Cressida The Real Bodies Coach

Oh hey stranger! 👋🥰
It's been a while!
I took some time away from the gram to find my mojo again. I'm not entirely sure I've found it, I'm not entirely sure I'm over my 2020 burn out BUT I am feeling a little more energised...
(It might be the spooky, candle burning, fluffy sock wearing season that has me feeling inspired again! 🦇🌧️)
And well even though I haven't been typing away here, I have been LOVING working online! I love my personal training clients, I love my patrons and I love running classes from my kitchen, where I can show off this week's bread stash and my cats attack my feet for stealing their mat!
And I thought I'd take a moment to share a couple of the reasons I love online classes so much still...
What would you add to the list?

I have loved hosting these HAES masterminds for the last 5months 💜
Coming from a teaching background, I'm used to an industry where sharing ideas, brainstorming & throwing resources at eachother was a given.
The fitness industry particularly can feel like an environment where everyone is out for themselves!
And that can feel even more exclusionary if you happen to be a HAES aligned PT with contrary values to the industry.
So I wanted to create a space where the HAES professionals community can be vulnerable together, where we can bring challenges we have & spitball solutions! Where we can share in our mutual mission & values, build connections & find community with like-minded professionals.
You don't have to be a PT to join! We've had PTs, dietitians, coaches and fitness instructors so far but other HAES aligned professionals are so, so welcome! It's perhaps unsurprising how much the variety of experience can support ideas!
And you don't have to be an expert! I'm certainly not! It doesn't matter how many followers or clients you have or how long you've been doing it - everyone is welcome!
These are "Pay What You Can" events with all the proceeds going toward a different social justice charity each month. This month's proceeds will go to . Decolonising Fitness specialise in creating supportive, inclusive environments for individuals who have historically felt unwelcome in fitness environments. They offer resources & courses to support coaches in creating affirming spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community & share incredible resources on anti-racism & fat liberation.
Shoot me a message if you'd like to attend this month or if you'd like to join the email list for future events!
If you've been to one of my HAES Masterminds, why not pop a few words describing your experience below ⬇️

Hey Folks 🥰👋
In between all my posts about my services, I thought I'd take a moment to reintroduce myself.
My name is Cressida & I own Cressida The Real Bodies Coach.
I started my business back in 2017 under a completely different name & at the time, I hadn't even heard of terms like HAES, privilege or fatphobia. I had a disordered relationship with food, my body & movement...so...like so many who enter the fitness industry, I became a PT & moved into an space where my behaviours, self congratulatory ego & toxic need to share my workouts could be validated & normalised.
THANKFULLY, I've done a lot of learning & growing since then...
Cressida The Real Bodies Coach now reflects my deepest values.
It's a business born from my rage at diet culture, a toxic fitness industry, beauty ideals & inventions like feckin' cauliflower rice...
& my continuous learning around misogyny, fat liberation, capitalism, white supremacy & ablism.
I'm passionate about offering "movement without all the diet culture bullsh*t" because we deserve the freedom to focus on the important things in life & how many doughnuts you had isn't one of them.
Some other facts about me...
👋 My pronouns are she/her & I'm a bisexual, white, small fat, cis woman from South East London. I come from a working class background but would describe myself as middle class.
♥️ I live with my boyfriend of 14yrs & our two fur babies, Cinder & Toffee
👩‍🏫 Before starting my business, I was a primary & secondary school teacher
✏️ I did my degree in History & wrote my dissertation on religious anxiety between the Islamic Ottoman Empire & the English.
📚I love learning & want to work on another post grad or get a PhD one day! - I've had a Gender Studies masters course open on my internet browser for months...🙈 I'm currently doing a Pregnancy course to work with pregnant clients.
♌ I am a Leo sun, Scorpio moon & Virgo rising.
🧠 I have anxiety, OCD & depression
🦕 I am obsessed with the Jurassic Park movies, have read the books & love all things dinosaur
🎵 My music taste skews 90s emo, rock, indie & the sound track from Buffy The Vampire Slayer the musical
🎅 My dad is Santa

If ever you find yourself moving with a PT, particularly a HAES aligned one, you'll undoubtedly find them asking bags of questions during your session...
♥️ How does that feel? Where do you feel that?
🧡 How do you want to approach this today? What's the intention behind moving?
💛 How is your body/mind feeling today?
💚 Is that the right level of challenge for your intention today?
💙 Do you feel any discomfort or pain there? how can we make this more enjoyable?
💜 Are you advocating yourself here? Giving yourself permission to stop?
And so on...
Check in, check in, check in, check in...
This means that we are constantly collaborating to create a session that meets you where you're at that day.
My movement expertise married with your 'I've lived in this body all my life' expertise...
It also means that you get used to asking yourself those questions during movement. You get used to checking with yourself, listening to your body and tuning into those internal cues..
Without judgement.
And with curiosity.
So if you're unsure what questions to ask yourself during movement, here are a few to get you started!

