Lindsey Trice has always been a passionate person.

From her earliest days of picking up a basketball, Trice dedicated and devoted herself to becoming the best she could on-court.

Within that passion, Trice formed her identity around basketball.

While she’s always had a love for the game, knee injuries kept her from pursuing that dream into college and beyond.

“Basketball was my identity. When I got to college, I didn’t know anything different. I gained some weight and got in a dark place,” she said.

“I was an Eaglette for my high school career. Being an athlete and working out was my life. When I got to college, I kind of stopped working out—that was the new norm. You kind of get that freshman 15, plus some.”

Wanting to reinvent herself and push herself to being a better, healthier person, Trice began a new journey of fitness that involves working out and boxing.

While she developed a new passion for fitness, it was the passing of her father in 2018 that helped her keep a perspective in her fitness.

“I started boxing and it kind of changed my life forever. I’ve been on this journey for about seven years. I’ve seen me go from being overweight, to the peak of my game. But in 2018, I also lost my dad to heart failure. I’ve seen me go from the bottom to the top, but I saw where it took my daddy out. I’m all in even more now,” she said.

As part of her journey, Trice came across a competition for Ms. Health and Fitness magazine.

The competition charts women and their fitness journey through rounds of voting.

During each round, five competitors are eliminated, with the final round being cast in September.

Votes are cast through links shared on social media, with the eventual winner earning the cover of the magazine and a $20,000 grand prize.

“I just came across the competition just scrolling, and I thought ‘hey, just go for it,’” she said.

“It’s basically girls competing all over the world. There are over 300 girls, but it’s separated into groups. The winner gets on the cover of Ms. Health and Fitness. It’s a voting process open to the public. It goes all the way until the end of September, and cut five each time.”

Trice hopes that documenting her health and fitness journey can be an inspiration for others to push through and become better versions of themselves as well.

“I’m just passionate about people winning all over, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. I didn’t really realize my journey was inspiring other people. Being an Eaglette and a small-town girl trying to live and do something with my life means a lot,” she said.

Trice works out five days a week at a local gym with cardio and weight training.

Her real rush, however, comes in the form of boxing, which she does at Title Boxing in Cool Springs.

While the physical health is certainly a major component of her fitness journey, staying mentally strong has been just as much of a challenge.

“The majority of it is mental. It’s been more of a mental journey than anything,” she said.

Her mental prowess stemmed from being sidelined and having to watch her teammates play basketball during her years as an Eaglette.

“To have to sit on the sideline and watch everyone else play just took something out of me. This gave me something I could conquer because I wasn’t limited by my injuries. With me being active, it helps.

“My identity was as an Eaglette, but it helped me how to learn to identify myself as ‘Lindsey’ rather than through basketball,” she said

During the shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic challenged Trice to stay mentally strong and stay true to her goal.

Even with the negatives surrounding the COVID-19 related shutdowns, she was able to utilize it and gain a healthy perspective on her fitness.

“It gave me a moment to have to mentally reflect because I was using fitness as a negative way, too. When life got or filling the grief of my father, I would run to the gym. I want to have a healthy relationship with fitness, not where it’s consuming me when I can’t do it. You have to have balance. You can’t be consumed with it so much that it controls you,” she said.

Trice’s journey through the Ms. Health and Fitness competition can be followed through social media, including Facebook, which is the biggest platform for the competition.