The beginning
I
My Story.
Where I started, what almost broke me, and the woman it built. Told the way I'd tell a friend — chapter by chapter.
Chapter 02 — In Her Own Words
My story.
01 / 10
The gym, age 6
II
A gymnast first.
Former Level 10 gymnast and USA Gymnastics National TOPs B team member. The floor is where I learned that discipline is just love repeated.
High school
III
I want Bama.
Retired from gymnastics and picked up a pole vault. One year of high-school vaulting, one screensaver, one obsession: Alabama.
Roll Tide
IV
Walked on at UA.
Six years competing for Alabama. The dream I'd written across my screen — now lived under stadium lights. And quietly, the first cracks.
The hard part
V
Gained 15 lbs. Severe acne.
I went on Accutane. I kept gaining weight. I did not recognize the woman in the mirror, and I started believing she was the problem.
Restrict
VI
"Lighter" was the lie.
I turned to restrictive eating and dropped the weight — plus more. I thought my new PRs came from being smaller. They didn't.
The rebound
VII
It wasn't sustainable.
The weight came back. So did the shame. The lifestyle I had built on punishment was never going to hold a real life.
The pivot
VIII
4.0 in Exercise Science.
B.S. in Exercise Science with a minor in Communications. Master's in Sports Management. NASM-certified. I went and learned the science behind the woman I wanted to become.
Becoming
IX
An athlete, still.
I fell in love with HYROX. With pushing my body to new limits — for joy, not punishment. I get to be an athlete on my own terms now.
Today
X
The happiest I've ever been.
A great relationship with food. A body I trust. A husband I adore. A community of women I get to coach into lean, strong, free versions of themselves. This is why AttaGirl exists.
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