27/09/2023 – Blog Update – Why I won’t be competing again
(Incase you missed my Instagram post)
I’ve decided that I won’t be competing again. I’ve struggled with this decision for a very long time, but now feels like the right time for me to close this chapter 📕
The day I turned pro two years ago was up there with one of the greatest achievements of my life. It was one of those extraordinary moments in life that you simply cannot explain 🥺
Before that prep, I was very lost. I wasn’t in a great place mentally and my confidence was extremely low. I know now upon years of reflection, I used competing to hide a lot of these issues. In the hope to regain control, a sense of self worth and purpose again. I hoped being successful in this sport would bring me the happiness I was so desperately looking for
The pressure I put on myself after turning pro was unbelievable and the self doubt I had increased massively. Unfortunately, I then ran into some physical health issues and my life took a really difficult turn, meaning I couldn’t train or function how I usually would. But, because I made competing and being successful in this sport my whole identity, coming away from that season, I found myself even more lost than I was before
Over the past two years, I have done a lot of work within myself and my worth is now not tied to anything. I still love to train and will do for the rest of my life (as long as I am capable)
But I’m in such a better place now, the life I have is fulfilled in so many areas, it is a life I am truly happy and content with. Competing just doesn’t seem to have a place in it for me anymore.
I’m still struggling with health issues which would make it very difficult for me to go through the necessary processes of getting on stage again even if I wanted to
My mental and physical well-being is my priority, I feel to continue in this sport I could jeopardise losing that again and to me, I’m not willing to take that risk
I do not regret anything, as hard as it has been, this has been an incredible journey, one I will never forget. I achieved above and beyond what I ever set out to do in this sport and I can walk away feeling so unbelievably proud of that. If your goal is to compete and even turn pro, that’s great. Honestly, go for it with all of your heart because this sport can really bring so much when do for the right reasons. Don’t lose sight of who you are and become so consumed you forget. Compete because you are already whole, not to fill a void in your life the hope it’ll fix everything, because trust me it won’t. Turning pro will not magically catapult your life into a world of happiness and success. Don’t bury your struggles, focus on what you need to work on before you ever consider competing.
02/08/23 – Blog Update
Phase: Maintenance Phase
Haven’t updated this blog in a while so wanted to give an update of where I’m at now!
Nothing extremely exciting to come from me, I am not in any particular phase in regards to physique goals at the minute or have any plans to compete. My health wouldn’t allow it currently, so my main focus is training to remain strong and because I love it! Training is going really well despite fatigue being super high still and it keeps me feeling happy!
Nutrition – intuitively eating approach which I have adopted since the start of the year, prioritising eating less processed foods which noticeably has impacted how I feel physically, plus this approach has massively helped improve my relationship with food.
Health – MRI brain 6 weeks ago was normal, I am now being referred to an endocrinologist as I still have issues hormonally: fatigue, irregular periods, hair loss alongside managed hashimotos disease. I just feel it’s time for a review of everything to see what can be done to improve all of these moving forward.
Once this improves, a more physique related goal can and will be set!
Please let me know if anyone has any q’s regarding any of the above!
Haven’t updated this blog in a while so wanted to give an update of where I’m at now!
I have been in a fat loss phase since February of this year and will be coming to an end in the next 2 weeks. I have managed to lose 5kg which I am super happy with. As my thyroid is now within range due to take thyroxine daily, has allowed my body to finally respond and play ball!
Although, my thyroid is within range, my prolactin is still high and have been referred for an MRI brain to check if there’s any issues with my pituitary gland. This will be in the next few weeks, so will keep this updated with results.
I am still extremely fatigued and this could be due to prolactin being raised which, has impacted recovery and training. Training has been a different approach: less volume across the week with more rest days/deloads as needed.
Nutrition has remained consistent, an anti-inflammatory approach to my diet has really benefited my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s and enabled me to lose body fat.
So, ongoing health issues as always but just doing what I can!
Since my last update I have had some blood work back. My thyroid is now within range since taking 50mg of thyroxine, which is great news. However, prolactin was still high so repeat bloods will be taken in about 3/4 weeks before potentially being referred to an endocrinologist.