First, let's take a moment to take in how damaged my hair is here?!
Ok now that's over...
I've spent the last 2 weeks spamming my stories with details on my trial classes this month...
And gee....I'm so frickin' sorry! 🙏♥️
But I'm also... like...kinda not?! 🤦‍♀️😅
I'm so proud of the spaces that I've created! I feel so privileged to be able to help people around the world engage in movement (if they want to!) outside of the diet culture bullsh*t!
(I know that sounds queasy - but genuinely I'm so grateful to be able to work online with all the people that I do! I couldn't have dreamt of this even a yr ago...)
So, if you're looking for a body neutral space right now, if you want to move with a blue haired leftie, while clocking her pringles stash and bread collection in the background, if you're looking for a plus size PT who doesn't use cringey motivational cues, who encourages you to listen to your body and who messes up the moves as much as you do, someone who's cats always want to steal the show & who always has a bank of movement options available & up her sleeve....
Then come try out a class! I'm trialling them this month to see if they're worth popping into my diary as a regular slot ♥️
Strength Thursdays 9:30am BST
Boxing Fridays 12pm BST
They are ~40minutes each & £3 each
(US$4.24 | AD $5.41)
I'll be using a range of resistance bands, kettlebells & dumbbells in Strength but will always have equipment free options too! Boxing will just be us & our rage at diet culture!
To join, just pop to the link in my bio and:
1️⃣ Press "Pay As You Go Classes"
2️⃣ Input £3 & press "Pay with DC"
3️⃣ In the note section (Look for a tiny ✏️) write your name, the class, your email & optionally the word "replay" if you can't make the live, but you'd like a recording!
4️⃣ Enter your card details & press submit!
(This may seem complicated but if they are successful, I'll play with better sign up systems in the future!)
I'm so frickin' excited to actually meet some of you and I'm so chuffed to have met those of you who came this week! Thank you so much for your support! ♥️

Keeping copy simple today because I'm really frickin' excited about my post tomorrow! 😳🥰💜
Do you engage in post movement reflection to check in with yourself, your body and intentions?

I've clearly been thinking about language a lot this last few months, because this is my third post mulling over fitness lingo...
I don't use the words "beginner", "intermediate" or "advanced" when describing my movement sessions.
It's not that I think there's anything innately wrong with the terminology. I appreciate that for some, these describers might represent signposts to accessible safe spaces or reflect the progress they've made...
For me though, they just feel loaded with fitness police vibes...
As someone who moves, they feel like ignoring my body, they feel like judging myself or what I can do today and they feel like putting movement on a heirarchy again...
As someone who programmes movement, they feel like a deliberate choice to make my sessions inaccessible, to not include a range of movement options, to not make people feel safe to move through those options as much as they see fit AND generally a failure on my part to create an inclusive environment for people to listen to their bodies & move joyfully...
This perhaps isn't helped by the fact that I've seen this terminology picked up so much as a marketing ploy.

"Beginner" is so often used to draw in new members but not do the work to make sure sessions are actually accessible. How many of us have been to a "beginner" class that clearly wasn't beginner?! One of the first ones I attended had me doing 10minutes of kettle bells swings - I had never touched a kettlebell before in my life & had no idea what a hip hinge was. I spent the next week broken & questioning how much my body could engage in structured exercise if that was beginner...
On the other end of the scale, my experience of "advanced" classes has been self congratulatory, elitist environments where movement exists on a heirarchy and listening to your body couldn't be a more foreign concept. They make engaging in challenging movement feel like engaging in diet culture again...
So, I don't use this terminology in my business, what do you think though? How do you feel about these words?

Strength training is one of my favourite forms of movement.
I frickin' love Olympic lifting & I've loved attending lifting clubs over the years...
I keep trying to work out how I can have a lifting platform, plates & a barbell in my fourth floor two bed flat and coming up short in terms of space and ya know...the cost?! 😅
BUT a woman can dream...maybe one day I'll have a beautiful size inclusive, body neutral gym space for clients?!
Until then, share in my Monday day dreaming, what would this fat positive space look like?! 🥰

Just me researching Tinder formats for relevant, pithy post ideas....😅
What movement are your swiping right on today?

