With the last name Large, I was always conscious about how I looked to avoid getting bullied or made fun of. This self consciousness, unfortunately, turned into an obsession as I entered my teenage years.

I was 13 when I purchased my first diet book. At the time, I was into cheerleading, and because I wanted to be the girl on top, my desire to be light and skinny grew even more, accompanied by restrictive behaviors around food.

This food restriction and starvation cycle continued for the next five years until one day during dance class in high school I was twirling around when I nearly fainted. Before falling over, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and saw the girl staring back at me. She was scared, weak, sick, and in need of help.

In this moment, time stood still. I realized I had a choice. I could continue down this destructive path, or I could learn how to have a healthy fit body in a nourishing way. I am happy to say that I decided to take the latter route and pursue a nutrition and dietetics degree from the University of Mississippi.

Though I learned a lot in college about nutrition, my experience with dieting only continued to grow. For the next several years, I tried everything from raw veganism, paleo, keto, fasting, and I have done more Whole 30’s in my lifetime than I want to admit. I also went on to compete in several bodybuilding shows, Ironman 70.3 triathlons, powerlifting competitions, and even became a full-time personal trainer but nothing felt sustainable.

In 2019 I entered into another dark period. I was suffering from crippling anxiety, binge eating, and inflammation, and I had the hormones of a woman going through menopause at 29. All of this was brought on by an extreme amount of stress and exhaustion.

At the time, I didn’t feel or look like me, and I didn’t like my life. I also put on 20+ pounds from the stress and binge eating. I avoided mirrors like the plague. Though I was in a lot of pain, I decided to remain silent.

I share all of this to be transparent about my journey. For anyone who may look at me and think health, fitness, and nutrition have always come easily and effortlessly for me, it hasn’t. Or I don’t know what it’s like to have terrible eating habits, be overweight, hate my appearance, and want to hide. I do.

Though I have been through a lot with my health at a young age I can look back now and say I am grateful for every experience because they all helped me realize who I love helping the most—a former version of me. My program includes the tools, education and skills that I have found to be the most impactful along my journey. 

Since starting Living Large Wellness, I have been able to help dozens of others achieve and maintain their ideal body compositions. My main objective as a nutritionist is to educate my clients on these same foundational behaviors and support each individual in creating the routines and lifestyles they love to ensure they continue to achieve and sustain their goals.

My work focuses on goal setting, habit building, personalized nutrition, and high-touch accountability.

Living large is about creating an expansive human experience and aligning your health to the life you want to live. I’m honored you are here and thrilled to work with you.

If you resonate with anything in this post, I see and believe in you.