In this personal narrative, certified trainer and yoga coach Valeria Itriago recounts a 21‑year struggle with body image, dieting, and anxiety that began in Venezuela and intensified after emigrating. She explains how relentless pursuit of thinness, extreme diets, and validation‑seeking led to burnout, and how discovering yoga and Spiritual Response Therapy shifted her focus to mental health and self‑acceptance. Valeria introduces a three‑step framework—Listen, Identify, Create—used daily to align mind, soul, and body. She emphasizes that motivation is unreliable, discipline and intention are key, and that sustainable fitness requires a balanced mix of HIIT, LISS, yoga, weightlifting, and recovery. Throughout, she debunks common fitness myths (e.g., the need for constant motivation, the “skinny” ideal) and encourages viewers to craft personalized, intention‑driven plans rather than chase quick fixes. The video ends with a call to subscribe, engage, and join a series that will further explore these concepts.
Chapters
believe me when I tell you that you won't feel motivated every day. That's BS. That's the biggest BS a personal trainer, a yoga coach, a spiritual guy, or a psychologist can tell you about creating a healthy relationship with your body and who you are. It took me 21 years to understand that my body is perfect the way it is, and this is how I did it. No, this is not about a magical pill that's gonna make you look skinnier or whatever, this is more about what things you have to take in consideration if you want to start a healthy lifestyle. "I have to be skinny no matter what." I know, we've been there, we've done that. This phrase became my biggest burden, and honestly, if I could delete a word from people's mindset, it would be skinny. Not that I have anything against skinny people, but because of the negative connotation people use. As a girl, I dreamed with being an athlete, you know, I wanted to be an athlete. I did Olympic gymnastics for a lot of years, and then I did CrossFit, and then I tried any sport you can ever imagine. But as a teenager, I struggled with my weight due to things such as genetics, hormones, anxiety, stress, and other factors that are part of how your body function and how your organism function. So it's actually regular in any human being to experience this type of things. However, I reached my limit, and I think I realized that I needed to stop what I was doing because I found myself like starving and doing crazy diets and eliminating like fruits, carbs and other nutrients that my body needed and, and needs nowadays, just because I want— I wanted to create a body that was not even mine. And the first thing I did to create a healthier path towards fitness and towards well-being was understanding that without mental health, there can't be such a thing as health. And I say this because in my early 20s, I sought validation from others. I wanted people to praise the way I look and, you know, everything I was doing to look like that. And I never really asked myself what was the body I needed in the first place, or what's the body I actually wanted, or what was the body that for me was the healthiest version of myself. And when my family left my country, when my family left Venezuela in 2017, I started experiencing panic attacks and huge episodes, like immense amount of anxiety and paralysis in a way episodes. So I was still working on dieting, right? I was— I will still take care of the things I eat, but something changed. Something really, really, really inside changed. Like, here it's like I realized I didn't want to be that person anymore. I didn't want to feel like that anymore. I, I was tired of just seeking people's validation and just starve myself just because I want to fit here or there. And I was, I was constantly insecure and deeply hurt by my circumstances. I discovered in that moment I felt very lonely. So for me, the way of coping was not eating sweets or just not eating things I know will make me look more fat. And, um, when I discovered yoga and Spiritual Response Therapy, I embraced this that I said. I embraced the fact that I needed to be okay here and here to find a real balance, because I always felt like just working my appearance was never enough. From that moment on, I was like, this is not just about how I look. This is just about how I feel and think. So, um, it was not the most important thing anymore. You might think, this is it, Val, she made it because she realized that she being the skinniest in the group was not, um, the most important thing. But it was just the beginning of the path. And I'm telling you this because this journey, it's gonna take time, and you have to be really patient and considerate with yourself. And what I'm— the reason why I'm telling you this is because in 2019, I, I'm also a personal trainer. I'm certified by the American Sport and Fitness Association, and I do yoga, like private yoga coaching. I want to get certified this year, but, um, I did this, and in— during the pandemic, I used to train a lot of people, like, through FaceTime. And I invested several weeks and hours, you know, in putting together workouts, planning, even the PDF I was supposed to deliver to people that were going to do my fitness program that I was preparing. And the truth is, I never recorded these videos because I felt like I was not skinny enough or lean enough, and I thought I'm not gonna be an inspiration for people. Because I don't look exactly like the girls from Insanity look like, or the girls from like YouTube look like. And yeah, you know, I was stupid. I guess this is the moment to say everything comes at its perfect time, everything has a moment. And, and I'm saying this because without self-acceptance and full awareness of your own worth, it's really hard to make something that will be actually sustainable in time because you are not clear your reason why you want to look and feel healthy. You must invest in 3 things in order to create a balance in your life, and you can do whatever you want, but this is what I did and it worked for me. You must invest in your mind, in your soul, and in your body at the same time when you are creating a healthier lifestyle. If there's something I know as a fact, I did it, is that I needed a method, a plan, and a lot of discipline to make a real change. I remember grabbing a piece of paper. I was meditating and I was like, wait, and I felt like, what do I need to accept myself? And it was I wrote 3 words, and this is the thing I do every day to remind and keep myself sane, which is listen, identify, and create. And create can also be action. Listening is related to mine, and it's