02/17/2025
I would like to share a 2025 personal goal/victory for me.
As some of you may or may not have known, in mid July I came down with some mysterious stomach problems. I literally thought I had food poison for 3 days and after those 3 days, I was never the same. I had no appetite, the thought of food made me sick. If I forced myself to try to eat anything, my stomach would cramp, get insanely bubbly, and I would get horribly nauseous.
My desire to fule my body completely dwindled. I felt weak, gaunt and sick ALL the time for months and months on end!
This was a BIG problem for me as something I'm so passionate about (food and nutrition) had become the enemy.
I had every test and procedure you could think of and to my biggest fear (but also great news), everything came back normal, actually everything came back better than normal. Every time I got a call with results, the doctors would boast "you have extraordinary results", "your blood work is phenomenal for fall/winter time in North Dakota". If everything looked SO amazing, why did I feel so ill ALL THE TIME!? There were some things that were found, but they were non concerning and doctors don't think it is contributing to my issues.
My goal for 2025 was to get back to my healthy, strong and confident weight and body.
See, I like being thicker and more built on my bottom half; my happy place for me is between 145lb-150lbs.
The image on the left was taken on October 23, and I weighed 132lbs.
I wasn't very open with my struggles to most people. How can someone who works in the health and fitness industry complain to people about losing weight, when that is a large goal that many people struggle and strive to obtain. I would stand on the scale and just cry, because all I constantly saw was the numbers rapidly going down every single day for months and months, feeling sick and weak, but feeling worse if I ate.
It took me SO long to start gaining weight back and to feel healthy again. It took me MONTHS to even crest and stay in the 140's on a regular basis.
I wanted to take this picture today Feb. 16, 2025, in the same leggings I wore when I took the picture in October at my lowest weight. And although you may not see a different, I see and feel a huge difference.
It has taken a lot of trial and error, timing, hoping and wishing with food to get back to where I can have a regular, normal, healthy diet again; and although I'm still not 100% back to normal with my stomach issues, the symptoms have lessened and become less frequent.
I want to thank all of my closest friends and family, who knew I was going through this struggle, and were literally cheering me on to gain ounce by ounce, pound by pound with constant support, check ins and kind words.
I'm almost back to my goal weight (hovering around 143), but I will take it!
