Our
Story
Welcome to Health and Hope, a website dedicated to empowering women to find health and hope together. We believe that women's health and well-being are essential for leading fulfilling lives and making a positive impact in the world. Our mission is to provide a supportive and informative platform where women can discover valuable resources, connect with a community of like-minded individuals, and embark on a journey toward a healthy balanced life.
Where it all began...
Hey guys! Thanks for checking out my page, I hope you find it useful, encouraging, inspiring, and informative! We are one big family here. So here is my unfinished story... I’d love to hear yours :)
All right, so let’s get downright personal together and allow me to share my story with you.
Back in my middle school days, I was a chunker, I was bigger than all my friends and always ate more than my friends. I knew it but I didn’t think too much of it. Until one day in art class, this guy, who thought he was "hot stuff", yelled in front of the class, “Get out of the way, gezz…you’re so fat and ugly.” Little did he know that that sentence stuck with me forever. I remember standing there with a lump in my throat praying that God would help me lose weight and for that guy to try one day to ask me out…
With his sentence being repetitive in my mind that led me to having an eating disorder, anorexia. It started out with me not eating and running and running. Which then led me to watch baking and cooking shows to help “curve” my hunger and sweet tooth. This led my weight to drop over 30 pounds. Ultimately, leading me to an eating disorder program.
I spent a whole year trying to gain the weight back the “healthy way”.
Along the battle of “recovery,” I was told that I needed to be mindful because 50% of anorexic patients end up with a binge eating disorder. Unfortunately, I was one of those 50%.
Going from 100 pounds to 150 pounds. I thought my mind and weight would never be normal because I had an all-or-nothing mentality. I was either on a diet or I wasn’t. There was no happy medium (as I thought).
But I am here to tell you as an example, that there is! I found the happy medium with myself through my passion for health and fitness.
It started with training with an ex-marine for about two years. I have to say that training brought lots of blood, sweat, and tears (literally). He not only helped me transform my body, but he also helped transform my mind. Once you get past your head you’ll be amazed at what you can do. It’s training your mind that’s the hard part. Once you get past that, your body follows.
Three years ago, I wanted to take my fitness to the next level and challenge myself, so I was taking a few dabbles at checking out bodybuilding. However, I didn’t know where to start, but God did. He led me to the dermatologist for what I thought was for my Rosacea but it was to meet my second mom, IFBB master pro, Shawne Capato. This incredible woman coached me for my first show and will coach me to my last show (when I’m old!) She is the one who fueled my passion for bikini competitions. I competed in my first show in 2019 placing and qualifying for nationals.
Oh, and by the way, side note, that guy I told you about earlier who made fun of me, yep he DMed me and wanted to go out at about this time, Jesus knew… Bye!
LOL continuing, however, Because of Covid, I wasn’t able to do as many shows as I wanted and like most of us, I picked up something I love doing and mine was experimenting with recipes trying to find ways for healthier versions that I could have on and off prep.
Clients and followers often ask me what I eat and what are my favorite products... Well, this is what led me here to start this blog. To bring women together as we go through every step of life together. And to help you FUEL your HEALTH and IGNITE you!
Stay tuned as there is ALOT more coming this way, not only with recipes, workouts, and training buttttt till then….
Xoxo,
Hope Howie
