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Nathan Freihofer has his work cut out for him. The TikTok star and creator of content that focuses on humor, fitness, and life as a couple is about making people feel better in any way he can. He’s doing it at a moment when youth happiness and life satisfaction are at the lowest they’ve been in the last twenty or thirty years.

The problem in a Harvard-led study published this year also affects young people around the globe. The Guardian reports on the UK youth’s decline in happiness, as does Statistics Netherland for the European country. To help the young people struggling to be happy and healthy, Nathan Freihofer can only say about the thing that’s worked for him – fitness.

Sharing His Struggles

“I’ve always been competitive and good at sports, and I didn’t mind putting in the work to make the most out of any natural talent I had,” Nathan Freihofer says. “Getting into fitness wasn’t a competitive thing for me. It was about regaining control over my life from an eating disorder.”

Nathan Freihofer is referring to his struggles with anorexia, which he says lasted for six years and caused him physical, mental, and social issues. In the content he creates, he speaks about his problems candidly about the disease itself, but also the role fitness and strength training played in his recovery.

“I was able to reshape my relationship with food when I realized I can use it to become stronger thanks to lifting weights and working hours,” Nathan Freihofer explains. “With time, I went from being someone who counted every calorie and was always rushing to burn them off to someone who can eat well, enjoy it, and enjoy the results.”

Working on Inspiring People

Many people found his story of overcoming his eating disorder through fitness inspiring. The comment sections to his posts on TikTok or YouTube are full of people expressing how much they look up to him and appreciate his openness and honesty with his struggles and showing what motivates him instead of focusing on his physique.

“I always like to point out that there’s nothing special about me and that I have to work hard to look the way I do,” he explains. “But it’s also important to tell people that I do it because of how it makes me feel, the balance it helps me achieve, and then the looks are a byproduct that’s just a cherry on the top.”

Thanks to his fitness routine, Nathan Freihofer not only managed to change how he views food but also kick some compulsive behaviors. Where he was excessively working out before, today he’s able to go days busy working on his computer – something he does a lot as a content creator.

“I work out hard, and I have a program for it, but life keeps getting in the way, and sometimes I just can’t do things the way I’ve planned,” said Nathan Freihofer. “And even though I post a lot of fitness stuff, there’s no pressure. Working out is primarily there to make me feel better, to get me stronger, and to get me that enjoyment from setting goals and meeting them. That’s it for me, and it’s working well.”