“Generational Inspiration”

What this episode covers

Lea Fuchs is a NASM certified personal trainer, PN level 1 certified nutrition coach, fitness online coach and natural IFBB bikini competitor. She has a Bachelor of Arts double degree in International Business, and now focuses on helping her clients create a healthy and sustainable lifestyle through fitness and nutrition. I grew up in a small town in Germany with my parents, twin-sister and older brother. At the age of 15, I moved out and across the globe to do a so-called ’High-School Year’, spending one year living and studying in Kentucky. I didn’t know anyone at first and I was hardly able to communicate in English , so this experience ’forced’ me to step out of my comfort zone for the first time. Not everything went as planned - I had to switch host-families, since the woman I first lived with pretty much kept me isolated & did not allow me to leave the house without her and to meet friends. Until I was actually able to move in with my best friend from High-School, I had to face a very difficult couple of weeks. I felt completely helpless, I was scared, I didn’t know how to get out & honestly felt like being kept in prison. Today I know that everything happens for a reason and that I am never put in a situation that I’m not able to handle. That time showed me how much I can count on my parent’s support & love as well as the support & love of other people, especially my best High-School friend and her parents & siblings who made me part of their family and are still my family away from home. Over 9 years have passed, my ’sister’ visited me in Germany and I’ve been back in KY twice, the last time for her wedding. After my first year away from home, I went on many more adventures. As soon as I graduated from High-School in Germany, I moved to Sydney where I spend one year working as an Au-pair, traveling most parts of Australia, Bali as well as Thailand. It was one of the best times I ever had. However, at that point I didn’t know that some of the hardest years would follow. While still living in Sydney, I got diagnosed with gastritis & on top of that, I had to deal with a bladder infection. The pain was so severe, that I was afraid to eat and even drink water because every time I did, my stomach started to hurt so badly that I couldn’t function properly. Within a few weeks I had lost so much weight that I was dangerously underweight and nothing but skin and bone. Unfortunately the medicine I got subscribed didn’t help, so I started experimenting with my diet & was eventually able to heal myself mainly by switching to a plant-based diet and eliminating gluten. I then returned to Germany, where I started to study International Business and also spent 1,5 years at the partner university in the UK. Since my health issues in Sydney, I was simply not able to put on weight and found myself unhappier and more insecure in my body than ever before. I honestly thought that I rather looked like a 12 year old girl and not a young woman. There was hardly anything left from my usually so positive and bubbly self and I remember many days when I stayed at home instead of going out with friends because I simply felt so uncomfortable in my body. One day, I received a message from my mom saying that one of my best friends had messaged her asking if I was anorexic. Even though I knew she was only worried about me, it hurt - a lot. I decided the very same day, that I finally had to change my life in order to gain control again. I started going to the gym regularly and eventually got into weightlifting. I educated myself more about nutrition and realized that I had been eating way too little calories. Since it’s mentally never easy to gain weight, even if it’s for the best, I had to not only work on my body but also my mindset - so that’s when my self-development journey started as well! While still being in school,

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