An anorexic teen who was reduced to a skeleton of bones after living on a diet of gum and water has now undergone an incredible transformation.
Amanda Kristiansen, 18, who is a receptionist from Gothenburg, Sweden was just 11 years of age when she began struggling with anorexia.
Amanda started cutting out carbohydrates and sweets from her diet and eventually ended up living just on sparkling water and chewing gum. She used to hide food in her bra and pockets so as to give her family a false impression that she was eating normally.
She further aided her weight loss efforts by training every day. At her lowest, Amanda weighed 5 stone 2 lbs and wore children’s clothes.
Amanda hated how she looked and had convinced herself that losing weight would help her make friends because it would make people ‘notice’ her.
However, instead of making friends, Amanda’s eating disorder left her feeling isolated. At one point, she started to feel like she was ‘dead’ and that’s when she decided to change everything.
The girl struggled once again but this time, it was to gain what she had lost! She went through an incredible transformation from having a body weighing around 5 stone to a healthy 11 stone body.
‘At that time, I was incredibly insecure, hated how I looked and how I was, I was the silent girl and barely had any friends. I had always been normal weight, but I always had a very wrong body image,’ said Amanda.
‘Just after summer 2010, I was very depressed and felt incredibly lonely, I felt there was something was wrong with me, so I got the idea that I should start to lose weight to change myself.
‘I started training several times a week, which then became every day. I gave myself a ban on candy, which then led to not eating carbs at all and then I went so far that I did not eat at all.
‘I lived on carbonated water and chewing gum to keep away the hunger feelings. I didn’t allow myself to sit at all, just when I sat in a car or when I was asleep at night, though I was not allowed to sleep for more than seven to eight hours a night.
‘I hid a lot of food in my slippers, bra and pockets and I was an expert at lying.
‘I had no control of my own thoughts or actions at all, for everyday that went by I was losing more and more control of myself and my disease got more and more control over me.
‘When I was at my worst my family told me that it was like I was dead. And that’s the truth, I felt like I was dead, I had no control at all, I just wanted to die.
‘For a period when I was at my worst, my mum watched me 24/7, when I was going to the bathroom, when I was sleeping and so on.
‘At first I wanted to recover only for my family but as time went by I started to fight for myself and it wasn’t until I decided that I wanted to be free that the treatment started to work.
‘You have to want it yourself to truly recover. For years, I didn’t want to be free, that’s why I had several relapses.
‘I found my love for strength training and that was one motivation to start eating. I also started to hang out with friends again and found new friends. I wanted to be able to do everything that they did.
‘I started to see the positive things in life and that did that I fought harder.’
Amanda has now fallen in love with weightlifting and has reconnected with her friends. She has even made many new friends and is now completely happy with her body.
‘I am happy about how my body looks, I wouldn’t say I love it 100 percent but I don’t think anybody in this world does,’ she said.
‘But I feel comfortable in myself most of the time and I can live my life how I want.
‘I would say the hardest thing was to start sitting again or to start eating. Just because they were the things that I had done for the longest, I didn’t remember what it was like to eat normally and I couldn’t sit down without getting anxiety.
‘When I was at my worst I was afraid to let my little brother touch me if he had eaten and not washed his hands. I thought that if he touched me and had a little food left on his hand it could go through my skin and make me gain weight.
‘My friends and family are very proud of me and are relieved. My mum has been my angel through all years and has saved my life, she is a real fighter.’
Amanda also shared some words of advice for others who are struggling with the eating disorder.
‘I would say never give up, I know that maybe now it feels like you will never get better and will never live a good life but I promise you that it will, I know that you maybe don’t believe me now but I reached rock bottom,’ she said.
‘I almost died and for years my life felt like a hell. But I did it, I got out of it.
‘I won’t lie; it’s not going to be easy. You will cry a lot, be angry and feel a lot of anxiety but for every day you go against your disease you will get a little stronger step by step.
‘It’s not easy but the only thing that will help you get better is to not do what the disease tells you to do.
‘Fight against it, you have to really want to recover, otherwise it will never work.
‘But it will work I promise you. But it will not go over a night, it will take time but it’s not impossible.’