I lost 49 pounds without a crash diet or a complicated plan.

I didn’t change who I was. I revealed who I am.

In 2018, a car rear-ended me while I waited to turn left into the parking lot of the school where I taught. It left me with a traumatic brain injury. A TBI is invisible, and if you’ve never lived with one, it’s hard to explain. Your brain is your body’s operating system, and an injury like that shakes it to its core. It can take who you are and almost wipe it away.

I had constant migraines, dizziness, nausea, and sensory overload, and I couldn’t organize or process much information. Ordinary things became hard. Going for a walk. Driving. Going shopping. Even thinking about what to eat. I went from running our household food budget to not working, not driving, and having others in charge of the food. I ended up at 184 pounds.

And here’s the part that surprises people: I was a fitness trainer and yoga instructor, with an education in health and teaching. Fitness was my work, and I still ended up there. That’s when I decided to focus on rebuilding. I worked on building new pathways and healing my patterns, my habits, so they worked for me instead of against me. It took two to three years, but it helped my brain, made my life better, and brought me to a whole new level of health.

I thought I was eating healthy. When I actually wrote it all down and looked, I was eating so much processed food that fed inflammation and drowned out my body’s natural cravings. Removing it changed everything.

These numbers don’t define me, but they matter. They show how I feel, move, and function in this one life of mine. Looking better is simply a side effect of feeling better: more freedom to move, and more enjoyment in my own skin.

But the numbers aren’t the best part. The best part is that I love my structure and my fitness. I wake up excited to be alive. All through the day, a bit at a time, I support my wellness: I eat, I rest, I move, I stretch, I strengthen, and I push myself. I call it do, be, do, be, do. You must do, and you must be. It’s a wave, shifting all day long between doing and being, and being includes intentionally observing: noticing how you feel, what your body needs, and what’s working.

I feel more resilient. I feel more capable. I have food patterns that build me up and strong boundaries around what I allow for my health. I used to have major asthma symptoms and reached for my inhaler far too many times a day. Since I removed all processed foods, it doesn’t affect me, and I don’t need my inhaler at all.

I don’t see it as changing who I was. I see it as revealing who I am, the person this reality made so hard to express.

That’s why I share my experience, strength, and hope. Be encouraged. You can do it.

This is my personal experience, not medical advice. Everyone’s body and health are different, so talk with your doctor about your own care.