Last week, I spoke about how I used to view movement on a heirarchy.
Some exercises or classes or types of movement were more valid & worthy than others.
It was a stupid, elitist way of thinking & rings loudly with fitness w*nker vibes....
(& I swear I wasn't one?! I was just deeply entrenched in diet culture & wading through toxic fitness industry bs...)
But, I love the mini realisations that crop up when I dig into my relationship with movement....
Because today when trying to think of copy for this post, it occured to me, I did the same with my feelings & intentions...
Some intentions were more worthy than others...
Some feelings were more valid than others...
I never moved to relax, to unwind, to have fun, to feel present or connected, to feel childlike or wild, to play or celebrate the things my body could do...
Unless I was moving to work on specific skills or goals, unless I was moving to feel utterly spent, broken & sweat ridden... It didn't "count" & I should feel disappointed in myself...🤮
& as ever, this mentality was encouraged by the industry, the countless fitness accounts I followed & the countless more quotes I had saved in my gallery....
Your feelings didn't matter...
Because you know, & please imagine this in a fitness bro, gym ju**ie voice: "If you give less than 100% don't expect to become more than average" 🤮🤮🤮
So this perfectionist...
This, then, full time teacher who brought hrs of work home with her every evening...
Would ignore her feelings, ignore her needs & ignore the intentions the industry made feel 'lesser than'...
To "grind"
(Pushing her ever closer to the burnout & mental breakdown she'd eventually hit...)
I'm not sure there's a round up moment here but to say...
I'm still learning about my relationship with movement. I'm still working out where it was disordered & the ways that impacted me. I'm still playing & reflecting & having mini ephipanies on the daily...
& honestly I love those wee...
🎵 "Who's been messing up everything? It was Agatha all along..."🎵
Moments..(Wandavision?! Come on folks...)
Anyway, I hope you can take some solace in that... 💛

Some misconceptions about Intuitive Movement that I think need clearing up...
Do you know any others?!

This isn't to say that I didn't move in the ways listed in the "now" before...
More that, then, I wouldn't have counted them...
(And I use the word "counted" loosely because I don't count movement at all now...)
But...if it didn't make me sweaty, if it wasn't structured, if it wasn't for x period of time or in a specific environment, if I didn't have to fight with a sports bra for 10mins beforehand or I walked away with anything left in my tank then...well then, did it count?!
Movement was on a hierarchy.
And, well, the more joyful it was - the less valid.
And the lower on my "movement options list" it went...
And this mentality was encouraged by the fitness professionals I engaged with & the industry as a whole...
Cue hashtags like , , or ...
Of course, I could play on the Dance Mat - but only after I'd done x, y & z of [enter arbitrary exercise considered more valid by fitspo bullsh*t] first (OR as well?!)
And don't get me started on how this disordered thinking plays through in terms of our relationship with food...
This left movement feeling like a battlefield. Something I had to "push through", be "grittier" for & punish myself with. Heck, I think I would have considered this self flaggelatory practise 'joyful' at one time...
I look back now and realise it left me feeling self righteous & "better than" for doing more worthy movement then others - a cultish pseudo - religious mentality hugely promoted in the industry...
Cue "do you even lift bro" sentiments...
Blergh! Icky mentality... 🤮🤮🤮🤮
And I'm ashamed now to say I was there in it and spewing it at one time...
BUT that's my journey...and I've grown.
So, now I love looking through my metaphorical "movement options catalogue"...
S*x is as valid as skating as is squating or yoga...
It's brimming with a myriad of wonderful, playful, NEUTRAL options...
And not a fitspo hashtag in sight....

But what does training with a HAES PT look like?!
I've answered this in a few ways in the past but for the more analytical minded, the pie chart fans and the pie fans alike (apple pie 🙋🏻‍♀️) - let's do this again...*
Training with a HAES PT looks like this...
Collaboration.
I'm not a drill sergeant (- and anyone who knows this anxious lil' bean with blue curls & a coffee obsession - will laugh at the implication)
I have expertise but I'm not expert.
I know movement. I know how to write programmes & create safe, inclusive & curious environments (and I can not state enough here that I'm very much STILL learning)...
AND...
You know YOU. You know your body, what it's like living in it, how much sleep you got last night, how X movement feels or what your relationship with movement has been to date....
So we collaborate and explore and curiously play with movement through the ebbs and flows of your life.
I accept & respect your body (even if you don't just yet) & serve you in your real life.
And while we bring all the contents of this diagram to the table each session - and of course movement & nutrition chats occur - we largely spend the time nattering about family, work, stress management, self care practises, socialising, that new Netflix series, boundaries, hobbies (my mild obsession with cheese) etc etc etc - things that allow us to focus on the multitude of ways we can engage in health promoting behaviours or just life outside the constant concern for health...
(It has occured to me that in no way does this diagram represent a pie chart. I have no intention of changing that opening line though - This not so analytical brain wants to remind her audience she likes apple pie and her birthday is in July....)
Let's embrace the pie error - What's your favourite pie?!

