One fall I came back to high school to start grade 9 and realized all the other boys had gotten taller, stronger, and faster. What I really noticed, is that I hadn't. By Grade 11, I was still lagging behind. I got into weightlifting at the age of 16 to take matters into my own hands and spent most of my life quite lean and muscular. This is why it usually comes as a shock when people find out that I struggled severely with body image. For 11 years of my life, vigorous exercise and obsessive calorie counting were my life. I forgot what it was like to just "eat when you're hungry". I learned not to trust my body- after all it was just trying to make me fat and unhealthy. I got into intermittent fasting, which intially made things way easier. I could start to have a life again. Eating bigger meals I was able to start to feel full again, sort of like what I imagined a normal person might feel. Then I started to obsess. I was eating less and less, and becoming even less satisfied with my physical appearance. I was headed down a dark road, spending $1000s of dollars on trainers and coaches. My energy plummeted and I started to wonder if I would ever get my energy back. If I would ever be normal again. I ended up in the doctor's office one day because the brain fog and low energy was so bad. They checked my heart and found it beating at 34bpm. My hormones, like testosterone, were almost non-existent. My doctor told me that I had two choices - give up fasting and dieting, or end up in the hospital with permanent damage. I stumbled into a new obsession though, one that not only saved, but transformed my life. Once finished with my Biochemistry degree, I started studying human behaviour. I started to understand why I got so obsessed with calorie counting and why I had so much trouble being "normal". I had always been spending so much time and energy focusing on the physical aspects, like diet and exercise, while completely neglecting the source of those physical aspects, my mind. Today I work as a health coach, teaching others how they can make health enjoyable. My philosophy is that health should make your life better. If you're an executive superstar, then your health should probably help you perform better at work. If you're a devoted parent or partner - your health should probably help you have more energy for your kids and family.