My Journey
The first time I found my love for fitness, I was 15 years old playing high school sports. During volleyball and basketball seasons, our athletic trainer came in to run us through workouts. I discovered I was good at pushing myself, enjoyed the challenge, and loved how I felt after. Once my seasons ended and spring began, I joined the gym down the street with one of my best friends. First we only messed around with the treadmill, the elliptical and some ab moves. We knew nothing else and our goal was to lose weight, just in time for summer. Precisely -2 lbs a week like we had set up in our MyFitnessPal apps. This allowed us 1,200 calories a day. Sweet.
We saw minimal results, but continued anyway. I would imagine because we liked the feel good aspect and the gym also became somewhat of a social scene. Eventually, I found myself becoming more confident and trying new weights and machines with the intent to get stronger. I would watch Instagram videos and try workouts from some of my favorite trainers. The first coach I ever followed was Kayla Itines. I purchased her very first BBG (Bikini Body Guide) and my dad used his work printer to print all 150 pages of the PDF in color.
When it came time for college, I chose to study exercise science and became a trainer along the way. Throughout my four years and after, I partook in personal training, teaching small group strength training, and coaching women’s kickboxing.
My passion for fitness always stuck with me, but my health didn’t. The college culture (and even beyond) — skewed ideas around health and fitness, disordered eating, binge drinking, no sleep mentality, and chronic go-go-go mindset began to wear on me.
On paper I performed great. But the stress, the anxiety, the lack of sleep and proper fuel left me unfulfilled, moody, and defeated. When I graduated with Deans list in the pandemic of 2020, I knew just about everything I didn’t want to do with my life.
Which led me to what I wanted — I wanted to make a change in the industry, a small step in the right direction. I am well aware that my story is not unique. From a young age we’re taught to eat less and do more, all while the many aspects of health are over looked. Although I’ve witnessed many MANY improvements in knowledge around fitness and nutrition since I got into it, almost 10 years ago, there is still a ways to go. And getting the right stuff out there to those that are also struggling with hormonal and gut imbalance, chronic stress, over-exercising, and under-eating due to lack of knowledge and culture, is my main goal. We all deserve to feel our best.