If you have a social media account, especially Instagram or YouTube, chances are you probably follow a few fitness accounts or have at least seen them pop up in your feed. These accounts often make workouts and healthy recipes more accessible to the general population who can’t afford personal trainers and nutritionists.
Of course, these accounts have the potential to shape our reality about health and create unrealistic beauty standards that are not universal.
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One ex-bikini competitor and current fitness vlogger is doing the exact opposite of many of these accounts — she’s purposely gaining weight to help correct her intense hunger after getting super lean.
Stephanie Buttermore is a fitness vlogger and PhD graduate from Florida.
Her YouTube channel’s focus is primarily on science-based workouts, nutrition, and dreamy donut-laden cheat days.
She combines her love of health and fitness with her academics in biomedical studies, specifically in cancer research.
Stephanie and her boyfriend Jeff Nippard are fitness junkies.
Stephanie used to be a bikini competitor and Jeff is currently a bodybuilder.
She has also created her own “Women’s Specialization Program” that focuses on scientific-based training designed specifically for women.
Stephanie has always opened up to her viewers and followers about her insatiable hunger.
She can easily eat over 10,000 calories during her cheat days, and has always talked about how it takes a lot for her to feel full.
So, she is finally tackling her “bottomless pit” belly. She is going “all in,” meaning, she is allowing herself to eat to satiety.
She was recommended to do this by a fellow colleague of hers who is a doctor who specializes in amenorrhea, the absence of a period.
She’s hoping that by doing this, she won’t need as many calories to feel full and that she’ll start consuming less, finding her set point. Stephanie also wants to see how it might affect her muscle growth, strength, and her fatigue.
Stephanie addressed her diet and its purpose in more detail in a recent YouTube video.
She said that she eats almost 5,000 calories every day to feel satiated.
And she’s not just eating junk food — she is actually eating lots of whole foods.
Stephanie started her “all in” diet the beginning of June and has been documenting her experience along the way.
So far, Stephanie has gained over 40lbs and anticipates that she will continue to gain more.
Some of the negative side effects she experienced include face and ankle swelling, sweating, being super hot, and holding water and weight in her midsection.
However, she has been noticing many positive side effects.
Her energy levels have increased, she is feeling stronger, and she IS feeling satiated at the end of the day.
While she is rarely seen without a smile throughout her journey, it’s not without its challenges, especially mentally.
She opened up about how it can be difficult to see her body changing and not being able to fit into her clothes.
She also expressed how she often wants to fall back into her old eating habits, but that her followers’ support helps her make it through.
She is not encouraging others to do what she’s doing, but people can’t help be inspired by the change she’s decided to make to improve her health.
So many of her followers are so supportive of her decision and see her radiance shine right through the screen.
Some also love that there is a fitness vlogger out there who makes them love their body, and many feel inspired in their own eating disorder recovery.
Regardless of her approach, it’s so refreshing to see a person who loves health and fitness offer a raw perspective of a different kind of “health journey” and show that no one’s fitness experience and goal is the same.
