I was never an athletic person growing up. I did gymnastics but I stopped because my parents were worried that it was stunting my growth. I was always a skinny short and underweight teen. I had a fast metabolism, being able to eat a lot without gaining weight. That was until I went to college.
I gained 15 pounds in my first semester of college, not only was I depressed at being away from home, but also I was struggling with my mental health. I wasn’t really eating well, and I didn’t have such a good relationship with food. When I came home, I developed an interest for kickboxing. But I would starve myself, I wouldn’t eat in community college because I wasn’t hungry or didn’t have the money for it. I would eat small pieces of food and stop and pretend I was full. I lost 15 pounds, but I wasn’t happy. I got better at my form in kickboxing, but I wasn’t eating enough and I obsessed over doing cardio.
During college, I stopped exercising but usually ate healthy. It wasn’t until the pandemic, that my body and relationship with food started to change dramatically. My mental health spiraled, I was down a tricky path and I would binge eat. I ate tons of ice cream, added a lot of sugar in my drinks and I wasn’t monitoring the way I was eating. I gained 15 pounds, I became ashamed and even more depressed than I was before. I wasn’t happy with the way I looked, and I…