So, because my thyroid is now playing ball I feel confident, alongside my coach that we can now enter a fat loss phase and try to lose some body fat to improve body composition. This is something I’ve been really eager to do as for the past 12 months+ losing weight has been extremely difficult for me due to my thyroid function. I began this phase 2 weeks ago and have already lost 1.5kg which I am buzzing about!
This fat loss phase has been different to my previous methods, I usually adopt a IIFYM approach however, this time I am intuitively eating and relying purely on my own hunger signals and cues. This has definitely removed pressure around counting kcal and macros/tracking and weighing all my food. I have paid close attention for many years to what I am consuming so I have a very good idea of kcal and macro content of food.
Body composition has slowly started to improve which is super encouraging! I am excited to see what I can do now for the next 12 weeks or so!
I will keep this blog updated on my progress
Little update since last blog post, I have had my bloods taken again to check prolactin and thyroid levels, will get my results back Tuesday. If thyroid is still not in range, most likely my thyroxine will be increased from 50-100mg. I have still been experiencing high levels of fatigue at times so, I have a feeling I will be needing my meds adjusting. Once. thyroid is within range, I will be hoping to transition to a diet phase for a short period of time to get body comp in a better place before an improvement phase towards the back end of 2023.
I haven’t been in a stable enough position from a health point of view to push either way: diet or improvement phase.
This current maintenance phase has been so good so far, working with a new coach with a completely different approach to what I am used to has been really beneficial for me. The pressure has completely been taken off me to not be ‘pushing’ for something, for an aesthetic goal. I have purely been focusing on making my body as healthy as I can make it physically and mentally. I have been working on my relationship with myself, body and food since the start of the year. I have adopted an intuitive eating approach which I haven’t ever really done before, this also removes pressures of counting/weighing food and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
Training is flying since my focus has been on health, I am really enjoying it and strength is pretty much at an all time high despite the health issues I am facing.
Once bloods are back, a more focused game plan can be implemented but everything is feeling positive!
27/09/2023 – Blog Update – Why I won’t be competing again
(Incase you missed my Instagram post)
I’ve decided that I won’t be competing again. I’ve struggled with this decision for a very long time, but now feels like the right time for me to close this chapter 📕
The day I turned pro two years ago was up there with one of the greatest achievements of my life. It was one of those extraordinary moments in life that you simply cannot explain 🥺
Before that prep, I was very lost. I wasn’t in a great place mentally and my confidence was extremely low. I know now upon years of reflection, I used competing to hide a lot of these issues. In the hope to regain control, a sense of self worth and purpose again. I hoped being successful in this sport would bring me the happiness I was so desperately looking for
The pressure I put on myself after turning pro was unbelievable and the self doubt I had increased massively. Unfortunately, I then ran into some physical health issues and my life took a really difficult turn, meaning I couldn’t train or function how I usually would. But, because I made competing and being successful in this sport my whole identity, coming away from that season, I found myself even more lost than I was before
Over the past two years, I have done a lot of work within myself and my worth is now not tied to anything. I still love to train and will do for the rest of my life (as long as I am capable)
But I’m in such a better place now, the life I have is fulfilled in so many areas, it is a life I am truly happy and content with. Competing just doesn’t seem to have a place in it for me anymore.
I’m still struggling with health issues which would make it very difficult for me to go through the necessary processes of getting on stage again even if I wanted to
My mental and physical well-being is my priority, I feel to continue in this sport I could jeopardise losing that again and to me, I’m not willing to take that risk
I do not regret anything, as hard as it has been, this has been an incredible journey, one I will never forget. I achieved above and beyond what I ever set out to do in this sport and I can walk away feeling so unbelievably proud of that. If your goal is to compete and even turn pro, that’s great. Honestly, go for it with all of your heart because this sport can really bring so much when do for the right reasons. Don’t lose sight of who you are and become so consumed you forget. Compete because you are already whole, not to fill a void in your life the hope it’ll fix everything, because trust me it won’t. Turning pro will not magically catapult your life into a world of happiness and success. Don’t bury your struggles, focus on what you need to work on before you ever consider competing.
