A Newcastle woman who used to spend six hours in the gym and live off a punnet of grapes a day has recovered to become a beauty queen.
Lana Kelly, 25, struggled with anorexia and bulimia for ten years but has now recovered. She helps run Miss Great Britain events to raise awareness and help others who are struggling with eating disorders.
She battled bulimia from the age of 13 through to 16 and then developed anorexia, but says her doctor didn't take her condition seriously because she was considered a "normal weight". In July 2018, when Lana was studying at university, Lana's illness got so bad that she was living off a punnet of grapes and spending six hours in the gym each day.
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In two months, she dropped from 9st 7lbs to 6st 11lbs and ended up in hospital on the verge of a heart attack and was told she could die. Lana then struggled with binge eating, but has since recovered and says that starting to compete in beauty pageants meant she was able to improve her mental health.
Now she is a healthy size 8 and is the current Miss Newcastle and runs pageants across the North East, in Newcastle, Durham Sunderland and Middlesbrough - and wants to change the perception of them as "vanity competitions". Events manager Lana said: "At my worst I felt like my self-worth was determined by my body - so I thought: 'If I get to this size, people will like me.'
"I’d wake up at 6am and workout and be in and out of the gym all day. The rest of the time I’d be studying.
"I became a shell of myself. Nearly having a heart attack was a wake-up call, but it was hard when the weight then came back on.
"But starting pageants really helped me recover and to love my body. Now I want to help others."
Lana developed bulimia when she was just 13, and added: "If we went out for meals with family or friends I’d always be thinking about where I could then be sick or how I could then walk off what I had just eaten, everything was so calculated.
She then developed anorexia in the late teens and claims that a doctor failed to take her bulimia seriously. She continued: "I wasn’t skinny enough for them to be worried about me, but that in turn started these thoughts that I wouldn’t be accepted in the world if I wasn’t as thin as possible.
Her health spiralled out of control and while studying at the University of Bath, Somerset, she lost so much weight she was wearing age 10-11 children's clothes. She said: "I picked on a punnet of grapes throughout the day and would spend the day in the gym.
"I became so skinny very quickly, but I was convinced I wouldn’t be accepted unless I was thin."
But when Lana was rushed to hospital and told she may have a heart attack, it was a wake-up call to what she was putting her body though. She said: "I realised how ill I was making myself, I struggled after with binge eating as I was ashamed as I started to put on weight.
"But then I entered a beauty pageant and found a love for it. It helped me so much."
Now a healthy weight and fully recovered, Lana went on to become Miss Bath, Miss Newcastle and placed in the top ten in the Miss Great Britain final in 2021. She has also started her own campaign in the hope of raising awareness and changing misconceptions around eating disorders.
She said: "I go out to eat at a restaurant and I don't beat myself up about it, the pageants have given me so much confidence. People still don't see eating disorders as a mental disorder with physical side effects and it's about raising awareness for that.
"Already people of all different ages and genders have reached out to me. It feels great to help people and make a difference.
Lana is running her first pageant this July and wants to create her own events business. She finished: "I want to inspire women to put themselves out there.
"There is a misconception everyone who enters think they are the world's most beautiful person. Instead it encourages people to be their best version of themselves, that's the beauty of beauty contests."
You can follow Lana's journey at @morethanmy_body on Instagram.
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