Reflections on Diet Culture and my experience with Empowered RX

By Riley Carter

Last summer, around May or so, I joined Empowered. I was fresh out of residential treatment, with a drive to fuel my body in general, and a continuation of passion for sports and fitness. However, my issue was that I was worried about reintroducing myself into working out, as I wanted to prioritize doing so healthily. 

While I was at a cookout with a lot of my friends from treatment, one of my friends who is also a part of the Empowered community, recommended Empowered to the group of us who were talking about our interest in fitness, and we all collectively signed up together at that exact moment. I will never forget that moment because it truly has changed my life forever. 

I set up an introduction call with Leah, we discussed all my fitness goals and all my possible concerns, and she even mentioned that she could connect with my therapist and dietitian to ensure that I had all the necessary permissions for movement going forward and just for extra peace of mind on my end, as I was very worried about relapsing. 

Little did I know that Leah’s entire spiel is “Do what feels good for you”. She prioritizes teaching fun with fitness, and encourages me very heavily to listen to my body, and not push myself over the edge, but challenge myself enough to meet my goals of strength, flexibility, and endurance. She curates workouts made especially for you, according to your needs and goals, and if at any time during class we don’t like the exercises, she’ll modify them to fit more of what we want to do goal-wise, or to what just feels better for you in that moment. 

This challenges absolutely everything I have been taught regarding fitness, working out and challenging myself. In the past, at every workout program I have ever been apart of, they pushed me till I quite literally fell down and couldn’t get back up, and sucked the fun out of everything regarding fitness till it was purely for aesthetic purposes.  I actually loathed going to work out. 

Now, I look forward to every class with Leah and Empowered. The group of women that I’ve met there are the funniest, most fun, kind and genuine people I have ever met, and we cheer each other on for everything!! There is no pressure to push yourself past your limits, no toxic diet culture pressuring you to look a certain way, or be a certain way. With Empowered, we prioritize fun over everything. As Leah always says, “If you can’t burst out into song in the middle of your workout, you’re doing too much!” 

Overall, Empowered has truly changed the way I think about fitness in the best way possible. I look forward to the classes every week, I talk to the girls in the group all the time and we’ve formed long lasting friendships that I will value for the rest of my life. Furthermore, Empowered has permanently and positively altered my relationship with movement, fitness and my body. I work out to enjoy moving and get stronger, not to look a certain way or fit into the mold that diet culture has so rudely pushed within society. I love Empowered and if you’re thinking about joining, take this as your sign to do so, you won’t regret it!