“I felt like I was controlling what I was eating and it was the only thing I could control. I couldn’t stand up and walk, I was so dizzy all the time,” Antonia said as she described how weak she became from not eating. “It got to the point where my mom said you can go to the ER or you can eat, and I went to the ER.”
At five feet and five inches, barely topping out at 90 pounds, Antonia spent several stays at Mercy Hospital and was unable to go to school for months while in recovery because she was too weak from severely starving herself.
Now at 120 pounds of pure muscle, Antonia is a power lifting power house.
“When I’m lifting I feel strong, I feel powerful, and I want to feel like that, I love feeling like that,” she said.
When she finally returned to school, Antonia wanted to get stronger and get back to cheer leading, so she found her way to the school weight room. That’s where she met school coach and former power lifter Jeff Quirk who introduced her to what would become her new passion. Antonia said she was hooked immediately and kept coming back to learn for powerlifting workouts.
While Antonia’s interest in power lifting grew, her mother feared her daughter was trading one extreme for another and wasn’t so quick to get on board with the idea.
“I thought, oh great, still about body image, still about trying to lose weight,” said Antonia’s mother, Christine Haley. But then Christine saw he daughter not only start eating more and more, but becoming stronger and healthier. “We actually went to the doctor’s probably when she was about four or fives months into it and she stepped on the scale. I noticed the scale was up and I was like, ‘oh my God, oh my God, she’s going to freak out.’ But she was like, Yeah! She started jumping up and down and hugging the nurses.”
Antonia, who has now been lifting for nine months, can squat a weight of 210 pounds, dead lift 205, and bench 100. Her physical achievements really shined when she entered first body building competition in September, and placed in two categories.
“There were people there who had been lifting for 10 years, and for me to place it was amazing, I didn’t expect to place at all,and it was probably the best day of my life,” she said.
But for Antonia, it isn’t the trophies or the competitive spirit that drives her, it’s finally feeling healthy, not being afraid of food, and loving herself for the first time.
“Recovering from my eating disorder was the hardest thing I had to do. For me to come out of that and be this new person, this person who is actually me, that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Antonia said she could not have gotten to where she is now if she hadn’t accepted help from the people that love her. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, help is available.
Courtesy of: WCSH6