Former Pioneer Junior College student Laura Patricia shocked netizens with the story of her uphill battle to lose weight, and then her battle to gain weight as she became anorexic. So much so that it became a hot topic on the regional interwebs, with pre and post weight loss pictures of her going viral on Facebook.
Laura said that she always had body issues but it became worse nearing her O Level examinations when she crossed the line from being just fat to becoming obese. Kids would say mean things about her behind her back and even on Facebook, people would leave snide comments on her pictures about her weight. So she decided, “I told myself that I will change my body image so that I can tell them to f**k off”.
The Indonesia-born beauty lost more than 30kgs in the short span of a year and three months. She slimmed down from a high of more than 80kg to 48kg at her lightest. She also learnt how to put on makeup. The effect it had on other people was just as she would’ve expected – they praised her for her successful weight loss. But they didn’t know that she was becoming anorexic in her pursuit to lose weight.
The fact that she dated someone who constantly compared her to his ex-girlfriends and pushed her to lose more weight or try to fit into a size XXS didn’t help her case. She would only allow herself to eat one meal a day and snack twice a day. She also started modeling, which exacerbated the problem as it pushed her to lose more weight. Laura then became frighteningly skinny.
Her hair started falling out, her skin became flaky, her breasts shrunk, she stopped menstruating, she started having poor coordination which resulted in her falling down easily, and her skin bruised with the slightest tumble. Laura’s drastic weight loss reached a stage where her parents noticed that she had a problem. Their next step of taking her to a doctor on the pretext of solving her menstruation problem might have saved her life.
Watch her video here:
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When I was on the journey to fight anorexia, I thought what’s beautiful is how you feel on the inside, your perspective of life. And now that I’ve recovered and lived in the body of three different persons, I realise that what’s beautiful consists of all three. Always remember that healthy is beautiful, be optimistic and be grateful for what (God) has given you.
Sources: Laura Patricia’s Facebook, Your Health.
