“You are not weak, you are not broken, and you are not alone. Help is possible, and freedom is real.”

I would like to share my story in the hope it brings comfort and encouragement to others who are struggling.

I am a 40-year-old woman and a mum of four children. I no longer live with anorexia or bulimia, and I am proof that recovery is possible. If I can do it, you can too.

My eating disorder began when I was 16, during high school just before starting my GCSEs. I was unhappy with my body and felt bigger than my friends. I started exercising and eating healthier and as the weight dropped, my confidence grew. People commented on how good I looked and that validation became addictive.

At the time, I had a boyfriend whose comments and actions around my body made me feel uncomfortable and ashamed. As I lost more weight, I exercised more and ate less.

I became completely driven by the need to be thinner, no matter the cost. Even when I looked unwell, I didn’t care. The voice in my head was cruel and relentless telling me not to eat, calling me names, and convincing me that gaining weight would mean humiliation and failure.

Food and exercise consumed my every thought. I read every label, woke at 6am to work out for hours, walked everywhere and eventually survived on little more than an apple a day and boiled water.

My parents were deeply worried and took me to see an eating disorder specialist. I was so afraid of being admitted to hospital that I wore hidden weights to appointments to manipulate the scales. Looking back, it’s frightening how far the illness made me go to satisfy that voice what I used to call the “devil on my shoulder.”

Eventually, my body began to fail. I was exhausted, isolated, and no longer living I was just surviving. I stopped seeing friends and withdrew from the world. I didn’t want to die, but I desperately wanted the noise in my head to stop.

After being admitted to hospital, I began eating again so I could return home. But as my weight increased my fear took over and my illness shifted into bulimia. I learned to hide it pretending to eat, secretly purging, and becoming more and more trapped in shame. This went on for years and the disorder became something I felt I had to live with.

Everything changed when I was 18 and found out I was pregnant.

For the first time, my focus shifted away from my body and onto someone else. I knew I couldn’t continue harming myself while carrying a baby. I stopped smoking, stopped drinking, and began eating properly not for me, but for my child.

After my son was born, I struggled with my body image and didn’t recognise myself anymore. But motherhood gave me something the eating disorder never could a purpose. I was busy, exhausted, and deeply connected to my baby. Slowly, that cruel voice faded into the background.

It hasn’t disappeared forever; even now, it occasionally whispers but I no longer listen. I challenge it with kindness, logic, and positive thoughts. I choose my life, my children, and my health instead.

Recovery didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. A full, meaningful life exists beyond an eating disorder. I am living proof of that.

To anyone reading this who is struggling you are not weak, you are not broken, and you are not alone. Help is possible, and freedom is real.

Thank you, Leigh and the team, for everything you do to support people on their journey to recovery.

“…always there to reach out to when things get hard, a shoulder to lean on and without doubt a vital and indispensable compassionate community service…”

TEDS and Leigh Best have been unbelievably supportive, helpful and a god send in helping me support my child in her continued struggles with Anorexia. The specialist lived experience knowledge that is continually shared, the compassion, encouragement and empathy via the regular support group meetings I’ve attended, the 1-1 heartfelt understanding and counselling has provided a vital missing link between hospital and NHS services for my child. Without which things could have been so much worse and so much harder. I hope they can continue to help countless individuals and their families on the road to recovery and to continue to help with prevention and hospital admissions for serious physical complications.

TEDS has been akin to an extended family for me, always there to reach out to when things get hard, a shoulder to lean on and without doubt a vital and indispensable compassionate community service. I can only thank them from the bottom of my heart.