Charlotte

‘Girl you look like you’re starting to fill out…’ – A family member said this to me when i was the age of 13. I didn’t ever think that much about the way my body looked. I always loved messing with my hair and make up, but other than that, i had always been quite content with the way my body looked. I started to analyse my body, and began to notice lumps and bumps that I really didn’t like and i did what any teenage girl would do and I joined a gym and polished up my diet. I would attend the gym 4 times a week where I would run 10kilometres, and this would take me around 45 minutes and then I would walk home. I saw a drastic drop in my weight, as I was putting myself in a severe calorie deficit. Not only did I enjoy the weight loss, but this became something that I got quite good at and I started to compete at junior level.

After some time my body started to suffer and I wasn’t able to sustain this kind of exercise anymore, and in order to maintain a calorie deficit, this lead me to restriction within my diet. I would go as many days as I possibly could without eating, and when i eventually broke my fast, it was with something like an apple or a handful of crunchy nut cereal! I will never forget the time i was diagnosed with anorexia. I visited my counsellor like usual and got weighed whilst wearing my steal toe capped doc martins and I hit my lowest weight under 7 stone whilst fully dressed. This scared me as I saw how upset I was making my family. My attempt at recovery was a disaster, it only led me to bulimia as I was eating but still had a desire to be smaller. Purging was my only option; and the easiest way to hide my disorder from family members.

I decided enough was enough. I was spending all day every day thinking about food and it was ruining my life, I was so unhappy and knew the idea of being skinny was not at all worth the energy I was putting into it. I found a great love for weight lifting in the gym when I was 17; the adrenalin rush I would get was greater than anything before. I began wanting to lift heavier and for longer each time and was able to take a lot of my focus off food. Along with this, I felt less depressed, anxious and I was even sleeping better! I began to eat to fuel my training and food was an enjoyment again.

7 Years on and I am now one of the heaviest weights I’ve ever been, but I am also the most confident, I am now a bikini athlete and have competed at junior level – where I stand on stage in a bikini in front on an audience of people performing quarter turns and poses to display my muscle definition and conditioning. This is one of my greatest achievements to date!

‘Now, not only do I have great nutritional and sports science knowledge, I also have a completely new mindset and am the happiest I have ever been!’