"I'm sorry wah? You're listening to your body & doing what you need to take care of yourself today? F**k yes! Well done you!"
Huh? Waz dat? You're respecting the inherent ebbs and flows of your daily life? G'me a high five!"
Cancelling is ok.
Cancelling and advocating for your needs that day - like said - is a massive milestone we need to be celebrating!
Because, I think even these messages show that my clients feel like they need a "big enough" reason to cancel a session.
It's not something I've fostered in my practise but something I think exists beyond me in the fitness industry, diet culture & capitalism in general...
Like they need to be balled over vomiting or bed ridden before they can give themselves permission not to exercise...
(And don't even get me started on the fact that women can't say period pains without it being invalidated! How many of use have had to make up different reasons for illness to male bosses?!)
But I'm here to say, listening to your body and the natural ebbs and flow of your life is VALID and reason enough.
And you don't need to qualify the reasons to me or get my validation for them to "count"
So, tell me, what's the funniest reason you've given to cancel something?!

Another principle of Intuitive Movement is "Stop When Satisfied"
I hear you....
"But Cressida?! How do I know when I'm satisfied?!"
"Surely if I give myself permission to stop - I'll never push myself?!"
"But, like, classes are an hour long so..?"
And maybe you're not saying these things in the cute moany voice I've created to represent my audience in my head (y'all sound adorable btw...) but, I know these are concerns I had when learning about this principle..
So hopefully the advice in the graphic can help.
Would you add anything? What's helped you embrace this principle?

I spoke a few months back on how I find the word "goals" a bit icky now.
I tend to speak of "intentions" when - or if - my clients have things in mind they want to move toward.
It's semantics. Just a synonym for the same concept but that slight shift in language gives the idea a completely different feel for me...
It shifts from the diet culture " " that were so unforgiving & inflexible...
to the more open, curious & flexible idea of intentions...
And...
I think "WoRkOuT" can have that same icky feel for some of us...
"Workout" might feel tinged by the demanding voice of DC - filling the term with undertones of "shoulds," of "go fast or go home" & of "no excuses"...
I mean, if joyful movement has the word "work" in it, how joyful can it be, right?!
So...
If "WoRkOuT" feels wrong, if it's no longer fit for purpose or reflective of your experience or intended experience of movement, I encourage you to play with different phrases!
And I get it's weird to do that. One of the most interesting thoughts that popped up for me when curating this list was - "gee - aren't these phrases abit...I don't know... infantilising?!" Which is so frickin' interesting because it begs the question...why are we afraid of making movement sound fun, childlike, playful, silly?!
So, what other phrases or words do you use to describe your movement sessions?!

What might "goals" or "intentions" look like when you ditch diet culture & start moving intuitvely? And how are they different from goals in DC?!
❌ Diet Culture Goal Setting
🍪 Diet Free Goal Setting
❌ Uses extrinsic motivators & measures to track progress (calories burned, measurements, how sweaty I got, etc)
🍪 Use intrinsic motivators & track progress (if at all) with performance & wellbeing measures (stress, stamina, strength, etc)
❌ Focused on aesthetic changes & typically aligned with seasons or big events
🍪 Focus on holistic health & are aligned with our personal values
❌ Often focused on what I can EXCLUDE from my life (sugar, processed food, carbs, hierarchy of movement)
🍪 Focus on what we can ADD to our lives (self compassion, coping toolkits, sleep, etc)
❌ Focused on self punishment
🍪 Focus on self care
❌ Pontificates our bodies, food & movement choices
🍪 Celebrate or are otherwise neutral to our bodies, food or movement choices
❌ "No excuses," "should/must" negative thinking styles
🍪 Are flexible to our real lives, needs, energy, emotional & physical health, finances, priorities, etc
❌ Typically weight centric & perpetuates weight stigma
🍪 Are weight inclusive & respect the inherent diversity of body size & shape
Pictured are some examples of intentions/ goals that my clients have set over the last year.
Are you working on any goals or intention ATM?

