Gold Medal Gymnast Shawn Johnson revealed that she once experienced struggling with her body image and battled with eating disorders, but managed to help herself and claimed she is now "healthy."
The 23 year old Olympian revealed to Yahoo Health, "I've kind of gone through the gamut when it comes to health. I've hit lows with - I don't want to say diagnosed eating disorders - but eating disorders. And then I've gone the other way, where I've rejected fitness."
But the Dancing With the Stars winner claimed it wasn't her sport that caused her to lose her self- confidence but it was the dancing competition that caused it.
"When I first went on [DWTS], I was 16, and I turned 17 on the show," she explained. "Going from this strict, regimented schedule to going through puberty on national TV and gaining weight, and just being kind of a huge target for criticism, was just really difficult for me."
To cope with the problem, Johnson tried numerous weight loss methods, including detoxes and juice cleanses but none of them worked. Another challenge she faced was after she finished the DWTS competition, she was having a hard time getting into shape as she realized she didn't know how to be comfortable inside the gym. Adding, "I could go do a handstand against a wall, or go do gymnastics, but I didn't know how to work out," and decided not to exercise anymore.
Shawn actually stopped working out about a year until she got involve in a skiing injury that made her realize she could no longer do any physical activities and "had to stop everything, the first thought that I had was, 'What if I could never do gymnastics again? Adding, "That was never a thought that I had before - I was still healthy, I could still do things. When it was almost taken away from me, I was like, 'I have to give it one more shot."
She has since then adopted a healthy lifestyle, eating nutritious, healthy meals and working out. Johnson is also the co- founder of The Body Department, a healthy living website that educates young girls about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