02/08/23 – Blog Update
Phase: Maintenance Phase
Haven’t updated this blog in a while so wanted to give an update of where I’m at now!
Nothing extremely exciting to come from me, I am not in any particular phase in regards to physique goals at the minute or have any plans to compete. My health wouldn’t allow it currently, so my main focus is training to remain strong and because I love it! Training is going really well despite fatigue being super high still and it keeps me feeling happy!
Nutrition – intuitively eating approach which I have adopted since the start of the year, prioritising eating less processed foods which noticeably has impacted how I feel physically, plus this approach has massively helped improve my relationship with food.
Health – MRI brain 6 weeks ago was normal, I am now being referred to an endocrinologist as I still have issues hormonally: fatigue, irregular periods, hair loss alongside managed hashimotos disease. I just feel it’s time for a review of everything to see what can be done to improve all of these moving forward.
Once this improves, a more physique related goal can and will be set!
Please let me know if anyone has any q’s regarding any of the above!
16/05/23 – Blog Update
Phase: Diet phase
Haven’t updated this blog in a while so wanted to give an update of where I’m at now!
I have been in a fat loss phase since February of this year and will be coming to an end in the next 2 weeks. I have managed to lose 5kg which I am super happy with. As my thyroid is now within range due to take thyroxine daily, has allowed my body to finally respond and play ball!
Although, my thyroid is within range, my prolactin is still high and have been referred for an MRI brain to check if there’s any issues with my pituitary gland. This will be in the next few weeks, so will keep this updated with results.
I am still extremely fatigued and this could be due to prolactin being raised which, has impacted recovery and training. Training has been a different approach: less volume across the week with more rest days/deloads as needed.
Nutrition has remained consistent, an anti-inflammatory approach to my diet has really benefited my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s and enabled me to lose body fat.
So, ongoing health issues as always but just doing what I can!
06/03/2023 – Blog Update
Phase: Diet phase
Since my last update I have had some blood work back. My thyroid is now within range since taking 50mg of thyroxine, which is great news. However, prolactin was still high so repeat bloods will be taken in about 3/4 weeks before potentially being referred to an endocrinologist.
So, because my thyroid is now playing ball I feel confident, alongside my coach that we can now enter a fat loss phase and try to lose some body fat to improve body composition. This is something I’ve been really eager to do as for the past 12 months+ losing weight has been extremely difficult for me due to my thyroid function. I began this phase 2 weeks ago and have already lost 1.5kg which I am buzzing about!
This fat loss phase has been different to my previous methods, I usually adopt a IIFYM approach however, this time I am intuitively eating and relying purely on my own hunger signals and cues. This has definitely removed pressure around counting kcal and macros/tracking and weighing all my food. I have paid close attention for many years to what I am consuming so I have a very good idea of kcal and macro content of food.
Body composition has slowly started to improve which is super encouraging! I am excited to see what I can do now for the next 12 weeks or so!
I will keep this blog updated on my progress
03/02/2023 – Blog Update
Phase: Health focus
Little update since last blog post, I have had my bloods taken again to check prolactin and thyroid levels, will get my results back Tuesday. If thyroid is still not in range, most likely my thyroxine will be increased from 50-100mg. I have still been experiencing high levels of fatigue at times so, I have a feeling I will be needing my meds adjusting. Once. thyroid is within range, I will be hoping to transition to a diet phase for a short period of time to get body comp in a better place before an improvement phase towards the back end of 2023.
I haven’t been in a stable enough position from a health point of view to push either way: diet or improvement phase.
This current maintenance phase has been so good so far, working with a new coach with a completely different approach to what I am used to has been really beneficial for me. The pressure has completely been taken off me to not be ‘pushing’ for something, for an aesthetic goal. I have purely been focusing on making my body as healthy as I can make it physically and mentally. I have been working on my relationship with myself, body and food since the start of the year. I have adopted an intuitive eating approach which I haven’t ever really done before, this also removes pressures of counting/weighing food and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
Training is flying since my focus has been on health, I am really enjoying it and strength is pretty much at an all time high despite the health issues I am facing.
Once bloods are back, a more focused game plan can be implemented but everything is feeling positive!