I myself have had many fitness journeys.
Starting back at my 21st birthday, I was always the “skinny girl”. This was brought about by an eating disorder triggered by a major depressive episode lasting about 5 years after a traumatic injury. I was even bullied in high school for how flat I was in the “back”…
This queued quite a few years of heavy drinking in my early 20’s, which lead me to be the heaviest (pre-muscle) I’ve ever been, sitting in the 150’s.
The picture shown in a black top, drink in hand was my reality check. Shortly after I hired my first coach.
…and what a train wreck that was! She immediately had me on a meal plan, dieting down with very little carbs or calories (when my goal was to growtone). After some severe gut retaliation and malnourishment, I fired her and hired my second coach.
She started me on a reverse diet – something I had never heard of until that moment. My body quickly started looking how I’d always wanted it to: lean, petite, sculpted abs… I was noticeably fit.
My muscles (glutes specifically – every girl’s dream!) were growing so fast that I immediately wanted more. We started having conversations about body building and I was stoked.
So I began my first ever growing phase to prepare my body for a bikini prep.
The growth phase brought many fun things: crazy glutes, insane lats, big biceps, and overall amazing ratios.
I maintained that growth for a bit as I really enjoyed all the strength that came with the high calories, but I was soon ready to embark on my first prep.
I parted ways with that coach and hired yet another to guide me through a prep….
But something was wrong.
What I haven’t mentioned yet is that I have an autoimmune disease, as well as about 20 years of unsolved, severe gut issues. And little did I know that prep would exacerbate those symptoms to a point where I could no longer eat, sleep, or train without getting sick or being in excruciating pain.
I got a kidney infection, which just happened to be my tipping point. I called my coach and pulled out of prep.
I took a year off, focusing heavily on healing my body that lasted the end of 2022-2023. I also began my coaching journey, as I wanted to teach other women learn how easy and attainable it really is to have the body and life you desire.
In the end of 2023, my partner and I had a major move which consisted of us both not getting the jobs we had lined up in our new city.
The stress of this was so hard on my body, I had to quit coaching, and no longer had the capacity or knowledge to heal myself.
I finally realized how serious it was.
Chronic fatigue, severe thyroid autoimmune, overgrowth of bad bacteria in my gut, parasites, mold toxicity, adrenal fatigue, and hormone deficits (just to name a few) now ruled my life.
So I hired my current coachpractitioner. A specialist in all the things I was facing. We are on month 4 of intense protocols and have quite a bit ahead of us, but one thing has remained the same throughout this all….
No matter what part of the journey I was in, no matter how sick or healthy, strong or weak I was, I knew how to help myself. I knew when my body needed more rest, more food, less movement, less stress. I knew how I needed to train. I knew what I needed to eat.
All because my second coach taught me the fundamentals.
And because of this, I knew exactly what information to present my new coach with, the protocols are much easier than they would be on someone new to this, and I know how to make adjustments to things independently when my body needs it most.
Therefore, as I work through another leg in my health & fitness journey, I hope I can help you gain the same amount of confidence in yourself to make the changes you want (and need) to make to live the life you want, with the body you want.
If my trauma infused, chronic illness lead self can do it, you can do it too.
