years old — I got released from Gillingham Academy for being too small.

I got dropped from Maidstone United for being too fat. I was bullied at school because of this and I quit football — a sport that had defined my childhood. That’s when I first discovered how much my mental health mattered.

Lockdown hit. I went from watching “abs in 5 minutes” videos to doing dumbbell curls in the bathroom and locking the door because I felt so embarrassed. I lost 20kg during lockdown — from 83kg to 63kg — by using an exercise bike daily and working on my binge eating. Coming out of lockdown I joined the gym and started to rebuild.

I was drinking alcohol too much, missing the point, and bottling up my mental health. I’d turn up hungover to Sunday shifts at Tesco and keep everything inside until I’d explode in anger or tears.

Going out and partying every weekend took its toll. I spent everything I earned at my 9–5 in Insurance and woke up one morning on holiday in a hospital in Malia after passing out — phone gone, a low point I won’t forget. After that rock-bottom moment I started running. I ran a half marathon on my 19th birthday.

I trained hybrid in the gym and joined my first run club, I also began posting on TikTok. Then I injured my ankle and reverted to drinking for 11 weekends straight. I climbed to a new heaviest weight (86kg) and felt totally lost. I deleted my socials and stepped back from people I’d been close to. A friend, Jack Brush, pulled me back in — we trained, I ran an ultra with him for his grandad, and I stopped drinking while preparing. In November I left my job to see the world.

I spent two months training and living alone in a Muay Thai camp in Thailand. That experience changed everything — I discovered my passion for fitness and that it was the thing that made me me. Back home I completed a Personal Training course and started training for a 100km ultramarathon. I qualified as a PT — then injured my ankle again. Still, I’m building my PT business from scratch at 20 while rehabbing and training to run 100km. Previous Nathan would have laughed at that sentence.

I completed my 100km Ultramarathon and I am now taking on 12 Marathons of Christmas for the Young Lives Foundation. The aim is to inspire young people to believe anything is possible as well as fundraising to reopen the Maidstone youth group for the less fortunate children.