In the past five years my health journey has changed tremendously. Five years ago I was afraid of food, I would barely eat anything and exercise in extreme amounts because I was scared of gaining weight. I was diagnosed with a thyroid disease at this time and was gaining weight rapidly because of it. Two years ago, I started to eat healthy amounts again but I would just eat whatever I wanted because I had a fast metabolism. I never really cared to look at things like saturated fats or how much protein was in what I was eating. This all changed last year when I started running collegiate cross country. I was weak and not able to run to my full potential because of my lifestyle. In addition to the added physical stress my doctors informed me that I was deficient in many vitamins and I also had high triglycerides due to my poor diet. I started to change my lifestyle by setting realistic goals for things such as exercise, nutrition, sleep and stress management. I want to be able to live a long and healthy life. The biggest change I made to my lifestyle to be more healthy was being more physically active. I went from working out for twenty minutes three days a week to running six days a week at about an hour everyday. Another major change I made was changing my diet. I have since added more vegetables and fruit to my diet, eating two servings of each everyday; compared to before when I would eat them three times a week. I also focus on protein and cleaner eating. This included cutting out processed foods. My meal plan for each consists of different meals each day, so I get variety as well as make sure that I will meet the daily need for each nutrient. In addition to cleaner eating I also began drinking more water, up until last year I would drink may four glasses of water a week. Now I drink the recommended 164 ounces a day, most days more than that. Sleep has also become a more important part of my life. As someone with insomnia I never realized how much my symptoms were caused by other things in my life. Setting a regular time to lay down and start to unwind each night has really helped me. As well as not consuming caffeine in the afternoon. Though the most important change that I made to my lifestyle was handling my stress, which has helped in all aspects of my life. It also puts me at a lesser risk for medical conditions that are frequent in my family. Reducing my stress has helped me sleep better and reduced how often I stress eat.