This is The Do It For Yourself Podcast. Each week I sit down with someone who is doing it for themselves and chasing a dream they just couldn’t suppress. This is often speakers, entrepreneurs, or athletes. They all share one thing in common, they are overcoming challenges and never giving up. Someone who is Doing It For Themselves is not selfish in their pursuit, they are simply chasing a dream or working towards a goal because it is something THEY want to do. They are not forging down a path because society or someone is telling them it’s what they should be doing.
This week I get a chance to catch up with Elle Goodall who is more commonly known as elles_journey_to_good_health on Instagram. Elle started her journey in triathlon about 3 years ago. Elle was very overweight before she started, weighing 406lbs. Elle remembers everything being a struggle weighing this much. She couldn't walk 100 meters without having to stop and take a break, she couldn't get up off of the floor without help and she was throwing her life away. Elle's biggest struggle during this time was her addiction to food.
When Elle was in school she remembers eating balanced meals while she was at home. They hardly ever had take out and she remembers her mom cooking quite a bit. Once Elle moved out though, she realized she could have McDonald's any time she wanted and so she did. She would have McDonald's for every meal. The weight gain and food addiction really started when Elle began her desk job. She remembers her if her partner would tell her that they shouldn't eat McDonald's she would get really mad and turn into an evil person.
One fateful day Elle had to step on a scale while at the doctor. Elle usually tries to avoid going to the doctor because she would just prefer to take some cold and flu tablets and handle the cold on her own. One day though she had to go to the doctor for a physical exam for work and they asked her to step on the scale. When she stepped on the scale and it gave an error message. Elle didn't understand why this was happening. She had estimated her weight to be around 120kg but she didn't know for sure because she stopped getting on the scale. Her doctor explained that she too heavy for the scale and that they went up to 150kg. Elle couldn't believe it, she just didn't understand. They moved into the nurse's room where they had a larger scale and when she stepped on she saw 184kg which is 406lbs.
The doctor told Elle that she immediately needed to go get more tests done. She needed blood work, sleep tests and a whole list of other tests. Elle got the news that she was basically killing herself every night in her sleep. Her oxygen levels would drop so low that she was almost dying in her sleep. On top of everything else, they wanted to take away her driver's license because they were afraid that due to her sleep issues she could fall asleep at the wheel.
After about 2 weeks of going through testing and back and forth with the doctors Elle got all of her results. During this time Elle joined a local gym because she knew that she needed to do something. Elle went to the gym one time over the two weeks and she walked on the treadmill for about 30 minutes. She saw that she burned 300 calories and so she rewarded herself with McDonald's. Elle was hiding her food at this point. She would go and get the food, eat it in private and then throw the trash away where no one could find it.
Elle had to work really really hard to change her relationship with food. She had weight loss surgery which changes how much you can eat but it didn't change how she felt about food. It didn't change how much food she WANTED to eat. After surgery, Elle had a switch that flipped in her head. Surgery was so painful that Elle didn't want to go through that ever again. Elle worked to eat something healthy each time she wanted McDonald's. She would have celery or cucumbers and this would take away her craving. Elle realized that even though she wanted to eat bad food if she ate something good, it would satisfy her hunger. Even though this was extremely hard Elle worked at it and kept doing what she knew was a good choice.
One of the hardest parts of this journey, one of the things that kept Elle going through this journey was her family. Elle remembers her father saying to her that he should not have to bury her. Elle is very close with her family and her parents keep pushing her forward and chasing her dreams.
After surgery, Elle started to do everything on her own. She went online and began to do research and try things as she went along. Elle gained all of her knowledge from the internet and different videos. One of the activities Elle began doing after surgery was standup paddle boarding. Elle would go to a local lake to get on her stand-up paddleboard. While Elle was at the lake one day she saw a local group doing a training swim. This immediately sparked Elle's interest because she used to be a swimmer herself. Elle went over to talk with the group. She expressed her interest in doing a triathlon and a woman said you could absolutely do a triathlon and so Elle left with a plan and began doing the workouts on her own.
Elle signed up and completed her first race while she still weighed about 160kgs. Immediately after this race, Elle stepped up to a sprint and then an Olympic and then a 70.3. After the 70.3 Elle knew that she wanted to do a full Ironman. Over the course of all of this training for her first full Ironman Elle has lost about 265lbs.
Elle learned about Kona through people who were talking about it and so, of course, she jumped online to learn more. Elle realized how much of a big deal Kona was and she knew she wanted to get there one day. As Elle continued to train she also continued to post online and document her journey. This gained international attention and the attention of Ironman. Ironman reached out to Elle about following her story and sharing it with their followers.
Ironman followed Elle to Cains Ironman where she completed her race even after being hit by a car. After the race, Ironman reached out and asked her to come down for an interview. It started off as a typical interview for Elle, but then the interviewer asked Elle about Kona and what it means to her. She thought it was a little odd but didn't think anything of it and she explained that one day she would get there. The interviewer then looked at the camera guys and told them to keep the cameras rolling and then he disappeared. He returned with a plaque and he begins to explain that each year Ironman selects an ambassador to go to Kona. When the interviewer turned the plaque around it was for Elle and it was her invitation to race Kona. Her dream had come true.
While in Kona Elle had some struggles with people and their comments about how she got to Kona. There were some doubts that went through her head while Elle was there. Elle felt in a way that maybe she didn't deserve to be there. This was a difficult time for Elle but she handled it with flying colors and she went on to finish her dream races and has memories from this trip that are going to last a lifetime.
Elle's major goal right now is to go back to Kona again, but this time through a qualification. Elle is aware of how much of a commitment this is. She has given herself 4 years and she will be back in Kona again through a qualification. Elle is working with a coach now and this is her long term goal.
I really enjoyed this interview with Elle and I hope you do as well.
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