Sophia Thiel
After two years, she reports back via YouTube video
Sophia Thiel at FIBO 2018. A year later she had to cancel her appearance there.
© imago / Future Image
Almost two years ago, Sophia Thiel announced a break for an indefinite period. Now the fitness influencer has reported back.
In April 2019, Sophia Thiel (25, "With Meal-Prep to the dream figure") suddenly said goodbye to social media. For almost two years nobody knew what was going on in the life of the fitness influencer, whose Instagram account "pumping.sophia.thiel" has around 1.2 million followers. Now she is back and explains the background to her break in a 25-minute YouTube video.
"I've lost control of myself," Thiel describes. In April 2019 "one evening before FIBO" – a sports fair in Cologne – the "worst case" occurred. "Like a black hole in the ground," explains the Rosenheim native. She sat crying in the hotel lobby and decided that she had to make a decision at that moment. Her immense workload made her body powerless. "It felt like a very blatant numbness inside of me, as if I had dissolved," said Thiel – but she firmly rejects the term "burnout".
She canceled her appearance at the sports fair, drove back to Munich and bought a plane ticket to Los Angeles. In the hometown of "Gold's Gym" she should feel better again, according to the bodybuilder's train of thought. "I wanted to be completely alone, as far away as possible." But when she arrived in L.A., she fell into a deep hole again. "In L.A. I felt even worse than in Germany. For me personally it was the darkest time," said Thiel.
Her comeback in April 2020 failed
Back in Germany, she wanted to return to her old, strict fitness and nutrition routine. And at first she succeeded, but she overdid it. She even weighed tomatoes and lettuce. "I wanted to take control of my body again."
She didn't originally plan to stay away that long. Several attempts at comeback failed, however. She always thought, "I can't come back if I don't look this way." In April 2020, she had already made a video, but when she looked at the material, everything spilled up again. "I was like, 'How do you look?' I couldn't upload that, it's not me. I don't recognize myself. "
"Is there someone new in my life"
It wasn't until the summer of 2020 that everything changed for the better, more normality had returned and she was back in touch with herself, says Sophia Thiel. "I have the feeling that I can be myself again and my body fat percentage and my weight are not always in the foreground or my role on social media," she describes.
There is also "someone new" in her life with whom she has spent the lockdown. In the coming period, she wants to explain in more concrete and more detail what has been going on in her over the past few months.