My Story

Christi Ham
Feb 17, 2017
3 min read

I have not been fit my whole life. In fact there have been many points that I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. I grew up playing sports and dancing, but I was never really great at anything. My lanky limbs and lack of body control made it very difficult to have enough coordination for any of these activities. When I was in high school I fell in love with running track. As unsuccessful as I was, I still learned to push myself to a different level than I had ever had to for dance. This alone is one of the most valuable lessons I have ever received. I would go through many practices constantly crossing the finish line several seconds after all of my teammates, but because of my passion for the sport, I learned focus and drive. Over the next summer and fall I trained diligently and I finally saw improvements during that next year. I was so happy when I would reach new PR's at practice and it truly motivated me to continue on. However, the head coach did not have the same ideas as I, and didn't give me a spot in any meets that season, which happened to be my Senior year and therefore my last year to participate.

This devastated me and I began to loose value in myself. I stopped caring about eating healthy and started eating fast-food all the time. This caused me to have a very unhealthy relationship with food. I began stress eating to compensate for my emotions and trying to fill the void that was left after I no longer had dance or track to turn to for an outlet. This quickly spiraled into an eating disorder that consumed my life. I lived in a constant cycle of binging on any foods I could find and then quickly rushing to a bathroom to throw it up. Food was now thought of as an enemy, an obstacle that only brought me distress. I could feel my body deteriorating and strength degrading even after just a few months of this terrible cycle I was in. Once I realized there would be no way I could get out of this hole I had dug myself into by my self, I turned to a counselor at my school. She helped me with learning techniques to avoid binges and continue perusing a healthy relationship with food and also with my self. Body image was something I have struggled with and I know many others struggle with as well, especially in the fitness industry. Going through the eating disorder was the darkest point in my life. My poor relationship with food and distorted body image caused me to develop a very unhealthy and dangerous lifestyle. Luckily, with all of the support I received, I was able to work through this and it has since turned me into the person I am today.

Since coming to college, I have found my calling and passion in weightlifting. This happened after I met a boy in my biology class named Kai. He was quiet and shy and soon became my closest friend. Naturally I had quite a crush on this mystery boy that I knew almost nothing about except that he was a weightlifter. Since that was about the only interest of his that I was aware of, I told him that I also lifted weights when in reality I had never even stepped foot in the weight room here at Baylor. I figured if I were to impress him I should actually show up and try working out. At first I was rocky, not knowing my body positioning or how to even formulate an effective workout. However, After spending countless hours researching and learning out the human body and nutrition, I have only grown to love bodybuilding more and more. Where as my journey into the weight room may have been build on a fib, my passion for bodybuilding and fitness is completely honest. I find that my favorite part of my day is always the hour or two spent in the gym with just myself and the weights. I feel truly blessed to have an opportunity to compete in my first bodybuilding competition this summer and document my prep here on my site. For all of you who are following my progress I thank you for your support and I am so happy you are here to share this journey with me!