Hi, my name is Dorotea and I would like to share my journey with you.
My story with food dates way back when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was a normal cheerful kid and never saw my weight as a big problem, but I guess society did. I was bullied and teased for it, mostly by unknown kids from the park, but what hurt me the most is when my best friend at the time decided to call me ''Fatty''. And I thought it was normal until one day my dad asked me why do I let her call me like that.
These things have never actually broke me down as a person, I guess I just have such a strong character that I don't let it influence my life or my choices; I mean, my weight has never stopped me from doing things I wanted - I did sports pretty seriously for about 10 years or so. But if you think it didn't hurt me and left a big scar, you are mistaken.
Over the years I just gained and gained and at the end it really did become a problem. I went through all sorts of counselling about food. At one point of my life I even went to endocrinologist, but nothing really helped me up until when I was around 13 or 14 years old when I finally decided to do something about it.
I went throught this phase of dieting and I did lose a decent amount of weight and although scale said I was skinny, my body was all wiggly and I might have looked good in clothes, but the thought of taking the clothes off terrified me. It's what diets do to your body. It may be the harsh truth, but it needs to be said. For a long long time I believed that is how you lose weight – you do diets for 3 months, don't eat a bunch of food that that diet doesn't let you, and then you lose the weight. But now I know there are other, much healthier ways.
What happened next was a lot of yo-yo effects. You know, they happen after these sorts of diets, but I feel like it's still a subject that must not be talked about. You see these great before and after photos, but what nobody shows is an after the after photo. For a good 5 years my weight was just going up and down, up and down. Up until somewhere around when I was 19 years old and I finally broke down. I just couldn't take it anymore. Nor could my body. My immune system started crashing, I felt like I couldn't do it anymore because my body rejected the diets and just like that everything I knew about losing weight went down the drain. I was miserable and I was just eating and eating and gaining and gaining. At that time I stopped doing sports and I just felt lost and I thought this is how it's going to be for the rest of my life. To make things worse I enrolled into the Law University, something I couldn't stand and I hated it to the core of my being. The only reason why I did it was cause I didn't know what to do after high-school and everyone told me this was for me. The most important leason learnt – never listen to others about your life. Nobody knows you like you know yourself.
But anyways, what happened next was this – one day one friend of mine reached out to me asking me if I was willing to come to a nutrition club so that they see if they can help me. I usually would have never said ''yes'', but at the time my attitude was ''it can't be worse than this''. So I said yes and that moment is the moment that has changed my life.
They showed me what it means to eat healthy and be healthy in every aspect of the word. They showed me you are allowed to eat everything, the only thing is how, when and with what. They showed me what a balanced diet is. They showed me it doesn't last for only 3 months – they showed me it's trully a lifestyle.
At the exact same time I discovered Blogilates and fell in love with Pop Pilates. I was one of those people who HATED P.E. classes and after my 3 years pause from doing any sports what so ever, I started enjoying sports for the first time in a long long time. I didn't just fall back in love with it – the love towards fitness got on a whole new level for me. But this didn't help me fall back in love just with sports, it helped me fall back in love with myself and my body as well. As conceited as that may sound. I learned how to respect every single inch of my body and soul and I am beyond thanful for that.
To make it even better I finally realised what I wanted to do with my life. It was right in front of me all of this time, but I was too blind to see it. I applied for the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, course Nutrition Science and when I found out I got in (they accept only 50 students per year!) I was the happiest girl on the block!
It's been around 2 years since that happened and today I am trying to live a healthy, happy and inspiring life. I've lost around 80lbs (35kgs) and around 51 inches (130cm) all around my body. I still have weight to lose, but fitness for me today is all about being stronger, healthier and happier.
All that I am today is a result of a real time struggles I went through throughout all of my life. My dreams for the future are big and I am willing to work hard for them. Passion is what drives me and when things seem so hard I just remember why I am doing everything that I am doing. It's really as simple as that - find something you love and let it be your one and only.