An Edinburgh University fresher has shared her brave battle with an eating disorder in a bid to help others.
Although never officially diagnosed, English language student Lottie Short, 18, began to see a change in her weight when she started over exercising and limiting her food intake.
This led to a calorie deficit that saw her lose a noticeable amount of weight. Lottie says that her own battle was not a traditional one, as on the face of it most people would perceive healthier eating and exercising as a reasonable lifestyle approach.
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But over-exercising while cutting down on calorie intake to an extreme extent led to a deficit that tired out Lottie mentally as well as causing her to lose too much weight. She says that the second lockdown had become a catalyst for her attempting to make a change and that comparing her own body with that of models on social media during her final two years at high school was problematic.
Lottie is now aiming to take on the capital’s half marathon to help raise awareness of the condition - while also raise funds for eating disorder support charity BEAT.
“I struggled in my final two years of school,” she says. “I’ve always played sports and have always been a very active person.
“The second lockdown over Christmas was really hard on everyone. But I remember speaking to my mum about how I thought I’d gained a bit of weight.
“I’d say I innocently started losing weight, and trying to eat more healthy whilst exercising more but that progressed to me over exercising and underfueling. I found this very easy to do and although I was never diagnosed with any specific condition, I’d lost more weight than I needed to and had gone past the point of concern.”
Lottie says that she has always been a stubborn person and that she hates being ill. So it became a massive concern for her when she returned to boarding school after a period away during Covid and was not feeling her energetic self.
She says that she is thankful for a close friend who spoke to her about her noticeably changing appearance and this was a trigger for her to take action. She admits that sometimes pointing out weight loss can have the opposite impact on those with eating disorders but for her she was glad that someone reached out to check up on her.
Lottie says that being at boarding school meant that she was exposed to eating disorders from the age of 13. Some of her schoolmates who she shared a room with struggled with anorexia or bulimia - so health issues of this kind have always been at the forefront of her mind.
“For myself I found that social media could be problematic. I could not help but compare myself to models or other users and got lost in the death trap of scrolling”, she adds.
“I’ve always been an active person and full of energy but I was so tired and I’d stopped being my normal chatty self. I remember sitting in the classroom without a single thought in my head because my brain was so exhausted from the calorie deficit. I didn’t feel like me.
“An older family member who had also faced an eating disorder spoke with me and it was good to have someone who I could relate to and bond with. At that moment I did not think I was doing anything wrong but looking back I can see it.
“I’ve now learned that bingeing can take many forms. We often associate it with overeating but for me it was over exercise and healthy eating - I was definitely over doing it.
“I remember my mum saying that I was doing it in a way that was tricky as it could be perceived as just healthy living. You often hear stories of people eating next to nothing but I was still eating three meals a day.
“I wish I could get rid of all the bad things on social media but it is difficult. For me personally, I found that changing who I followed from models to inspiring people really helped. Scrolling aimlessly through social media looking at models and wishing I had their body is a guilty and toxic pleasure of mine.
“If I was on social media, I’d click that I did not want to see this type of video again. It is the worst thing to compare yourself to others and we should always try to avoid this.”
Lottie is looking to raise as much money as possible for the charity BEAT - a charity focused on helping people overcome eating disorders. The organisation helped her to become informed and read inspiring stories of others who had managed to turn the tide on their unhealthy habits.
In order to do this she will be running the Edinburgh Half Marathon on May 28 later this year. She says that thankfully her school was very supportive during her eating disorder battle as a nurse had helped by pointing her in the direction of BEAT.
She continued: “Thankfully my school was very supportive as I remember speaking to a nurse who brought up the BEAT website to explore. It needs more awareness as it is such an amazing website.
“There is so much information and helplines on there which can educate you on overcoming certain eating disorders. I think conditions of this nature are such a taboo thing and people don’t know enough about the level of support out there.
“On their website BEAT has stories of how real people have overcome their issues around eating disorders. In sharing my story I want to give others hope, whether they are at high school or going through the scary time of starting uni, so that they know they are not alone.
“There is help and support out there. We all have to work on ourselves and always know there is a light at the end tunnel.”
For more information and to access support for an eating disorder please visit the BEAT website here. You can learn more about Lottie’s journey and support her GoFundMe here.
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