10 August 2023 , 14:54
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As one of the best-known personal trainers in the UK, Courtney Black has been widely praised for her popular workout app, and positive, encouraging approach to fitness. The 26-year-old hasn't always had such a healthy approach to nutrition and exercise, however, having battled with an eating disorder in her teenage years.
Like so many others before her, Courtney's eating disorder "completely controlled" her life from her early to late teens, leaving her "miserable" and obsessed with training off what she'd eaten. As an adult, she's developed a healthy relationship with fitness, and says her past difficulties have ultimately "shaped" her approach to training others.
Recently, it was reported that a sharp rise had been noted among teenage girls with eating disorders during Covid, with new findings by the Universities of Manchester, Keele, and Exeter finding that, although 2,700 diagnoses of eating disorders were expected among 13 to 16-year-olds, 3,862 were observed - a full 42 per cent more than anticipated.
Courtney's personal experiences have helped 'shape' her approach to personal training
She's been alarmed by the recent rise in eating disorders among young girlsSpeaking candidly about her own experiences, Courtney, explained her own struggles with food began because she didn't understand why she was gaining weight at a faster rate than her friends, and instantly assumed she needed to go on a diet.
Courtney, who has lived in London her entire life, told the Mirror: "I didn't understand that I could still enjoy food, that I could cook amazing meals, that could make me feel good. I wasn't ever educated on how food would change my mood, how food would make me feel more alert and more energised, and more productive. I didn't realise that by under-eating, I was stopping my brain from working basically. I was stopping myself from having the energy that I needed to get through school, get through work meetings, and it really affected my life. So I feel that the education is just so important.
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"I was really quite a miserable person, and I wasn't a nice person to be around. So now I've really educated myself and educated my clients on how food completely changes your day. It gives you energy. Food is not just fuel, it is giving you energy to live your day-to-day life. It's giving you energy to train, it's giving you happiness. It's about socialising with others."
Courtney's eating disorder left her "miserable"
She wants young people to realise that food is 'not the enemy' (Matt Marsh Photography)It took many years for Courtney to overcome her own difficult relationship with food, and she knows full well there is no "quick fix" when it comes to this complex issue. In the course of her own work, Courtney now advises those following her workouts to find foods and exercises that help them "feel good", building this into a "sustainable lifestyle."
With a top-rated fitness app under her belt, and thousands of Instagram followers, Courtney is keen to use her expertise to help children, teaching them that "food doesn't have to be the enemy". Having started off her career as an accountant, Courtney made the pivot to fitness and personal training after discovering a "passion for helping others", knowing only too well how many people needed help. She was also driven to better educate herself about the various complicated relationships so many people have with food, which may well look markedly different from person to person.
After visiting schools to chat with kids about getting into sport, Courtney was struck by how many youngsters were exhibiting signs of poor body image, already under-eating, counting calories in a negative way, and pinching their fat first thing in the morning. This spurred Courtney into action, and she now incorporates her own experiences into her school visits, driving home the importance of developing a healthy, positive relationship with food from an early age.
Courtney believes unregulated content shared on social media could well have had a significant impact on the rise of eating disorders, and feels more needs to be done to monitor harmful misinformation that could have a serious impact on impressionable young people, from fad celebrity diets, to the normalisation of appetite suppressants. She explained: "It's become a lot more easy to see all the crazy diets and how to lose weight and I feel people aren't talking about it enough. I feel like a lot of people think they need to under-eat or over-train to get the results they want, but in actual fact, it's just because they've been under-eating for so many years that their bodies have adapted to it.
"And we actually need a lot more food than we think we do. It needs to be spoken about a lot more, and that's where I'm coming into it, and I'm speaking a lot about my eating disorder and the things I did behind closed doors a lot more openly."
She's now speaking up a lot more about her eating disorder, in the hope of helping others (Matt Marsh Photography)Courtney went on to emphasise: "It's not something to be embarrassed about, which I was definitely was when I was younger, and the more people that open up about it, it's the same with people who open up about their mental health. The more we speak about it, the more it's going to stop, and the more it's going to change. I also think that there needs to be some sort of rules and regulations about what can be posted online."
Going forward, Courtney would love to see more "positive influences" available to provide the sort of information that could actually be beneficial for young people in the long run, helping to counteract harmful, widespread myths. She continued: "It's not monitored, so they can just go on TikTok and type in 'lose weight', and someone could be telling them to eat 1,000 calories. Someone telling them to cut carbs out, which is essential for energy, and it's negative mindsets and negative behaviours that are kicking them from a young age."
As a teen, Courtney would try and cut out carbs completely "in every shape and form", leaving her so exhausted she'd fall asleep at her desk. This is something that she clarifies is "actually impossible" given that carbs are in nearly all foods. As our main source of energy, carbs are also actually a very important part of a balanced diet, and not getting enough could leave you feeling extremely weak and fatigued.
Courtney is keen to battle harmful myths (Matt Marsh Photography)In terms of other myths Courtney would like to dispel, she's keen to chuck out the idea of "good and bad foods", explaining that there really isn't any such thing and that you should allow yourself treats such as chocolate or pizza in moderation. This is something she admits she still struggles with today, after many years of being "consumed by what's good or bad".
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As well as better monitoring on social media sites, Courtney would also love to see changes implemented in schools to create an inclusive, supportive, and positive environment when it comes to health and fitness. During her own school days, Courtney wasn't a particularly sporty kid, and it took her until her late teens and early 20s to enjoy fitness. Nowadays, she still prefers dancing and gym sessions to sports such as badminton, and would love to see a wider range of PE classes available, as well as food tech classes that better reflect what a healthy, balanced diet should look like.
Courtney, who now goes into schools to share her own personal journey, suggested: "I remember I did food tech in school, and all we learned was how to make scones, and shortbread. Rather than, for example, they could be teaching them how to make meals like I have on my app. Getting kids to enjoy making food that actually is going to help stimulate them and nourish their day, get them feeling good, rather than just how to make a scone. We need to be educating them, for things that we actually use in the real world."
Considering what she'd say to a younger version of herself, Courtney reflected: "I would personally just show her my journey. Because I've been on such a big journey myself. No amount of words is going to tell someone unless you actually show it. I think I am the perfect example of I now eat way more than I ever did before, and I look the best, I look the healthiest, and I feel the healthiest, and I'm the most successful because I've actually got energy to do things I want to do.
"You don't need to be overtraining. I used to spend two hours in the gym, and eat like a thousand calories, and I look way better now than I did then! And fitness doesn't rule my life. Of course, I love my exercise. I feel like I love exercise because it's something that I know I can do rather than I'm forcing myself to do.
"And I'm enjoying my sessions, because I've got the energy, and I've got motivation to do them, because I'm not lethargic all the time, and I'm actually feeling good because I've eaten properly. So I feel like, just looking at really good examples of someone who's gone through it themselves, like myself, is the best advice I could give."
If you’re worried about your own or someone else’s health, you can contact Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk