How My Medical History Shaped the Way I Approach Strength, Health, and Recovery

I want to start by being clear about why this work exists — and why it looks different from a lot of health and fitness content you’ll find online.

My path into this work didn’t start with aesthetics, performance goals, or a desire to “optimize” my body. It started with chronic illness, medical uncertainty, and the slow realization that being medically managed is not the same thing as being functionally okay.

For years, I lived with ulcerative colitis. Like many people with inflammatory disease, I learned how to keep going even when my body wasn’t cooperating. I adapted. I minimized. I functioned. From the outside, things often looked stable. Internally, my capacity was shrinking.

Eventually, surgery became part of my story. Living with an ostomy fundamentally changed my body — but more importantly, it changed how I understand recovery, strength, and trust in the body.

Not because everything suddenly became easy.

And not because surgery “fixed” anything.

But because it forced me to confront a reality that many people live with quietly:

You can survive.

You can cope.

You can look fine.

And still not feel safe, strong, or resourced in your body.

What I Learned the Hard Way

After surgery, I was technically cleared to return to life. That didn’t mean my nervous system trusted my body. It didn’t mean my strength came back automatically. And it definitely didn’t mean my energy, digestion, or recovery behaved predictably.

What I needed wasn’t more discipline or motivation.

I needed a different framework.

One that accounted for:

• Reduced capacity after illness and surgery

• The way stress and inflammation change recovery

• The disconnect between pain, appearance, and actual load tolerance

• The fact that rebuilding often requires less force, not more

Over time — and through my own rebuilding process — I stopped viewing strength as something you prove. I started viewing it as something you support.

That shift changed everything.

Why I Do This Work Now

I became a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach not because I believe bodies need fixing — but because I saw how many people were being told they should be fine when they clearly weren’t.

This includes people who:

• Live with chronic or inflammatory illness

• Have ostomies or complex surgical histories

• Are post-cancer or post-major medical events

• Are burned out, hormonally depleted, or chronically stressed

• Have been cleared medically but don’t feel functionally well

My work sits in the space between medical care and real life.

I don’t diagnose.

I don’t prescribe treatment.

And I don’t believe effort is the missing piece.

What I offer is a way to interpret what your body is doing — so you can rebuild strength, energy, and trust without self-blame or constant pushback.

What This Blog Is (and Isn’t)

This blog isn’t about perfect routines, rigid plans, or transformation stories.

It is about:

• Understanding capacity when it’s reduced

• Recognizing signals beyond pain

• Rebuilding strength safely after illness, surgery, or burnout

• Supporting recovery biology instead of fighting it

• Letting progress be gradual, adaptive, and human

You won’t find fear-based messaging here.

You won’t be told to push through or try harder.

And you won’t be promised outcomes your body may not be ready for.

This work is educational, not medical advice.

It’s about patterns, not prescriptions.

And it’s grounded in respect for real bodies and real lives.

If You’re Here

If you’ve ever felt like:

• You should be further along by now

• Your body isn’t responding the way it used to

• Motivation disappeared before you did

• You’re tired of forcing progress

You’re not broken.

There’s a reason rebuilding feels different — and there is a safer way forward.

That’s what this space is here to support.

If you’re curious about my background and why I approach this work the way I do, you can read more here.