Skinny To Strong

For a long time I told myself I didn't need the gym — I'd just do home workouts with a pair of dumbbells. I told myself I didn't need protein powder. Deep down, I told myself something else too: that I probably couldn't change my body at all, that genetics had already decided how I'd look, and that this athletic, strong-but-still-lean look I saw on other women simply wasn't something my body could do.

When I finally started training in a real gym, I had no idea what I was doing. It took time to find what actually worked — for my training and my food. I had to learn through trial and error, adjusting as I went, figuring out which exercises actually challenged me and which ones just weren't doing anything.

The same went for food. I had to learn that eating enough — real meals, protein AND carbs, not just "eating light" — was non-negotiable if I wanted my body to actually change. Restriction had kept me small. Fueling myself properly is what let me build something.

Then I saw the first real progress. Not huge. Just enough to prove it was actually working. And that was it — there was no going back after that. Training stopped being something I was trying and became something I genuinely couldn't imagine my life without.

That's exactly why I coach now — not from a textbook, but from having lived every stage of this myself: the disbelief, the trial and error, and the moment it finally clicked.