BELLEVUE, Wis. (NBC 26) — After pushing herself through years of eating disorder recovery, Lauryn Cudworth is ready to take on her largest powerlifting competition yet: The 2022 Arnold Sports Festival, founded by body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Rewind six-seven years ago, I was in a very dark place. I was struggling hard with an eating disorder, and I needed something to push me through that dark time, but not using it in a way to kill myself," Cudworth said. "Finding my value in strength has been so important to me and my journey in recovery – realizing it's not about what's on the outside, it's about what's on the inside. That's how you succeed in life. What's truly on the inside is what matters."
Cudworth, from Plymouth, Wis., approached her father in high school when she was curious about strength training. He was her first gym mentor. She has since pursued professional coaches and committed to equipped powerlifting after initially training in raw lifting.
"When I was struggling, I was exercising five to six times a day, hours a day, eating probably less than 50 calories a day," Cudworth said. "Slowly it dwindled over time, and I was at rock bottom. In 2012, I was 89 pounds and I was at my rock bottom."
Cudworth admits she resisted help from people that cared about her for years.
"You can't help people that don't want to be helped," Cudworth said.
If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder, you can text "NEDA" to 741741 to be connecting to a crisis helpline. You can also chat with counselors online through the National Eating Disorders Association here.
On the precipice of her biggest competition yet, Cudworth hopes reflecting on her journey inspires others to commit to finding strength in health. She now uses the tools that would derail her as her motivator.
"I still check my food. I exercise like I should," Cudworth said. "I'm on a strict training regimen, but it's different, the way I look at it now. I count my macros and all of that now too, but it's about maintaining a healthy weight instead of counting to lose weight. So I've learned past things that would have probably taken me to dark places, growing and learning in recovery, I can use those as tools to help me. That's where I think I've grown the most."
She's keeping her goals for Saturday private, but very much looking forward to her biggest competition since winning a USA Powerlifting national championship last year.
"Like I always say, that platform is my catwalk," Cudworth said. "I bring out another side of me, an alter ego, and that's what gets me through those long hard competition days."
