I first started running laps around my medium-sized suburban backyard when I was 12 years old to lose what I thought were a few healthy pounds. Eventually, I switched to extreme indoor cycling to maintain my weight and it turned into an eating disorder.

After the eating disorder, I practiced highly restrictive eating. Even though I was eating a lot more, it still wasn't enough for all the running and weight lifting I was doing. Because I was not eating the right amounts/ratios, I never gained very much muscle or became stronger. I also did not lose any of the rebound weight from the ED.

Fast forward three years, three half-marathons, a case of persistent shin-splints, and forty pounds later, and I pretty much gave up on exercise and any type of conscious eating.

Then, during the summer of 2013, one of my coworkers convinced me to join the local gym and workout with her. Well, I joined the gym, but I ended up working out by myself to this day. This time around weight lifting, I have been eating enough to sustain and nourish me, and I actually have muscles for the first time in my life! And big ones at that!

Lifting weights and physical activity in general empowers me both physically and mentally. It is both encouraging and extremely addictive to know that my body can do the incredible things it does every time I go to my happy place, the gym. Whenever I feel negatively about anything, I just lift weights and a flood of confidence rushes through me (maybe it is the endorphins) making me absolutely invincible. The best part? Nobody can take that from me.