Growing up, I was always the twig. My mother raised me as a pescatarian and wasn't allowed to eat what I wanted. I always had a curiosity of what meat tastes like. My mother and aunt always told me it isn't good for you and I'll get sick. I believed in everything they said until I went to college. It was impossible to be a pescatarian on campus. All the food choices was meat. I felt so restricted my whole life at restaurants, party events because I wasn't allowed to have meat. This isn't for religious reasons. My mom and aunt both don't like the taste of meat and they researched how bad it is for you and they are animal lovers. I'm an animal lover too, but the reason I was so skinny was because I wasn't getting enough meat and nutrients in my bones to look like a healthy weight. Also a side note, I was a very picky eater. All I ate as a kid was cheese pizza, peanut butter jelly sandwiches, and junk food such as candy, cookies, chips, cake, etc. The only thing I drank which is a good thing was water. I never had an interest in soda, juice or milk. My diet wasn't the greatest as you can see. When I started college, I started getting very serious into fitness and started eating meat. A few months of college, I was already seeing results that I was finally bulking. I did gain weight in my stomach area, which most women struggle in that area. Yes I ate meat, but I was eating a lot of unhealthy snacks and wasn't eating any fruit or vegetables. Back then I hated vegetables and fruits, but now I love it! The school fruits/veggies was cold and soggy anyway. I had bad carbs like pizza, pasta, subway sandwiches and burgers with fries all the time in college. I did gain muscle, but also gained a lot of fat too and that's when I had my chunky phase. I was never fat thankfully, but I felt fat, insecure and disgusted at myself. It was affecting my mental/physical health with the bad food choices and lack of exercise when school got crazy busy for me. I joined the swim team towards the end of college and then I lost weight and was in the best shape. My food choices still wasn't the best, but I was swimming 6 days a week that it was impossible for me to gain weight. I lost muscle too from so much cardio than lifting. After I graduated, covid entered the world where we had to stay home and isolate ourselves. I couldn't go to the gym and had to workout at home. I didn't have much equipment then to get a satisfied workout and even at home with my moms good cooking I was still making bad food choices. That's always been my problem was my diet. I had the motivation to workout like no problem, but didn't' have the will power to eat healthier. Fast forward to 3 years after graduation, I was let go from my newborn hospital photography job and got back into going to the gym since I had the time. I got a random phone call from ISSA asking if my account back in 2018 is going to be active anytime soon since I haven't used it, and thats when I knew fitness was my calling. I felt like it was fate. I got my Personal Trainer Certification, got a job at the gym, started eating healthier by finally adding fruits/veggies, decreased my portion size, and changed my workout routines. I lost 20 lbs. of fat as I'm building muscle and feel so much better physically/mentally. I love being a trainer by helping others to reach their goals as I reached mine. I hope this story inspires you all that you can make anything happen as long as you set your mind to it and put in the hard work. Never give up!