My Story: from skinny to strong

I feel as though my first blog post should be about me. I want my audience to know my story to understand why I am the person I am today. So here goes nothing...

Let's take it right back to primary school. Back then I loved my athletics and sports, and I wasn't too bad at it either. Through high school that love disappeared for a few years until grade 12 where I found myself enjoying cardio and being very health conscious. I would run every single day and eat (what I thought) was a very healthy diet. Let me tell you this now, it was not healthy! I ended up loosing over 10kg and I was small to begin with. I fell into a vicious cycle of over-exercising and under eating. Unfortunately, that progressed into anorexia and later bulimia due to the damage I was doing to my body by not feeding it what it needed and in turn having immense cravings that I would give into but didn't want to. This continued for quite some time getting to the point where everyone around me was concerned for my health. I eventually sought professional help from a psychologist who specialised in eating disorders. She was my saving grace. I managed to recover thanks to my psychologist for making me aware of the damage I was doing to myself. She guided me towards changing my thought processes and habits around training and eating. It was not easy, I struggled a lot with my body image through my recovery and weight gain, but I knew I couldn't continue down the path I was on.

After being recovered for a while I decided to start weight training. I'd never picked up a weight in my life but moving my body was something I always enjoyed and cardio wasn't something I trusted myself doing without falling into old habits. I, of course, fell in love with strength training and seeing my body change in a way that made me feel strong and confident. About a year on I decided to compete in natural bodybuilding. Prepping for almost 8 months in total and competing in 4 different competitions I managed to walk away with a place in every bikini division I entered. With 6 x 1st places and 2 x 3rd placings I decided that this was the industry for me. I completed my certificate 3 and 4 in fitness and after working as a gym manager I became a personal trainer as well. I have now been a PT for over a year and have loved every bit of it. Watching clients to not only reach their physical goals but also becoming more confident in their bodies and in the gym, is an amazing process to be a part of. To help my clients further, I obtained a nutrition coaching qualification so I can advise them on how to create better eating habits through either tracking their macros or following a specific meal plan. I also attended a Safe Return to Exercise course last year for pre & postnatal women to ensure my mummy clients are training within their means and taking the necessary precautions whilst pregnant or postpartum.

As for my own training at the moment, my goal is to improve my strength but I am also focusing a lot more on mobility and flexibility to broaden my overall fitness as it has not always been a high priority of mine. My diet is very clean, with a healthy balance of whatever I want to eat, just in moderation. I make sure I hit my protein and eat plenty of vegetables daily.

Well that's enough about me for now. If you made it this far through thank you and I hope you enjoyed my first blog post!

Leah xx