The Bachelorette alum Trista Rehn has dished about her recent weight loss and journey to good health that started with "not the happiest of times."
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Trista shared how the coronavirus pandemic and being in lockdown had a negative impact on her mental and physical health during a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
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"I didn't get diagnosed with depression, but now it was a pandemic and kind of still is. So, I'm sure I am not alone in saying that it was just, you know, not the happiest of times," Trista explained.
"I laid around and really was not active at all and ate whatever I wanted."
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Trista, who starred on The Bachelorette's first season back in 2003, also said she had a broken ankle at the time, which limited her mobility and movement.
"You know, those two things combined with an almost 50-year-old body just don't bode well for staying fit... I gained some weight, and not that I was overweight, if you will. I just did not feel healthy," Trista shared.
Trista said she wanted to make a change once she and her husband Ryan Sutter -- who won Trista's final rose on The Bachelorette's first season -- planned a trip to Curacao for her 50th birthday, where they'd be joined by other Bachelor Nation members including Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick.
"I know that there is this big trend, if you will, these days in loving your body, loving yourself, right? And [I] fully support that -- I fully support everyone who accepts where they are in life and is grateful to be alive," Trista said.
But Trista's education and degree in physical therapy led her in the direction of choosing to incorporate better nutrition and more exercise into her daily routine.
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"I definitely believe in the benefits of fitness, you know, just living a healthy lifestyle. And I had lost track of that when we were home during the pandemic," Trista said.
"I just kind of threw the towel in and said, 'You know what, I'm going to eat all the things, and I'm going to do none of the work.' And I thought that needed to change. I just for my own physical, mental, all the healths... For myself, for my family, I want to be able to be around for a really long time."
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Trista also had to bounce back from a seizure she had suffered during a family vacation to Croatia in 2017. And she also stayed by her husband's side during a two-year battle with Lyme disease, which inspired her to alter her diet and shed some pounds.
"You know, he's been very health conscious in the last year or two in terms of what he's eating. And so that is a little bit of a motivation for both of us... to just eat healthy," Trista acknowledged. "And so I definitely took that to heart."
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Trista went on to share of Ryan's own journey to better health, "He's being guided by a company or an organization called the Heal Hive, and it essentially just means that he stings himself voluntarily with honey bees. Honey bees and the bee venom is, we're hoping, going to cure him of his Lyme disease... And it's actually helping."
Trista called her The Bachelorette winner her "best friend" and "biggest cheerleader," adding, "Hopefully he feels that way about me, too."
Trista and Ryan celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary earlier this month.
Trista gushed on social media at the time, "It doesn't matter if we're at home in the mountains or taking in the Caribbean sunshine... he still makes me happy (I mean...hello hot hubby!)"
"I'm a lucky girl, but not just because he is a real life Clark Kent. He's genuine, thoughtful, brave, caring, adventurous, hysterical, kind hearted, clever, and does so much for our family!)" she gushed.
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Ryan also uploaded a heartfelt post of his own.
"I suppose if there was ever a reason to create a post, it would be to tell the world how much I love this woman... I love her a lot," Ryan wrote.
"For 19 years I've loved her more than I ever thought it possible to love someone and I've done so because she showed me how. I hope she knows... Happy Anniversary Trista."
Trista and Ryan have two children together: Max, 14, and Blakesley, 12.
Prior to starring as the Bachelorette, Trista found fame when she competed on Alex Michel's season of The Bachelor in 2002.
Trista then chose Ryan at the Final Rose Ceremony of her The Bachelorette season over runner-up Charlie Maher.
Ryan proposed marriage to Trista on The Bachelorette's first-season finale, which aired in February 2003 and drew over 30 million viewers on ABC.
Trista, a former Dancing with the Stars and Fear Factor contestant, changed her last name from Rehn to Sutter when she married Ryan in December 2003 in a televised special.
Trista & Ryan's Wedding's two-hour finale -- which featured the couple's wedding ceremony and reception at the Lodge in Rancho Mirage resort in Palm Springs, CA -- drew over 17 million viewers when it aired on ABC on December 10, 2003.
Trista and Ryan welcomed their son Maxwell in July 2007 followed by their daughter Blakesley in April 2009.
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