It's hard to sum up my story in a few pics, it definitely isn't a 'weight loss' journey but I could certainly break down all the ways you can successfully screw up your metabolism, hormones, gut health and overall vitality.
My health journey and the passion behind the work that I do stems from a long and complex relationship with my body.
In my late teens, I was only concerned with two things..... how tiny I could be and how little I could eat. I was lucky if I ate 800 calories a day. I couldn't sleep, I was cold ALL the time, my periods were non-existent and so was my libido. I substituted food with diet drinks and chewing gum (my gut health and blood sugar were all over the shop).
In my early 20's, that obsession became directed at training, we're talking 3 hours of CrossFit, day in day out for years. Living and breathing this intense style of training, along with a long history of caloric restriction and sidelined digestive issues was working against my body in every way. Again the symptoms were all there but I chose to ignore them... inflammation (you can see from my puffy face in the middle pic), cystic breasts and ovaries, heavy painful periods, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, thinning hair and eyebrows (signs of low thyroid function).
In my late 20's, I then redirected my attention back to my diet. I tracked every gram, every macro, every calorie, I was obsessed. The picture on the left is me at 49kg, extremely low body fat and all the consequences that goes with that.... again amenorrhoea, no libido, poor sleep, constipation…..
In my early 30’s I had finally had enough, I saw many endocrinologists in an attempt to get my periods back, all they would say is 'put on weight, you need to eat more and exercise less'. I followed the guidance but my gut was in such a mess that I struggled to absorb anything and lived for months with diarrhoea.
Through my own research, I finally found functional medicine, had my gut health tested to find an absolute shit show (parasites, gluten antibodies through the roof, very low commensal bacteria….), and this is where I started my healing journey. Gut health was just one piece of the puzzle for me, alongside blood sugar balance, reducing stress, eating to support all the amazing functions of my body and tweaking my training/activity levels.
Years down the line, and after retraining as a Nutritional Therapy practitioner, I have a deep understanding of how I had been working against my body and particularly my infradian rhythm for all those years. By striving to constantly ‘achieve’ and never slowing down, I was in a constant state of fight or flight and my body paid the price.
Now I appreciate the freedom, health and happiness that comes with fine tuning our relationship with our incredibly unique bodies as women.
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The content in this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health.