Aubrey Wall is a semi-professional triathlete and former synchronized swimmer who resides in Bozeman, Montana. Most importantly, she is the founder and lead coach at Training for Body Acceptance. After a severe eating disorder ended her synchronized swimming career, Aubrey entered into an Intensive Outpatient Recovery Program, where she spent close to a year healing her relationship with food and her body. But, after finishing her strict treatment program, she realized there was little to no community or support around how to maintain a healthy relationship with movement, food and her body. This led Aubrey to start her own business, Training for Body Acceptance, through which she provides group and one-on-one coaching packages to individuals wanting to unlearn diet culture, discover food freedom, and build an empowered self-image.

In this episode, we talk about Aubrey’s personal story and current work. But we also discuss shortcomings in the body acceptance space, including the predominant focus on White, small-bodied, cis-gender women. I deeply appreciate Aubrey’s honesty as well as her thoughts on how she and other professionals can create a more inclusive body acceptance space.

Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Follow Aubrey:

• Training for Body Acceptance Website
• Instagram: @aubreywall Facebook

Follow Social Sport:

• Instagram: @socialsportpod
• Facebook: @socialsportpod
• Twitter: @emmamzimm

Also discussed in this episode:

• Synchronized swimming
• Intensive outpatient treatment for eating disorders (IOP), and levels of treatment
• Diet culture vs. eating disorder
• Aubrey’s 6-week course
• Why eating disorders are so damn stigmatized
• Understanding eating disorders as mental illnesses
• Body acceptance vs. body positivity
• Making more inclusive body acceptance spaces, rather than those focused on White, cis-gender women
• Accounts to follow: @laurenleavellfitness,@tiffanyima
• Project HEAL
• You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
• Bridger Ridge Traverse, Bozeman, MT

Quotes:

– “The reason I had that experience is to share it, and to help other people, and to destigmatize the conversation around food and body image.”

– “There’s not a lot of resources to help people navigate society and what it looks like to actually have a healthy relationship with food, your body, and exercise.

– “I don’t want people to have to struggle with it for as long as I did, and without any help like it did. It just doesn’t have to be that way.”