“I was diagnosed with "Eating Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified" last year, but I had been struggling for much longer than that. I started my unhealthy spiral in high school, using extreme dieting in an attempt to lose weight and punishing myself for my ‘failures’ by obsessively examining my muffin top and other undesirable body parts in the mirror. When I ate an unacceptable food group (ice cream, bread, chocolate, a burger) I would force myself to purge. It largely became my whole life. If I wasn’t actively calculating the calories of my next meal, the workouts I would have to do this week to deserve to eat, I was mentally comparing myself to those around me and berating myself for not eating good enough, looking good enough.

It's been five years since I began that spiral of self-hatred, bingeing and purging, and the only reason I've been able to get out of it was my Body Positive experience. The biggest, most obvious result is that I have not purged since our first class together—a huge success for me. But this experience has really done so much more than that. I've been able to tell that voice in my head repeating the mantra ‘you are not enough’ to go sit in the corner and stop interrupting my day. I've stopped weighing myself. Sometimes I eat bread, even if it's WHITE bread. And I've started loving myself—my stretch marks, cellulite, belly and thighs. All these milestones are little milestones for some, but they have helped me reclaim control over myself and my life through love and self-care. The Body Positive experience did that for me.”
— College student, Body Positive group member