Thank you for taking the time to get to know my journey. Due to my personal weight battles, yoyo dieting and extreme eating disorders. It was top priority to me to bring you natural and healthy weight loss products. I too know what it's like to feel all alone in a weight battle, to not be supported by loved ones, to feel ashamed of the extreme weight gain, to suffering depressed, to not know where to turn to or how to start. It is an awful feeling, I understand. I AM YOU! After battling my weight for many years in secret, I decided to share my personal journey with full transparency in hopes to inspire and motivate others. My weight loss journey has been far from glamorous. It has been filled with downfalls, triumphs, mixed with trial and error. As a young teenager and all the way into my adulthood I have suffered extreme eating disorders ranging from body dysmorphia, anorexia nervosa to bulimia. The combination and lack of knowledge on healthy living brought me to this place now. Which is why i'm sharing my personal journey into a successful weight loss, weight maintenance and healthy way of living. By sharing my story I hope to inspire and motivate others. Being someone who comes from a traditional Latin household it is unheard of to “eat clean” or exercising for health. These are things that are not often discussed in our communities. When I was younger I thought being skinny was the only way to be. My first boyfriend (when I was a teen) encouraged me to starve myself because according to him “I wasn’t worthy to stand next to his side” because I was over weight. His mind manipulation, verbal and physical abuse along with a very difficult personal loss began a spiral down a dark hole of multiple eating disorders. He beat me into unconsciousness, leaving me for dead in a pool of my blood after he sliced my head open, knocked out my teeth, crushed my temple and right cheek bone. Until this present day I don’t have much feeling on the majority of the right side of my face, my right eye is blurry & twitches at times, my eye & eyebrow has involuntary muscle spasms, and the pain in my temple becomes very intense at times. His intention was to kill me so I would never be with anyone else. He said I was “too fat” for him yet, this is what he did to me. He didn’t support me at all. The mental damage and physical damage from my abuse was a big factor to the birth my eating disorders. At one point in my life I joined gangs and was shot multiple times and stabbed with a sharp knife. My life changed dramatically when these events took place. My emotional scars hurt me more than my physical scars. When this happened and I turned to him for support. Instead of supporting me he would only make fun of my wounds and say that I was scarred for life and that I was no longer beautiful. That my scars were so ugly no man would ever want to be with me because they would be disgusted. These were the early beginnings of my ED (eating disorder) spiral! I was trying to break free from my disorders but didn’t know how. Not having a support system made it worse. I couldn’t afford a therapist or a personal trainer. So I began researching knowledge on how to eat right and exercise for physical and mental health. I was at a point where I was not eating anything, eating too much, taking up to 20 laxatives, and trying every starvation diet you can think of. It was a yo yo of weight loss and weight gain over the course of many many years. At my smallest point I was a petite size 0 weighing less than 100 pounds. Just when I thought I was doing better with my weight issues, my spirit was bright again, I was in the gym, I was doing all the right things. My psychological trauma that began my eating disorders came right back around. I found myself back in that same space again. I gained weight! How you ask? Well...

My biggest point in my weight gain, was a size 18! This was only 6 years ago. My weight gain at the time was due to a lifestyle change and depression. I had moved from Los Angeles to New York to work on music and an album. Immediately after landing in New York I booked my first job, to star in a television show. The lifestyle in New York was not as active as my lifestyle in L.A where I often hike or jump into my car and drive to the gym. Not knowing anyone in combination with being in a work environment that was filled with extreme negativity, hostility, and verbal abuse. This took a big part of my bump in the road. I also began to develop severe heart palpitations and DEPRESSION!  My heart was giving out on me. The traumatizing effects of the psychological manipulation that took place lead me into a deep depression resulting in night terrors, severe anxiety, a broken spirit and mental trauma. Through my own personal strength and holding my faith close. I decided a change needed to happen. So I moved on. My road to weight loss began when I made that firm decision to remove myself from that negative environment along with something I would have never believed would help me. I was just finishing recording my single "Eh Mama" and was excited to shoot the music video for it. I began "dieting" preparations to look my best in my music video. I used all the methods I knew of from my eating disorders in order to lose as much weight as possible. I took diet pills, diuretics, I fasted, I took many laxatives nightly, and more dangerously I purged as much as possible. I flew over to the Dominican Republic to shoot my music video. The day of shooting it I was feeling well until I got on set. A few minutes into filming my music video I slowly began to deteriorate! I began feeling dizzy, nauseated, my heart was beating fast and irregular. All I remember was everything turning black and I fainted. I was rushed back to where I was staying. When I awoke my team was frantic. We were across the globe in another country where american medicine is not as advanced and expensive. I made the decision to fly back to the US immediately. Upon arrival I was rushed to the emergency room. A doctor told me that if I waited one more day to fly back, that it was possibly I may have died. I was so scared of what he said I did not know what to think!! Due to the cocktail of extreme dieting I embarked on in preparations of my music video. I was severely dehydrated, exhausted, my sugar was low, my blood pressure was erratic, and that my heart was point blank failing. My eating disorders had once again dominated me. The doctor said that if I didn't kick my eating disorder habits and learn to live a healthy lifestyle that I would die at a young age. WOW! What a wake up call this was to me.

I slowly began attempting to eat healthy but I had no clue what I was doing so I kept giving up. At the same time of what was the beginning of a healthier lifestyle I was contemplating on getting a breast reduction. For many years I suffered with extreme back pain, painful bruising on my shoulders around my bra strap area due to my large breasts. I went for a doctors consultation regarding getting a breast reduction. The doctor told me that if I decided to get my breast reduction, that it was imperative I learn to eat healthy low calorie eating habits and that healing from my disorders was priority. He said I was far too unhealthy and at high risk of dying on the operating table so I had to get healthy first. He also said my recover time would not be like many, mine was a minimum of 8-9 weeks due to the fact that I am a performer and my recovery process is much longer than a normal patient. In short, I needed to make a change ASAP! He also said I needed to imagine being bed ridden for 9 weeks, forbidden to work out, without eating healthy? There is no way he would have allowed that. So, I began the road to trying to overcome my eating disorder by eating healthy and I went on to get my breast reduction. I continued to research how to eat better, had my surgery, began eating healthier, and recovered. By the time I was ready to get back into the world I was 21 pounds slimmer by eating clean through weeks of trial and error. When my doctor allowed me to have some physical activity I began to walk in my neighborhood park and to the store. Just by walking alone, being active and eating clean I dropped my first 30 pounds. This motivated me to continue my new lifestyle I had accidentally discovered and so I did. I joined a gym and began to see results almost immediately. It was not easy but I did it. I incorporated many different ways of eating, protein shakes, and a regular gym routine. Fast forward years ahead, I am now a size 8 medium. I lost over half my body by staying focused, determined and I did it on my own without the help of professional trainers or nutritionists. Simply by figuring out what was realistic for me & my lifestyle. Becoming healthy literally saved my LIFE! Now that I have gone through my own personal up and down hill battle of weight loss over years of trial and errors. I am here sharing my journey with you. I found many tips and a lifestyle that fits me and will help you on your journey. No matter what your goal is or where your life is at the moment. You can do it too, and I am here to help you with my tips by sharing a realistic approach to fitness. 

Con amor, 
Somaya Reece