Haley J Lorenz

My fitness journey truly began when I decided to compete in my first bikini competition in Ottawa when I was 20. I was suffering from chronic IBS and anxiety and this prep helped me through it and I felt better than ever. I wanted a mental a physical challenge and I wanted to push myself to its limits. I did exactly that, I worked my butt off training 7 days a week and an extremely strict low calorie meal plan for 13weeks straight.

 

I won first in my category and decided to continue competing but everything took a downward spiral for the worse. I developed an eating disorder with no one to blame but myself and I gained 40lbs in about a month post competition when I only lost 17lbs for the competition. Even though people told me I looked good, I didn't feel goo on the inside. Mentally I hated my body, none of my clothes fit, I didn't like how I looked in photos, and I would beat myself up everyday mentally. 

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A year later from struggling with binging, seeing specialists and therapists, and reading everything I there is about overcoming a slump like this, I suddenly snapped back into wanting to be a healthy individual after continuous persistence and falling down, I would always pick myself back up to continue fighting and still do to this day.

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So what clicked in my head that made me have more better days than not? I started focusing on feeling good than how I looked. I knew that the way I looked was a reward of putting in the work of feel good and taking care if both my mind and body. Feeling better made me HAPPY and thats what is most important to me.