I've always struggled with food.

At the age of 9, I was a competitive cheerleader. I had been doing it for a few years, and after having hours of practice nearly every day a week, I was getting sick of it — quite literally. I was steadily losing weight due to anxiety and my generally small build, nearly 20 pounds in the span of a few weeks. I rarely ate, and with all that added exercise, I just couldn't do it anymore. So I quit. After that, I didn't (and still don't) have any form of exercise other than the required gym class at school. I quickly gained the weight back, if not more. People still continued to comment on how skinny I was, although I didn't believe it. Around fifth grade, I rarely ate. I was desperate to lose the weight; the app My Fitness Pal was my best friend. Calories, calories, calories. I constantly counted calories. Even today I'm still tempted to look at them and try not to eat too many. If only I had the mind that I do today. The me today knows that that wasn't okay, so here I am now. All I want out of this app is a healthier me. Not a skinnier me, not a weighs-under-100-pounds/me. I genuinely believe that I can accomplish this, without trying to worry about what number I'm consuming. What matters is that my body is happy and healthy, and so am I. I just wanted to share this story, in hopes that it can help people who are going through similar experiences as I had :)