Katie Dalebout is a writer, mentor, and the host of the podcast WWRadio. Her first book will be published in 2016 and is available for preorder now. YahooHealth has spoken to her and she shared her story about self- acceptance in the most real way she possibly can.
When you meet her, you'll instantly be taken back to when you were in middle school and think: She's one of those cool girls! I want to be like her. When you see her, you'll find that she is funny, kind and full of charisma that you'll never guess what she went through.
Her story however is something every one of us should know. It's a story about how true self-acceptance can be infinitely more powerful than the best emulation. It's an old lesson, but one we should always be learning.
For Katie, health was the easiest way to hide her eating disorder, both to herself and to everyone she knows because it's one of the hottest trends. She was diagnosed with anorexia several times but she never took it seriously. She would do anything to feel included, so she ignored even the most visible sign like losing her period, her hair randomly falling out, not even when her doctors told her that her internal organs are almost failing. Katie thinks that when you're too obsessed with your weight, it's just vanity. But her addiction to green juice and all things gluten free made her feel like she was part of an exclusive club. And for some time, she enjoyed that feeling.
She said the more she lost weight, the bigger her obsession became. She would go as far as judging someone she saw that eats differently, her being small and the compliments she gets from people fueled the confidence she thought she had. She considers it her superhero suit, complete with superpowers: self-assuredness, acceptance and recognition- to name a few.
Being underweight, however provided her with something she's always wanted: to feel accepted, to feel that people she her, for people to include her, and to feel worthy. People's comments like, "You're so tiny! You can eat whatever you want" makes her feel great.
But really, these compliments make her think about all the things she has to sacrifice to have this image. She would always just eat huge amount of spinach and celery and basically nothing else. However whenever she heard comments like that, it made her feel that all the restrictions she put on herself and the salad she had been eating was worth it.
She felt like she needed other people to validate her from being her, and it made her never want to give her thin body up. There is always that fear that she'll suddenly gain weight and that her body would change. Every year, on her birthday, she would wish the same thing before she blew her candles, "Please, let me be thin for life."
To read more about Katie Dalebout's story visit YahooHealth.
