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Anna
“Everyone who offends you can just go to hell.”
Anna went in for sports professionally, starting at the age of 12, at the level of male athletes, since she got into the Estonian national team. In addition to intense training, the number of calories consumed increased accordingly, and the weight also increased.
Because of this, the coach was very unhappy and demanded Anna to lose weight. The weight has increased from 54 kg to 70 kg. Anna began to feel self-disgusted by her weight. Because of the requirements that could not be met in the field of sports, she had to quit.
Bullying started at school at about 14 years old, there were remarks from her father like “you are fat, go to the gym to lose weight”.
She began to induce vomiting, compulsive overeating was connected. "I exhausted myself with hard workouts in the gym, after the gym I was drawn to eat, it seemed that it was possible to eat, since I did so much, so I ate as a reward, which is why overeating began to develop"
Also, due to the lack of a balanced diet and eating disorders, gastrointestinal problems have developed. Surrounded by the culture of going to cafes as a part of communication, it was necessary to take something and eat when others eat, despite the fact that you don't want to, don't need to eat, or even if food makes you fell bed.
t the moment, if the arrow on the scales takes off higher than 63.5 kg, then this works as a trigger for the symptoms of RPD - the desire to vomit is intensified. When this period comes, it is difficult to think about anything else.
Anna now has the attitude “the cat should be moderately well-fed, but the owner should not”.
Parents are not aware, despite the good relationship. Father used to press Anna with the words "you are fat, go to the gym."
Mother once expressed her negative opinion about eating disorders, downplaying their importance and prevalence in society, which is why Anna was subsequently unable to disclose her problem to her parents.
Teachers could come to Anna's defense, as Anna always studied well, but after moving to a new school, the reputation of “teachers' favorite” disappeared, and so did the help. Classmates could offend her unintentionally as well, being extremely tactless, for example, saying that Anna looks the way it is clear that she does not do sports.
First, Anna turned to a school psychologist for help. The woman did not try to help, reducing the conversation to a complaint about her own problems with a pressure on the fact that they are more important and more complex than Anna's.
Anna turned to a private psychologist, but this time she did not receive any help, this “specialist” narrowed everything down to everything to the teenage period and summed up the conversation by saying that this was “teenage idiocy”, which Anna would simply “outgrow”.
The helpline also did not help - Anna heard standard general words of support, but this did not really fit Anna's situation.
The participant was helped by her friend. Knowing Anna's competitive nature, he had a bet with her that she could give up vomiting for 5 months.
Refusing professional help, Anna copes on her own now: she buys food in small quantities, chooses small dishes, monitors calories, and talking to close people briefly helps.
Anna was helped by the transition to a vegan diet: meat and other animal products are excluded from the diet. She replaces these foods with plant-based alternatives.
Vegan food is generally lower in calories, so at least overeating is still possible but the consequences are not so hard.
In addition, vegan food is a much more modest choice in stores and cafes - this also helps Anna.
She came to the conclusion that it is necessary to exclude communication with people who condemn and insult her, comment on her weight and appearance. One just needs to ignore them and focus on close people and their support, choose a community free from judgment and negativity.
Anna believes that one of the reasons for the problems of young girls with their appearance is beauty standards, idealizing the appearance of models and participants in the Miss contests.
