I am a cheerleader (have been for 7 years) but until I started lifting and eating right, I was the typical skinny fat girl who barely ate, and either did cardio or nothing. I recovered from an eating disorder in my Spring of 8th grade which started in July of that previous year, where I had dropped down to below 80lbs and had put myself at a severe risk for cardiac arrest. After months of therapy, I recovered through intuitive eating, love and support of my family, and faith and hope in God! I was able to get back to my goal weight and start cheering. I did just cheerleading up until December 2013, when I decided that I wanted to become a member of the UCF cheerleading team. UCF is one of the top ranked D1 schools with an incredible cheerleading program, and their athletes not only cheer, but lift heavy! I knew that I would need some more mass and muscle and have to work on my skills to make it!

So what did I do? I started on bodybuilding.com, using the workouts and doing research daily on what to eat, when to eat, how to workout, etc. I filled my brain with so much information. At first, I fell into the hole of cardio and no carbs, falling for and believing everything that I read. That was until I read a BioLayne (Layne Norton) article and woke up! Around May 2013, I made changes. I had made some gains, made the UCF Cheer Team (YAY!), and found out that I had a passion for lifting and wanted to compete in a bodybuilding competition!

I started actually doing real research, playing with macros to find out what my body needed and responded to, and really lifting like a true athlete. I made great gains and found out that I love lifting and watching my body transform. I learned how to fuel myself properly, and how to keep everything at a balance. Bodybuilding.com helped me the whole way, providing amazing articles and forums to keep filling my mind with more and more information.

I competed in my first show in April 2014 at the Orlando Europa and fell in love forever(: I am also now at UGA for Dietetics to hopefully help people learn about proper nutrition and help others!

I love watching my body transform and seeing all my hard work pay off. But most importantly, I love proving how strong I am and seeing what God has blessed me to be able to do. Seeing what your body can do and accomplish is amazing. It made me open my eyes and realize that I can do anything when I set my mind to it and put my heart into it. I feel like God put lifting into my life to make me more than just strong for cheerleading. It made me mentally strong, taught me about myself, and showed me that I have a true passion for spreading his love and spreading my love of this healthy lifestyle! I can't wait to compete on stage and show all my hard work and have fun up there!