Recovering Food Addict Turned NPC Competitor

**Lil Powerhouse "Cione"** · 04-05-2009, 12:18 PM

My name is Nyla from Sarasota, FL - originally from Miami.

I wanted to share some experience, strength and hope with any of the girls who might struggle with an eating disorder but love competing.

I am heading into my second season with only one show under my belt, still very novice at much but I need to pass on that if you have an eating disorder, you can do this sport without selling out to the food or behavior.

My top weight was 170 lbs. (see my website: www.fit2give.com) but realized that my issues with body image, weight and food were far beyond the actual subjects of them.

My motive in life was to run, and run I did. Food was my biggest go to for many years.

When I come off a show, I don't have the luxury (if we want to call it that) to go have a pizza and a tub of ice cream because it would throw me into a relapse thus, probably never competing again.

So, what was born out of wanting to change things for the better was Fit2Give. I thought to myself oneday, what the heck is my life standing for and do I want to be a person "doing" or "being". Ultimately my heart want to give back and so when I finally decided to take on the training to compete, I also decided that I needed to have a new experience with the concept of my body, weight (fat) loss, and bring it from the inside out.

I actually found someone in recovery like me from the food addiction who did shows and did it without the binging after the show. We connect closely especially when I am approaching a show to keep me focused and not into what the heck I am going to eat after the show.

I pretty much eat a sugar, wheat and flour free plan anyway - without competing so this sport was the one sport I could do. However, when it came to the carb up - I was in a little bit of a pickle. Plus I don't drink alcohol and could not do the wine with the dinner the night before prejudging. I was able to come up with a load meal and a beverage that actually gave me the same pump without it being the sugar and flour load we so often see in this sport.

I had some of my teammates share with me that they wished they did not have to do the junk loads because they too had eating disorder issues but they did it to show well and sucked it up.

It has been almost 17 years now in recovery from food addiction and alcohol for me and I am happy to share that because I know I am not alone and there is hope and solutions for people like me who want to be an athlete and still have a life.

If this share helped anyone, then it was definately worth putting this out there to do just that.

Take care of you, always.

**tammyp** · 04-05-2009, 02:48 PM

thanks so much for sharing your story and welcome to RXM!

Angela123 · 04-05-2009, 06:30 PM

Thanks for sharing girl and welcome to RX.

You may also want to stop in the Transform Your Life Forum...they have a forum for Success Stories and Transformations. Yours would be a great addition.

http://forums.rxmuscle.com/forumdisplay.php?f=45