like the first step I do. And there's a quote that John Green has that is amazing, and it's, there is hope even when your brain tells you there isn't. It's so important because mindset is everything, especially when you are trying to create a closer relationship with yourself and the way you perceive your body. That is your body, not everyone else's. Sometimes we are slaves of our thoughts and we genuinely believe what we say to ourselves and what we have in our mind, and whatever it's about us, we really believe that. And normally it's just a projection of our ego exposed to so many fitspo and stereotypes that this society established. And it just takes 5 to 10 minutes a day, maybe in the morning, midday, when you're gonna go to bed, whatever works for you. I use it in the morning because it's when I need it and my brain needs it. I ask myself 3 questions. The first one is, do I like my body? If I— my answer in that moment was yes. And then I asked myself, do you want to change something? And my answer was yes. And then the last question I did was, what would I like to change? This is key because if you answer something like, and unconsciously you want to look like someone else or like a certain influencer or another person, then you need to understand and go to the first question and repeat yourself. My body is unique. No one has my body. And because you can make yourself taller, you can make your bones smaller. What you can do is create the best version of your body by changing your daily habits and workout routines. And then you go back to the first question when you can really answer yourself, yes, I like my body. The second thing was identify, which is connected to the soul. I know, soul might be a complicated term to get in touch with. Even if you have a dark and sarcastic soul, you still have a soul, and that soul is deeply connected with your body. And you need to identify when that connection is missing and ask yourself What would I like to change my body? With this one, you establish the right intention and you are connected with your soul, like how your energy is balanced inside of you. And it shouldn't be something again like, I want to look like this influencer, or your why shouldn't be, I want to be skinny because, because I have— summer is coming, or I have a wedding, or I have a social gathering and I want to look as lean as possible. Even if that means that you're going to starve, as Kim Kardashian did for the Oscar, which is stupid. But you know, that having that why is key in the process of building a healthier lifestyle and building a fitness version of yourself, because having the right intention towards well-being and being a fit person will help you to avoid falling into the motivation trap, which is very common. And what I mean with motivation trap is, believe me when I tell you that you won't feel motivated every day. That's BS. That's the biggest BS a personal trainer, a yoga coach, a spiritual guy, or a psychologist can tell you about creating a healthy relationship with your body and who you are and how you look like. Once I understood this, I had clarity in why, and I did the last thing of the process, which is create. That is also action and is related to the body. I follow a creator that I personally admire a lot because of his mindset and the way he communicates things. And he said— his name is Danko— and he said on one of his— I think it was a reel on Instagram that I checked— and he said, "An idea without action is just a dream." It blew my mind since the moment I saw that. And it's exactly what will help you along the journey. Therefore, the last question you need to ask yourself, and I asked myself this, was, okay, so I listened that I needed to change. I want to change. I identify that the reason why I want to change, and now how I'm going to change my body. When you think about this, you immediately think, which workout should I do? How many times should I work out? What type of workout should I do according to my body type? If you know what a body type is. And another bunch of questions that I will be answering in this series while I share my journey. But I know creating a plan can be overwhelming at the beginning, and you know, I did it. I submitted myself to thousands of fitness programs. I practiced more than 3 sports professionally, and it was practice and error and practice and error and success, um, till I create that balance, a sustainable workout routine where I do a lot of stuff but I just have moderation of everything and I just enjoy doing it. I, I do HIIT workouts, I do LISS, I do yoga, I have recovery days, I do weightlifting, and I never felt better and more in balance with my body because I'm always taking care of my mind and my spirit. I asked my followers on Instagram and my closest friends and family members what was the hardest thing for them to accomplish when they start a workout or a fitness program. And there was a common factor, which was lack of motivation and discipline. Action is not always driven by motivation. That's BS. Again, it's driven by disposition and willingness to change. That's it. That's the main and the most important thing. Therefore, you need that connection between your mind, your body, and your soul to embrace a new mindset that is aligned with the way you are feeling inside. Maybe it sounds cliché, but I'm going to say it. You don't have to work out. You don't have to eat healthier. You don't have to stretch. You don't have to meditate. You get to do all these things. Because you know you are designing a better life, and that's only achievable when you take action with the right intention and a sustainable mindset. If you were expecting a magical form, a couple of detox pills, or a magical spiritual guide to love your body, this is not the place you should be in. Because I don't think that exists. Your experience and your body is unique. No one has your body. I needed to do this and to repeat myself every day, my worth, until I believed that I was worthy enough, not just because the way I look like. And if you like this video and if you want to watch more about this series, because I'm going to be debunking a lot of fitness myths just subscribe, hit the button, subscribe, leave me your comments, give me your thumbs up, thumbs down, let me know what you think about it. And if you want to share your journey, if you think it's important to do this and to boost this integrative balance, just leave your comment or just contact me in my email and we can talk more about it. Anyways, this is going to be also available on Spotify and Apple Podcast, so I hope you have a great day and I'll see you very soon.
