Amalie Lee Uses Instagram To Remind Followers Eating Disorders Like Anorexia Come In 'All Shapes And Sizes'
Amalie Lee, 20, is a recovering anorexic — and she wants the world to know exactly what that looks like.
According to the NY Daily News, Lee is documenting her recovery in real-time on her Instagram account, titled Redefining Healthy. The account features progress photos of her from when she was anorexic to now, as well as her (sometimes high-calorie) meals, from fresh-cut fruit to froyo. The point, Lee explains in one post, is to raise awareness for both what’s considered an eating disorder and what real recovery — something she calls #realcovery — entails.
“An eating disorder comes in all shapes and sizes,” she explained. “Some, like me, become very underweight by their eating disorder (thought I was a normal weight-sufferer for some time too), while others are normal weight or overweight, at times morbidly obese…I felt like my case was not taken seriously until I was very underweight, and that is not ok.”
Lee developed anorexia in 2012, after body image issues she experienced as a teen sent her into a “depressive phase,” the Daily News reported. It wasn’t until 2013 when she received both an official diagnosis and treatment; by 2014, after much (at times painful) effort, she was "declared well"— physically, anyway.
“It takes longer to recover mentally,” she added. “I could not just keep it to myself when I knew I had many followers on social media who struggled with what I had been through.”
Now, Lee shares her personal progress, answers frequently asked questions surrounding anorexia and other eating disorders, and debunks as many myths as she can in an effort to be "real and honest" with her 80+ thousand followers. Or rather, 80+ thousand friends.
"It's like a recovery library, open for everybody to read and see," she said. "My followers are amazing, and I see them as friends."