This 25-Year-Old Woman Beat Anorexia, and Then Became a Weightlifter

Aroosha Nekonam, 25, from Aberdeen, Scotland, is a fitness instructor and bodybuilder who can lift double her weight. But in a no-holds-barred video she shared on YouTube recently, she revealed that her body image was not always as positive as it is now. She had suffered from anorexia, Nekonam explained, and her condition got so serious she was almost wheelchair-bound. Now, she explains, she's sharing her story to help others who are struggling like she once was.

 

Nekonam was active from a young age and was also a perfectionist. "In my search for perfection, I began doing more harm than good," she said in a moving YouTube video. Initially, she just wanted to be healthy, but after a breakup in college, she started restricting her eating habits more and more and ran a 10K every single day. "Starving myself was like my answer to everything, because in my eyes it was the only thing I was good at," she said, "and it was what I thought I deserved, because I thought I was a waste of space."
As well as losing weight, Nekoman says she became isolated and withdrawn. Her hair began to fall out, her skin got worse, she was always cold, and doctors warned her she should be in a wheelchair because walking was too much for her heart to take. She was too underweight to fly to a rehab clinic in South Africa, even. But with the support of her friends and family at home, plus a therapist and nutritionist, she began to recover. "The recovery process was hell," she said. "My self-esteem was so low, it was hard to say that I deserved recovery." But once she got to a healthier weight, she started to do yoga, and it helped her build both physical and mental strength.

Then she started getting into weightlifting and found a social circle online to motivate her. "These strong women were just an inspiration, and I wanted to be strong like them," she said. "I was sick of being this frail, pathetic thing that didn't eat and didn't move." Now, she's focused on eating healthy so she can lift more weights, not to conform to anyone's beauty standards.
She shared her story online for National Eating Disorders Awareness month this past February. "The most deadly symptom I would say of an eating disorder is silence," she said. "If you're struggling, I urge you to talk to someone. Don't let it consume you. You are beautiful and you deserve recovery."
Watch her tell her full story below.

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