Growing up, I had a tough relationship with food.
I had a mother who was a model and a father who owned a restaurant and is a chef. I have always loved food like my dad, but I also had the pressure of a mother who was a model. We shared clothes up until about 9th grade when I outgrew the clothing we were sharing. I was never considered overweight by my peers, but looking back at photos- I was bigger than a lot of my friends, but I was not fat by any means.
I moved to the Dominican Republic when I just turned 18. I started off by doing a retreat with my aunt who was a life coach and yoga instructor...and a previous model. I was eating healthy and doing yoga twice per day and my body leaned out relatively quickly. She then moved home and I moved out on my own and this is where things turned for the worse. I was living in a new country with new foods, flavors, and being so young even though I was independent- I didn’t like to cook a lot.
After a while, I started gaining weight and living an unhealthy lifestyle of fried foods, takeout and alcohol. I was always the biggest one out of my friends who were all surfers and water sport athletes. I started to feel uncomfortable with myself, but not enough to make a change. Fast forward a few years and I had a very traumatic experience happen to me. I was so uncomfortable and unhappy with myself and I was using food as a coping method instead of going to the therapy I very much needed. I packed on the weight. I started dating somebody who I thought loved me for who I was, but when we got into an argument one day he said “You are so f*in fat, you’re so fat” repeatedly. This is where I knew I needed to take my power back and get out of the funk I was in and change my life.
A week later, I started my journey. It definitely wasn’t an easy one, but I was dedicated. I moved away to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania to live with my nana for a few months which kept me on track and away from distractions and got to work. I was going to the gym and following my meal plan consistently and by the end of the 3 months I was there I had lost about 20lbs. Back before I even considered doing this, I never thought that I would be considered one of the “skinny friends”, I didn’t even think my body was capable of being like that. I was proud of myself and it felt really good.
After I lost the weight, I had many people coming to me asking for assistance on how to lose weight as well. I always offered to assist them as best I could as someone who just decided to lose weight, but I wanted to be able to truly help people change their lives the way I changed mine with the knowledge and skill of a certified coach. It took me a few years to finally pull the trigger, but I did it and here we are!
About to start your own journey into a happy, healthy life. That may not mean weight loss, it may just be to live healthier and manage your eating habits. Whatever it is, I am here and happy to help.
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