Tag: fitness

Eating Disorders The perfect body illusion

The perfect body illusion

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Do you wish to look like the girl in the magazine? I will let you in on a secret… the girl in the magazine doesn’t even look like that.  I know: I have been that girl.  Representations of the ‘perfect’ female body are pervasive throughout modern society, consolidated and perpetuated...

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Eating Disorders Hanging up the bikini: why I quit fitness competitions

Hanging up the bikini: why I quit fitness competitions

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In October 2014, at age 31, I achieved the award that marked the pinnacle of my fitness competition career: the coveted Bikini Athlete Pro Card. Standing onstage in a Hertfordshire theatre, smiling for the winner’s photographs, I appeared the epitome of health and fitness. But, in reality, I was suffering...

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Eating Disorders Swapping one obsession for another- the dangers of obsessive exercise in recovery

Swapping one obsession for another- the dangers of obsessive exercise in recovery

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‘I swapped one form of control for another, exercise became my way to suppress emotions, to sculpt my body, it prevented me from reaching full recovery.’ If you scroll through social media, or read recovery stories about anorexia online, you might see a storyline like this: ‘I chose to recover,...

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