however much I need. You may think that this is a recipe for disaster, but its not!  I have been able to find peace where ever I am on the  weight spectrum.  I can't tell you the successes and failures with numbers, because I don't weigh myself any more.  I find that it throws me off even if it is a loss in weight.  I would love to have the whole world just let that go!!  Throw those darn scales away.  I believe they are a spiritual, and mental and physical detriment to the human race.

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When the nervous system becomes over/under active it is always a symptom of a much deeper, ignored, emotional issue causing the nervous system to attack the body. What that looks like is different with each person. For me, my nervous system attacked my bladder, yea, awesome, huh? 

I had overactive bladder, which millions suffer with. 

I wish I could say that I realized what was going on, that my nervous system was overtaxed, and so I slowed down and began to take care of myself in a mental and emotional way, but I didn't.  For decades I tried to fix the problem with exercises that were supposed to "strengthen" the pelvic floor.  But my nervous system wouldn't let the muscles engage, so, onto a whole new journey of slowing down, taking care of myself, and going inside to heal.  I wish

I could say I am perfect at it, that I healed myself in 1 month or even 1 year!  But all I can say to that is, "Its a process."

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Life is a journey - Relax.