This Dallas fitness trainer hated being thin – so she put on muscle

A fitness influencer who makes up to $25,000 a month through her online challenges is helping women to grow their glutes during the pandemic. 

Morgan Dawson, who boasts 422,000 followers on Instagram, became a fitness coach after overcoming her own tumultuous relationship with her body. Growing up as an aspiring model, she says she would face pressure to be thin and as a result developed unhealthy eating and exercise habits. 

YouTube channel Truly followed Morgan as part of their Miami Muscle documentary series. She told the channel: “I would go to castings and be next to other models and they would be half my size. So I would starve, starve, starve, trying to lose weight.” 

Watch Morgan's inspiring story here:

Now, she uses her platform and experience as a personal coach to help women to embrace their curves and build their dream bodies. “My online presence - I’m extremely energetic, one minute I’ll be showing people my favourite books to read and the next minute I’ll be twerking.” 

When COVID-19 shut down the gyms, Morgan used her online presence to offer home workouts and challenges. Off the back of the success of this, she has now launched her own workout equipment brand called Squat Tough.

The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders found around 9% of the population worldwide is estimated to have an eating disorder of some sort, and unhealthy relationships with food are often very difficult to conquer. Morgan managed hers with resistance training, muscle-building exercise. Muscle needs fuel to grow, which requires you to eat more lean protein, along with some fat and low-GI carbohydrate to provide lots of energy for your next workout. 

Muscle needs fuel to grow, which requires you to eat more lean protein, along with some fat and low-GI carbohydrate to provide lots of energy for your next workout. Therefore, when doing lots of muscle-building exercises such as deadlift with dumbbells, push ups or squats, you need to be eating more, and eating clean, to help increase muscle size and tone. 

If you're looking for a good source of protein, our best protein powder for weight loss and best protein powder for women recommendations are great places to start, supplementing your diet with additional gains. You can also take advantage of our portion size guide, which works both for those wanting to lose weight and people who are eating too little.