At the age of 16, Katelyn got injured and was "forced to back away from the sport," which she called a "relief."
"It took a full year for me to miss gymnastics. That's when I called Miss Val [Valorie Kondos Field] at UCLA," Katelyn wrote. "I started taking ownership of my path. I told her I didn't want to do the Olympics anymore. I changed my path to college gymnastics and knew I wanted to go to UCLA. That's what brought me back."
It was during this time that Katelyn was able to find "passions" outside of gymnastics, and was able to get an education on nutrition.
"We had nutritionists and trainers who worked with us on our bodies, which helped me realize why it's so important to fuel it correctly," she explained. "It created a better environment for me to accept my body and not be super weird about eating. I don't prevent myself from eating anything. Once you release your mind, your body can relax and do what it's supposed to do."
Later in the essay, Katelyn wrote that doing the Body Issue is "important" to her because she's "able to take full ownership over my body and not allow anyone else to have power over how I feel about myself."
"I feel really accepting of the things I used to be insecure about," she shared. "I have gone through eating disorders and body shaming, and here I am today standing [laughs] naked in front of a camera doing this shoot for millions of people to see."
To read more from Katelyn's essay, head on over to ESPN. The final print edition of ESPN The Magazine hits newsstands on Sept. 6 with the 11th Annual BODY Issue.
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