For many young women living in the Scottish capital, struggling to count calories and monitor their weight is a sad and unhealthy reality.
But the exciting young Edinburgh woman is unconventional and wants her story to be able to inspire others to see it as fuel rather than afraid of food.
Anna Thomson, 28, from Coastfin, says she struggled to find a healthy weight in her teens and early twenties and realized that she was “trying to occupy as little space as possible” in the world. ..
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She constantly counted calories, tried to keep less than 1,000 calories a day, and was afraid to exceed size 6.
However, after overcoming some mental health battles and growing up as an individual, Anna found comfort at the gym.
It was here that her slow and gradual journey into a healthy relationship between diet and exercise began.
Today, she is a competitive bodybuilder, professional personal trainer, competing across Scotland and transforming her physique into a picture of her health.
During her journey, she said: I don’t really speak for myself.
“Five years ago, I was doing what many girls do when they go to the gym. I was already very petite, but I just wanted to lose as much weight as possible.
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“I wanted to occupy as little space as possible in the world, and I was conditioned to think that thinner was better.
“My trip to the gym would involve pure aerobic and abs exercises, as I never dreamed I could challenge free weights.
“It took me a while to develop the courage to enter the free weights section, but after doing my research online, I gained confidence.
“I was always fascinated by weightlifting and admired the people in the free weights section, but I was aware that it was dominated by men.
“It took me about a year to develop the courage to install a barbell for free weight squats. Now I can crouch 100 kilometers. This is angry to think where I started. ..
“It was a very step-by-step process. I was convinced that everyone was looking at me and people thought I wasn’t affiliated and I was in the way.
“But now, in retrospect, I find that it was my own emotional barrier in my mind, because everyone was so nice and no one was staring at me. It was my own anxiety that caused the disorder.
“It was my heart that I had to transform first. Then I started to fall in love with weightlifting and take it more seriously.”
Anna said her physique continued after overcoming her spiritual struggle and she is now confident of bulletproof no matter which gym she steps into.
From there she began to be seriously trained.
She adds: “Mentally and physically run in perfect parallel.
“I didn’t think it was worth occupying space in this world because my image was so low that I insisted on eating less than 1,000 calories a day to refuel my body. ..
“I can assure you that the overexposure of modern society and various forms of social media and the form of women has adversely affected both my mental and physical well-being.
“As a woman, we naturally compare it upwards. The influence of reality TV and the profile of a girl of size 6 and chasing something like a perfect thigh gap was very damaging.
“Looking back, I was definitely underweight. I was convinced that I needed to continue to lose weight.
“If I exceed a certain dress size, that would be the worst in the world.
“But now I’m happy with the 10 size. It doesn’t fit in the 6 size. I accept it.”
Anna said society needs to stop paying too much attention to women’s clothing sizes. This is because it can evoke some harmful emotions.
She hoped to discover the exercise 10 years ago and added that young women need more support and structure to understand how overall exercise is possible.
Anna says that mental health is often forgotten in fitness, but they are very much interrelated.
She gets hooked on the gym very slowly but in a healthy way and wants to turn her obsession into more than just a hobby by attending bodybuilding events through her online research. It is said that he discovered the desire.
Fitness enthusiasts continue: “I’ve always admired the competitive side of weightlifting, but I’ve always had the suspicion that I’m not good enough.
“I went back and forth in my head about the bulk and cut cycle, and whether I could deal with the calorie deficiency factor.
“In 2019 I got my first coach. At first I was still standing on the fence so this wasn’t for competition.
“I was pretty lean and loved the structure and rewards of physically seeing what you put in.
“From there, we went beyond Covid’s blockade and broke barbells and dumbbells in the living room to make a big profit. With a little muscle, we entered the preparatory stage.
“In bodybuilding competitions, we are always ready to build muscle and lose fat.
“My first tournament was last September.
“We need to shred completely on stage and start reducing body fat in about 5 months before competing.
“Cutting isn’t for the timid, but it takes advantage of the mental resilience you didn’t know you had.
“I have a good coach who shifts it as much as possible, but to reach that level of lean, I need to push the boundaries.
“The highest level of aerobic exercise was about 80 minutes a day. It was hard, but I had to do it only for a few weeks when the owner of the stairs was my best friend.
“You are certainly looking forward to bagels on cheat day.
“I studied to be a PT in college and did all this while working part-time.
“If you prove that you can juggle all three, you can do anything.
“What many don’t know is that competition is about 2 percent of the process.
“Glittering bikini and spray coat tanning is just one part of it. If you don’t like the bulky cutting process before that, it’s not for you.
“But when you show your physique, you don’t feel that way. It shows the number of years it took to reach that point.
“It was very unrealistic to attend the Arnold Sports Festival in front of 60,000 attendees, and there was even more online.
“I feel good with a triple coat of tan and glittering bikini.”
Anna also turned her passion into a career by becoming a PT at Gorgui’s Pure Gym.
She says her hard work of studying health and fitness and her own living experience gave her a building block to convey practical knowledge to help others.
Anna shared some moving words for others on the same journey.
She states: My training is still my passion, but above all I use my experience and travel to help as many people as possible.
“I want the people who participate in Chapter 1 to feel empowered at the gym and feel like they are bosses, so that they can secure their own space in the world.
“When you build confidence in the gym, it will be reflected in the other spaces of your life.
“From the bottom of my heart, you don’t have to be a gym, but if you want to build a healthy relationship with your weight, find a form of fitness that you really enjoy.
“Not everyone enjoys being in the gym, but there are many sports out there.
“Physical movements can externalize everything and feel the progress, so there’s nothing more empowering. When that shift occurs, you start to see food as fuel, not enemies. It’s your evolution. It makes it possible.
“I would like to convey this to others and inspire them by saying that anyone I can do.”
Anna has access to one-on-one personal training at PureGym Edinburgh West (Gorgie) and one-on-one online fitness coaching remotely.
Anna is aimed at everyone from complete beginners to experienced exercisers. You can contact us via Instagram (@annalifts_) or email (anna.poweredbyanna@gmail.com).
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