By Rebel took control of her health and decided to change her life for the better
Rebels’ transformation is phenomenal. She initially declared 2020 as her “year of health” to become accountable and make lasting change a reality. Making a public declaration whilst on an interview with BBC helped her put on the steam to make the necessary nutrition and lifestyle changes required to reach her goal. In the public eye, she’s always faced a truckload of endless criticism when losing and putting on weight. It’s hard enough for us average folks to receive unwanted painful remarks from family and friends. Imagine the world at your feet with hater comments on every social media platform? Being overweight was part of Rebel’s award-winning status in Hollywood. All that changed in 2020 after making that public declaration. Much to her surprise, she received a lot of pushback from her people and those in Hollywood. However, it’s not like her films were anything but a success, even though she was at a very unhealthy size for her small frame. Thankfully, she set those comments aside, realising that emotional eating was a bit of her size, and they were not doing her health favours. After the weight loss journey, she discovered one eye-opening factor was how different people treated her. “I know what it’s like to be an invisible woman or looks at you like you have no value because you’re not seen as good looking to them. There is a bias towards you purely because of your appearance, which you cannot deny is wrong.” She exclaimed in an interview with the BBC. People even said, “oh well, will she not be funny now.” The funny thing is now, as her size has changed, so too have her opportunities to expand her horizons. Rebel is no longer pigeonholed into comic roles because of her previous size. Here she shares her learnings along the way but also states she’s not a medical professional. Rebel also mentions something that I’m a big advocate of — that there is no book, product or right thing you can buy. You have to acknowledge a few different things to have worked along your weight loss journey, proven to work and still work as you progress through the years. Here are some of Rebels’ tips that may help you too.
One: Get honest with your own
Rebel sat down and wrote a letter to herself (in 2020). Her commitment was to her feelings and being healthy. She sat down and wrote her overall goals, with the more significant intention of being healthy and feeling better about her appearance. Making a larger than life commitment helps make the goal so hard to reach you can’t benefit but work hard daily to keep up with the plan. Health is never a quick fix solution -it requires conscious effort over a long period.
Two: What’s yours, why?
Rebel wanted to freeze her eggs to potentially have kids later in life (and wanted to make sure they were the healthiest possible eggs she could produce). In her 20s, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. This needed to help her conquer the emotional eating that plagued her. So, what’s your larger than life? Why?
Three: It’s ok to be imperfect.
We’re all going to screw up at one time or another or throw in the towel on a hard day. Rebel doesn’t work out until she can’t walk. She prefers to attack health from all angles rather than just focusing on one thing. She packages it up as a holistic entity, taking a day off or eating something that doesn’t fit her diet once in a while. That’s ok, and we all should allow ourselves the grace to do it — while picking ourselves up the next day and starting all over again.
Four: Get fit your way
Rebel gets in her exercise by walking a lot. She states that it’s free and safe, and you can do it in any part of the world. Six to seven days per week, Rebel aims to do 60 minutes of walking (or with her trainer). Now that she has reached her goal weight, walking is still her favourite form of exercise. She likes to soak in an Epsom salts bath for relaxation and muscle recovery. What type of activity could you see yourself doing every single day? Try a few things out and see what fits best into your lifestyle, which helps attain your goals.
Five: Nutrition
The most important part of the weight loss journey is nutrition! Rebel chooses to eat a high protein better, as it’s most suitable. A 1500 calorie intake per day was a must during her weight loss journey. Now in maintenance mode, it’s more than 2,000–2,500. Rebel likes to eat a lot more ingredients in the foods she loves. For instance, she adds more veggies like carrots and avocado into her tacos instead of making them meat-based. Learning to control emotional eating habits has changed her life for the better. Unfortunately, that was one part of her nutritional journey which proved to be the most detrimental to her health and longevity goals.
Six: Go easy on yourself
Rebel chooses to write every single day emotionally. Although she’s very confident with her acting, deep down inside, she’s got low self-worth on a personal level. Rebel sets a 12-minute timer and writes down all her emotions in a diary. That helps to release what she typically holds in and eventually manifests into overeating. Practising gratitude is super important too. Finding five things every day that Rebel is grateful for helps uncover the beautiful parts of life right before her. Set a goal for health, not a standardised box that society deems beautiful.
Key takeaways
Losing weight is one thing, but keeping it off as a new lifestyle goal is one of the most rewarding journeys you will ever come across. Most people try to lose weight as quickly as possible, which doesn’t equate to long-lasting weight loss success. Go in slow; make it a progression towards developing healthy nutritional and exercise habits day in and day out. Uncover those things which may be holding you back — such as Rebels’ emotional eating. Uncovering strategies that help you uncover emotions positively, rather than resorting to food, can change your life. That’s what Rebel did. She saw a lifetime goal on the horizon — for better health, having children at a later stage, plus finding the ways and means to let her emotions out, rather than eating to push them away. We could all take a weight loss tip from Rebel — she’s undoubtedly leading the way towards a better way of life.
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