The Summer I Turned Pretty - Episode 21

This wasn’t the summer I turned pretty.This was the summer I turned real.In this deeply honest solo episode, I open up about my 50 lb weight loss journey over 7 months—not as a "glow-up," but as a full-body reckoning. After gaining weight from a hormone imbalance caused by birth control, I had to fight to feel like myself again. With consistent gym time, hours of walking, and more rounds of golf than I can count, I began to reclaim my body—only to be met with praise I never asked for and a pressure I wasn’t ready for.Everyone said I looked amazing. But what they didn’t see?The body dysmorphia. The shame. The mirror that got meaner, not kinder.The girl who looked “better” but felt more insecure than ever.This episode explores the emotional weight no one talks about—the kind you carry long after the pounds are gone. I also share a chaotic and heartfelt love letter to my two heeler dogs, Whiskey (blue) and Copenhagen (red), who dragged me out of depression, nightmares, and bed—literally. Every walk, every bruise, every ball thrown 78 times in a row… they were part of my healing, too.If you’ve ever felt unseen in your “before,” overwhelmed in your “after,” or like pretty came at too high a price—this one’s for you.