I thought I was healthy until my body completely broke down

My passion for women’s health didn’t begin in a textbook. It began with my own body completely breaking down.

For years I believed that being healthy meant pushing harder, training more and eating as little as possible to stay lean. I was exercising intensely, constantly chasing performance while trying to eat as little as possible. I was convinced that this was what wellness looked like.

But my body told a very different story. To the point that I lost my period for eight years.

At the time, I didn’t fully understand what that meant. I thought it was just part of training hard and being fit. In my head it was actually a win, I remember thinking 'Wow I am that fit that I lost my cycle' (I'm now so ashamed to admit this...). But in reality, it was my body signalling that something was deeply out of balance.

Then came the injuries.

Stress fracture after stress fracture.

A diagnosis of Osteoporosis at age 28.

And eventually a fractured femur that required surgery and multiple pins placed in my hip.

It forced me to stop in a way I never would have otherwise. No walking, no driving and no working for 3 months. I was devastated.

I had to relearn to walk and what it actually meant to support my body.

For the first time, I began to understand how deeply things like nutrition, hormones, energy availability, metabolism, mental wellbeing and recovery influence women’s health.

And how many of us are unknowingly running ourselves into the ground while thinking we’re doing the right thing.

Rethinking what healthy actually means

Recovering from that period of my life forced me to completely rethink my approach to health.

I had to learn how to nourish my body properly.

How to train in a way that supported my physiology rather than depleting it. Most importantly, how to fuel it (and I mean properly fuel it).

How to recognise the signals my body had been sending me for years.

That journey is ultimately what led me to head back to uni to study Nutritional Medicine and build the philosophy that now underpins Wellness by Bry.

Because the truth is, so many women are still stuck in the same cycle I once was... pushing harder, eating less and wondering why their bodies aren’t responding the way they expect. Maybe it's not always stress fractures and missing cycles but instead loud PMS, acne, food sensitivities or severe mood challenges throughout the month.

But the goal of health isn't perfection. It’s learning how to support your body in a way that allows it to function the way it was designed to. Because eating and exercising should never feel like a mental prison. Your body can achieve the most amazing things when it is understood and supported.

And I truly believe that when we begin working with our bodies instead of against them, incredible things can happen. And that is my idea of wellness.

With love,

Bry x