"I struggle to stay motivated to engage in movement without !"
Sound familiar?
Some variation on this "motivation" & "goals" question hits my tiktok every week or so...
And I get it...
When movement stops being motivated by feeling of shame & guilt, when it stops being about weight & appearance, well, it can be hard to find reasons to do it - particularly if these were the main drivers for you...
And sometimes for this reason, moving away from diet culture means moving away from exercise for a long time...and that's ok...
When & if we decide to exercise again, we want to reorient the experience, bringing the focus back to self care, intrinsic motivators & a neutral or celebratory focus on our bodies.
So, we look for new goals...
And honestly, I'm quite fond of setting a goal or 2 for myself (or intentions - the word 'goal' feels icky after years in Diet Culture - but that's an old post)...
I like having little targets: whether that's to lift heavier or with more skill or to skate in a straight line without falling for 3minutes...
And I'll do a post on goals outside DC later this week..
BUT..
I found myself asking a new question when I came back to this idea of .
I started asking...
"Is this Internalised Capitalism?!"
Because I always felt like having goals motivated me. I did a whole year of posting a picture a day of Happy Moments back in 2016 - and shucks, came to the conclusion Dec '16 that I was happiest when I was productive...🤦‍♀️
So, when anyone asks this Q now, I find myself thinking...
Is this need for goals - even in joyful movement - rooted in a fear of being unproductive?
Of not "progressing" & "profiting" somehow from movement?
Of feeling lazy, guilty or shameful for not "working hard" or "seeing results?"
And...is this still diet culture?!
And to be clear, I think it's entirely possible to set goals/ intentions that sit out DC.
But often when someone asks a question like this, I don't want to rush to answer. I want to understand why it's important to them in the first place...
So, do you set goals & why are they important to you?

"Make peace with Exercise" is a principle for Intuitive Movement I first heard coined by
It's easy to think of this as a Get Out of Jail Free Card.
"I mean if I give myself 'unconditional permission to move, to not move, to move in ways I find joy & ditch the ways I don't..' - well, heck, I'd never exercise again! And if I did, I wouldn't do gruelling or challenging workouts!!"
I'm here to tell you - I hear you.
I had the same concerns. I'd go as far as saying I reckon most people who start exploring Intuitive Movement have...
And this worry is rooted in a diet culture experience of exercise...
So let's get it out there...
Making peace with exercise might well mean exactly that...
It might mean you never exercise again.
It might mean when you do, you choose gentler, slow or less structured options then before.
And these 'mights' are definitely OK!
In my experience, these are valuable steps to take on the journey to a more peaceful relationship with movement.
(And even if they are endpoints, you are not less valuable or worthy for coming to them. F**king kudos to you for healing your relationship with movement whatever that healing looks like...)
I stopped exercising for months when I started this journey & most of my clients come to me with a deeply seated hate for all things cardio-esque...
It takes time to make peace with exercise and as a coach, I'm more interested in WHY you're worried about never exercising again or never doing "challenging" workouts than am I in whether you actually do or not...

I get sick of seeing posts like this...
"tOp 10 eXeRcIsEs YoU NeED iN yOuR wOrKoUt rIgHt NoW!"
so I thought I'd give the idea a revamp...
What would you add?

🎉I’m 4yrs old this month! 🎉

I don’t know the specific day that the idea of “Cressida The Real Bodies Coach” moved from fantasy to reality but one day back in March 2017, I posted my 1st post to Insta & some wks later, I started working with my 1st client.
I started under a completely different business name (Kent Buns 'N' Guns)
I started as a “fat loss coach”
I started as a mobile pt going to people’s homes & standing in rainy parks with camp light burners into the late hrs…
I started - though I wouldn't have admitted it at the time - with a dysfunctional relationship with food, my body & movement
I started knowing deep down, that I just didn’t care about “fitness,” the molecular makeup of every morsel I ate or love exercise as much as other “fitpros” seemed to – like who was waking up at 5am dying for HIIT or even 5pm for that matter?! – Not me…
I started knowing that I didn’t “look” like a PT in the way the industry told me I should & feeling deep shame for that…

I can’t believe how far my business has come since I started…
How much it has changed.
I now proudly identify as a Plus Size HAES Body Neutral PT.
My business name changed in 2019 and I found my voice – I started speaking loudly about my values, political leanings & beliefs – health is political.
I started learning more about intuitive movement & what moving in different bodies feels like.
With Lockdown 1.0 this time last yr, I moved online & never looked back. I now work entirely online with clients, working with individuals I’d never been able to before & have a growing online platform where I have members from around the world.
I care immensely about the work I do & I still don’t get up at 5am to workout! I’m a nerdy, artistic, bookish millennial gremlin with an unchecked fascination with all things history, indie rock & dinosaurs – my life doesn’t revolve around a commitment to an individual responsibility of health.
It would be a lie to say this process of change in my business hasn’t changed me too. I’m fundamentally a different person to that 27yr old 4 years ago. My body is bigger & so my mind – & I feel insanely proud of that growth.
Every. Bit. Of. It.