More Than Lipedema: A Short Introduction to Me

Who I am today—my work, my move to Frankfurt, and why I’m building LipedemaScience as a bridge between research and real life

I’ve received so much positive feedback after sharing a more personal post, and some of the comments have said that people relate to my experience and feel comforted knowing that others have been in similar situations. That makes me feel more positive about sharing more personal content and letting you get to know me better—both my lipedema journey, and who I am beyond lipedema. I am so much more than my lipedema, and so are you.

So, here’s a brief introduction to who I am today. We can get into how I ended up here later.

My name is Carina, I’m 34 years old, and people often describe me as having a positive attitude toward life. I’m usually able to turn difficult situations into something meaningful, and that mindset has helped me a lot. Of course, there are times when I feel things are unfair—when something that doesn’t happen to others happens to me. But I also have moments where I feel powerful, and I’ve become very good at cheering myself on. I try to talk to myself the way I would talk to my best friend. And even though I have cellulite and some unevenness after my lipedema surgeries, I appreciate my body for what works. I hope you do the same—because quality of life often starts with how you treat yourself.

I currently live in Oslo, Norway, with my partner. He works in tech and has been working in Frankfurt, Germany, since March this year, so over the past months I’ve been traveling a lot to Germany. Luckily, my full-time job has approved that I can work remotely from Germany in 2026, so we’ll be spending a lot of time in Frankfurt next year. I’m really looking forward to it. There are many things I love about Germany—one of them is how easy it is to access organic food, and another is that Germany is quite far ahead when it comes to lipedema.

In my career, I’ve done a lot of things in parallel. My university degrees in Human Nutrition and Food Science led me into the food industry, where I’ve held several roles. One of them was as a laboratory manager, and I also worked closely with science for four years related to bacterial issues. I was the key stakeholder working with a research group that made some very interesting findings using an innovative technology: whole-genome sequencing. We used it to analyze genes linked to food poisoning properties in a bacterium called Bacillus cereus. That research is published in the journal Foods. I’m very into molecular biology and genetics—it was one of my favorite topics at university. I genuinely enjoy when things get complicated and I really have to use my brain.

As a laboratory manager, I was also responsible for some of our IT systems related to quality management, and I was the project manager for several projects. So in January 2024, I changed fields completely and started as an IT project manager in a consultancy firm. I’ve been working with the same client since then. My responsibility is to ensure that both developers and consultants deliver value and quality to our client. I work both with new technology—like generative AI (large language models like ChatGPT)—and with change management, helping people reflect and improve how they do their daily work. Working with people is something I truly enjoy. And learning how generative AI works gives me the same kind of joy as molecular biology.

I never use ChatGPT as a source of truth, because I know how it’s built and that it responds based on the prompt—how you ask the question. For me, it’s a language tool: useful for proofreading and navigating writing, but not something I rely on to “know” what is true. It can also make things up, which is called hallucination in the tech world. It’s a bit like that one friend who remembers everything and gives advice with full confidence—yet isn’t consistent and changes the answer depending on what you say.

I really enjoy my full-time job, and I work with an amazing team, colleagues, and client. Work gives me a lot of energy, which is not something I’ve always experienced. That’s also why I’ve asked my manager if I can continue in the same setup in 2026—because it gives me the energy to build things outside of work too.

As I learned more about tech, I realized this is where I want my career to go. I started thinking back to my time in the food industry and the kinds of problems we struggled with. Last year, I began building an AI-driven prediction system for food production to reduce food waste. This is my “baby,” and I’ll be using a lot of my free time to build this product in 2026. I’ve also received funding to run a scientific project on how AI can be used in this prediction system to reduce food waste—so I’m using my science skills in a new domain as well.

And then there’s lipedema..

Lipedema takes up a lot of my life because my body is very sensitive to inflammatory foods like sugar, and to hormones. Sometimes I just want to forget I have lipedema and continue with my life. But then reality kicks in, and I remember that lipedema is part of my body—no matter how much I hate it.

Writing on this platform, and creating valuable content for you, helps me stay updated, continuously calibrate how I live based on what works best for my lipedema, and stay informed about the most recent science in the field. Some research groups I’m in contact with have asked whether I could see myself doing a PhD on lipedema. But for me, what feels right is building the bridge between research and those of us living with lipedema. I also want to use my journey as inspiration, because I’ve lived with this diagnosis for almost 14 years. I’m long past the shock of realizing this is something I’ll carry for the rest of my life. Now it’s simply a major part of my life. I accepted that many years ago. And sharing what I’ve learned from nearly ten years in human nutrition and food science may also be valuable to others like me.

I really appreciate you taking the time to support my work. It means everything to me, and it keeps me going. We share a lipedema diagnosis, but we are more than our lipedema. Let’s build something unique together.