Hi, I'm Hilary Ritacco and this is my story

Everyone starts from scratch when it comes to diet, mindset, and living a healthy lifestyle … I’ve been thinking and I think it's time that I get personal and share with you mine. So, if you’re interested … read below!

My entire life I have struggled with body image issues (big shocker). When I was in elementary school, I remember literally praying to look like one of my “skinny” friends or be as funny, cool or pretty as them. I mean it when I say I prayed to look like them or just anyone else for that matter. I never liked what I saw in the mirror. To me, I looked like a slob but I wouldn’t do anything about it. To be honest, I didn’t know-how. I wasn’t sure how to do my make up like the models I saw in magazines or my hair. It wasn’t something that came naturally to me and being the oldest of 4 girls, I always felt the pressure that I was “supposed to” know how to do makeup/hair. Anyways, after being in Catholic school my entire elementary school career I went to a public high school and MAN was that a culture shock for me. I went from a class of a total of 8 girls to hundreds of girls to make my self-esteem issues even worse. I’ll never forget being in gym class wearing an over sized shirt, basketball shorts, hair a mess, and being the last one called on. For whatever reason, that day still stings in my mind. I felt ashamed of who I was.

Fast forward to my sophomore year of high school and I got my first “REAL” boyfriend! I was so ecstatic, I couldn’t believe someone was interested in me. Turns out, the only interest my boyfriend had in me was emotionally abusing me and stripped me down to my core. “Hilary, you should wear more makeup, it will make you look prettier” was a famous line of his. When I was finally out of that relationship, the emotional scarring was still deep within me as I continued my years in high school. Thankfully, that relationship actually helped me come out of my shell and I became more social, however, the mounds of makeup/body image issues were still ever-present. I remember being in my bathroom and staring at myself in the mirror (specifically looking at my stomach) and just being disgusted with myself. I would take my stomach and push it together and think “you can make a giant bagel with your belly”.

I never did anything about my weight/mindset despite feeling completely terrible about myself. It sounds bad but I truly just didn’t know how/what to do. So, I just continued to eat terribly. That's what I did, I just ate anything and everything I wanted. I hit up McDonald's at a minimum of 3-4x per week, pizza at least once per week, Chinese, ice cream, a sleeve of Oreo's was my “go-to” at night. I remember when I first started dating Anthony (my now husband), as soon as he would leave my parent's house I would run into the pantry, grab a sleeve of Oreo's and pour a glass of milk and just crush the entire thing. I didn't want him to know how much I was craving those Oreo's (not that he cared at all!) but I was embarrassed about how much I would eat and felt that I needed to hide it. *side note: I have since told him this and he rolls his eyes and wishes he knew so he could have joined me!* This is exactly why I married this man!

Fast forward to my spring semester of college (freshman year), Anthony and I broke up for a couple of days and during those couple of days rage took over me. “HE IS GOING TO BREAK UP WITH ME!? OOOOHHHH HELLLLLL NO! I’M GOING TO MAKE HIM SORRY” and I went to the gym that night. I started off just by walking on the treadmill at the gym and soon going to the gym started to become a habit of mine. The eating, however, didn’t change too much except, I completely cut out McDonald's/soda and by just doing that (soda was all I drank -I would go weeks without a sip of water) I dropped 10-15 pounds. During this time, I also started to develop some not so good habits such as, not eating much of anything. I did not have an eating disorder during this time but if it wasn’t for starting CrossFit in June 2012 I’m sure I would have gone down that road. CrossFit soon became “my thing” and when I tried the paleo diet for the first time, I literally thought it was the most difficult thing on the planet. “What do you mean, I can’t eat Cheerios?!”. I did the Paleo diet for years and I still do to this day! However, I live a more balanced version of paleo because what I learned over time is that eating carbs is actually good for you!! In moderation of course and eating the right kind of carbs.

Let’s keep fast-forwarding to the present day … I’ve worked on myself A LOT. I don’t mean just nutritionally, I mean mentally. Every day I struggle. I think social media can often perceive things differently but I struggle EVERY. DAMN. DAY. just like anyone else when it comes to making better nutrition choices and my mindset.

How do I survive making better choices? Well first, I set myself up for success by doing little things …

I …

• Read a guided stoic passage every morning (faithfully)

• Meal prep (make a bunch of food for lunches/quick snacks so it is readily available)

• Plan ahead if I’m going out to eat (AKA look at the menu beforehand)

• Always eat my veggies

• Set 5 &10-year goals for myself that I want to achieve

• Surround myself with a supportive environment (which means I stopped being friends with negative people in my life)

• Listen to podcasts (Chasing Excellence/Brute Strength/WAG)

• Read books (Atomic Habits/Can’t Hurt Me/Girl Stop Apologizing)

I know this was a lot to read and if you read this entire post … THANK YOU! There is a lot more to my story but I figured I would share a part of it for now. Please keep in mind that I can relate to you more than you know and that I started from the bottom too. Throughout my wellness journey I always just wanted SOMEONE who I could relate to/ask questions/ just talk with and that is EXACTLY why I started Every Bodies Nutrition. I want to be that person FOR YOU.

Never stop reaching for your goals.