Knowing it takes a long time can be miserable, but what I think I & fellow sufferers have to keep at the forefront of their minds is their motivations.
You know my friend is scared but you don’t know how strong she is. She’s tough, really tough. She’s got good people around her who love and support her.
That person who conforms to all of society's expectations may be hiding a secret.
Read Joe's poem on his personal battle with anorexia, 'A day in the life of us'.
People often asked me what started my anorexia. My old self had been forgotten and I was learning how to get her back again.
I don't recall booking a flight for two, but there you were, firmly planted into the seat next to me.
If I could speak to myself at each of the pivotal moments in my illness, starting when my anorexia developed after my 16th birthday, this is what I'd say.
I woke up a few years back with a voice in my head, at first, I thought it was my friend but over time it filled me with dread.
If you ran a marathon without any shoes on you certainly wouldn’t win, so don’t punish yourself if you’ve had setbacks because of an eating disorder.
So I'm visiting the place where, in one respect, it all ended but, in another, where it all began.
My story begins when I was 16 with a motivation to shift a few pounds to look ‘slimmer’ in prom photos. It became a monster of an eating disorder.
Anorexia isn’t the same for everyone, & whilst the majority of patients share negative attitudes towards food, it doesn’t manifest itself in the same ways.