Katheryn Scott Decided To Take Control And Get Her Life Back

Katheryn Scott could either go down a dark road again or turn to fitness to help get her life back on track. This is her story.

Q. How has your weight seesawed?

In my early 20s, I was always active, training five to six times a week. After moving to the Cayman Islands my life took a turn for the worse. I was in a toxic relationship that involved drinking and drugs, which lost me a lot of friends. I was not looking after my body and was sometimes only eating an apple or two a day.

At this point my weight fluctuated between 88 and 100 pounds. Eventually I ended up in hospital, on life support for four weeks. I had to learn to eat again after having a tracheotomy, learn to walk and use my hand muscles. After coming out of hospital, my weight slowly climbed back to a healthy 115lb. Having gone through such a traumatic experience and being told that I had a 10% chance of surviving when I was brought into hospital, it hit me pretty hard once I had recovered.

Q. What was your turning point?

When I was discharged from the hospital I needed time to recover and build up strength, so I could not go back to the Cayman Islands and had to come to New Zealand where my family lives. This was a move that was not planned and my whole life was uprooted overnight. Over the next few weeks as reality of the situation set in, I got depressed. This was my turning point – either head deeper into depression or chose to make a positive impact on myself and others. I got certified as a PT to help others get better at their lives or even just get healthy.

Q. What was the first step you took toward gaining control?

I had to accept what had happened to me and find a way to get past it. It was not only the physical challenges from being in hospital, but also the mental and emotional hardships. This lead to me thinking about what I really wanted from life, and that was to build up my strength, physically and emotionally so nobody could put me down and make me feel worthless again. Fitness became my first step.

Q. How did you change your diet in the beginning?

Coming out of hospital, I began eating normal portions for my meals, and not relying on an apple or two a day. Once I regained strength and began training, I then started to slowly eliminate processed or fatty foods, and decrease my sugary food intake. Over time, I got to the point where I ate a healthy five to six meals a day consisting of unprocessed and fresh food groups.

Q. When did you get serious about training again?

After gaining my strength back and joining the gym, it took a few months to be able to train like I used to in my early 20s. This all lead to me becoming determined with my training and learning to push my body to new limits to achieve my goals. I have been very serious about it since then!

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