Meg Boggs - Fitness for Every Body: Strong, Confident, and Empowered at Any Size

PRAISE FOR FITNESS FOR EVERY BODY

Meg Boggs is an icon and the fitness role model we desperately need. This book is a game changer for anyone who wants to feel better, get stronger, and approach fitness without the harmful distraction of diet culture. Lets all say it louder: Fitness has no size.

Caroline Dooner, bestselling author of The F*ck It Diet

If youre a woman whos sick of being told that your body is too big to be athletic, or that youll only be able to accomplish tough physical feats if you look like a fitness model, this book is for you. Part memoir, part anti-diet manifesto, and part strength-training guide, Fitness for Every Body offers the liberating perspective that your body is capable of so much more than diet culture gives it credit forfrom lifting heavy weights to handling challenges like pregnancy and delivery, mental illness, and whatever else life throws at you.

Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, author of Anti-Diet

Meg is the definition of REAL. This world needs more women like her, who prove that no matter who you are, your body should be celebrated for all that it can do.

Lauren Fisher, seven-time CrossFit Games athlete and founder of Grown Strong

As a long-time follower of Meg, I feel as though Ive gotten a front-row seat at her evolution in the last couple of years. Ive learned from her, been in awe of her, and just truly fell in love with her ability to break through barriers and hate when it comes to her fitness and her body.

With Fitness for Every Body Meg helps peel that journey back a bit, taking you through facts, combined with experience, that relate to anyone of any size. She uses her story to vehicle a message that everyone needs to hear, learn from, and be empowered by. I think this book is especially important for anyone who lives with thin privilege to identify and dismantle the systems that cause so much fatphobia and weight stigma in our society and learn how we can collectively be a better support to ALL bodies.

This is the book I would pass down to my children to read. I would be honored if my kids would have a woman like Meg Boggs to aspire to.

Sarah Nicole, blogger at The Birds Papaya

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Copyright 2021 by Meghan Boggs

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Tiller Press trade paperback edition April 2021

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Interior design by Laura Levatino

Illustrations by Stephanie Chin Art

Cover design by Patrick Sullivan

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-5707-4

ISBN 978-1-9821-5708-1 (ebook)

For my daughter, Maci.

And for all the fitness warriors who deserve more representation.

First, breathe. Sometimes everything gets so overwhelming that we forget this simple practice. So, lets breathe; lets breathe deeply, meaningfully, and with a big hell yes as you exhale all of those old, toxic thoughts that convinced you to do uncomfortable things to your body so others could be more comfortable around you. Because its about time we stop feeling so fucking uncomfortable. So, breathe. Whew. Doesnt that feel better?

Now we can start: Hi, Im Meg. Im just your average full-of-emotion thirtysomething, living in Texas, trying to stay positive among all the chaos that comes with lifes twists and turns. Im a woman, wife, and mother who happens to be plus-size and is kinda-sorta-basically obsessed with fitness.

Im not the transformational weight-loss story you might be used to seeing when bodies like mine are acknowledged in fitness. And thats exactly why I wrote this book.

Even though Ive called myself a lot of different things during my life, only about a year ago did I start referring to myself as an athlete. I changed it in my Instagram bio and everything, so its pretty serious, and I finally feel proud to call myself that. (Because its exactly what I am.) Its taken a while to start calling myself that. Ive spent my life in a body that hasnt been accepted by society, and that hasnt been easy. Ive fallen into the deep pits of diet-culture hell. Ive clawed my way out of depression multiple times (and counting). Ive faced my fears and failed. Ive faced my fears and soared gloriously. Ive believed all the myths and false truths about fitness and fatness and everything in between. But living through all these experiences has taught me so much. Ive self-discovered in ways that I never thought possible, and it has changed my life. I wish I could say that it was because of a formula that I learned, a method that I could then share with you. I dont know the formula. I dont even know if there is a formula. But Ill be damned if I dont try to pick apart the pieces of what Ive found and share it with you, because I wish that someone had shared their formula with me.

Like every little girl, I had dreams for myself when I was younger. Sometimes I imagined myself on a stage. Other times I imagined myself winning a championship. The dreams felt endless. But at some point, I grew up and I suddenly understood that my dreams were not endless, that they were not achievable, that they would only ever be dreams. And not because of lack of talent or ability, but instead, because of lack of approval. I realized that the body I was born in might not be the body given permission to live fearlessly toward dreams. I can still feel the suns heat on my face and the wall of my middle school pressed roughly against my back, as I sat on the dirt, devastated after being called fat. My bullies roaring laughter has burned itself into my memory. I can still feel the force of the volleyball hitting my head in high school, moments before I was removed from a gym class for finally losing my shit toward girls who loved to make fun of me because I wasnt a size 2. And there are more memories.