Anorexic teen whose weight dropped to FIVE STONE after splitting from her boyfriend shows off incredible recovery as she doubles her weight
The student now hopes to inspire others to stop restricting their diets
AN ANOREXIC student whose weight plummeted to just over five stone after splitting up with her boyfriend has made a remarkable recovery.
Hospitality management pupil Gaia Rio, 19, has managed to almost DOUBLE her weight following her battle with her eating disorder, which left her “basically dying”.
Gaia’s weight dropped to a just five stone 4lbs following the breakdown of her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.
She explained: “I broke up with my ex-boyfriend and I barely ate for a week because I was feeling sad, my stomach felt completely closed.
“My feelings for him slowly disappeared but that week of barely eating made me lose 4.4lbs so easily, so I thought that if I could lose one or two kilos more I would feel much better about myself.”
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After being ditched by her boyfriend, Gaia began struggling with her self-esteem.
She confessed: “I kept thinking, I am not beautiful enough, that’s why he broke up with me and if I don’t do something no one will like me.
“Actually, these were the most stupid thoughts I could have ever had and it was the beginning of what I believe to be the worst period of my life.
“Two years of my life were wasted on counting calories, being isolated, starving, feeling sad and angry at anything and anyone around me for no reason and preventing myself from being happy and free.”
During Gaia’s two-year battle with anorexia, she restricted her diet to just plain salads and kept herself feeling full by guzzling water and tea.
As she refused to eat out, she lost contact with many of her friends because she wouldn’t meet them for lunch or dinner dates.
Gaia admitted: “I started thinking that there was no point in me spending time with them if I was not like them because I was different, at the same time this made me proud too…
"I wanted to be special. Being anorexic could help me to be different.”
It wasn’t until Gaia came to the realisation that her weight was holding her back, she decided it was time to change her life.
She said: “When I reached my lowest weight, I understood that I was basically wasting the only life I have for no reason.
“I asked myself, why did I have to be different from others just because I was anorexic and basically dying, could I not be special for some other more positive reasons.”
Now a healthy 10st 3lbs and a slim size 12, Gaia is finally happy in her own skin.
She amitted: “My life has totally changed, I feel proud of myself and not because I weigh the same as a child.
“I feel proud because I finally overcame something which unfortunately kills so many people nowadays, I finally won against what was preventing me to be happy and now I am free.
“My family loves me even more and my friends see me as an example of a really determined person who faced something really hard throughout her life and ended up winning."
Following her dramatic transformation, Gaia offers up advice to those struggling with eating disorders.
She posts inspiring health pictures , which she hopes will be the motivation for others on their journeys of recovery.
Gaia isn't the only anorexia survivor that's shared her story in the hope of raising awareness for eating disorders.
Fiona Chrystall was deemed a "lost cause" by doctors... but she's made an incredible recovery.
And YouTuber Sascha Richardson also opened up about her battle with anorexia.