Fitness bikini model shares anorexia battle to help others struggling with body image

A 24-year-old anorexia survivor is inspiring others with her new, fit body and a modeling gig by posting before-and-after photos online.

Kaitlyn Davidson, of Sydney Australia, used to weigh less than 81 pounds. She told news.com.au she never realized her love for health and fitness had become an obsession until she was in constant pain, her hair fell out, and she could feel her own heart beating.

“There’s a fine line between fitness and obsession, and I didn’t realize I’d crossed that line until it was too late,” Davidson told news.com.au.

Davidson said she was left in constant pain, her skin had turned yellow, and her teeth were degrading. The girl who had once dreamed of becoming a bikini model now had trouble walking, but it wasn’t enough to keep her away from the gym or consume enough food— not even when doctors warned the stress was verging on stopping her heart.

“I wasn’t eating enough,” she told the news site. “I had so many fear foods I couldn’t touch, I couldn’t even come into some foods’ vicinity. Food wasn’t for energy, it was to be burnt, I’d have to burn it all off.”

It’s not clear how, but Davidson came across Portia de Rossi’s autobiography in which the star details her own battle with anorexia. She quickly realized that she too suffered from the illness and began her road to recovery.

“It’s so exhausting when you’re fighting in your own head and people around you tell you to get help,” she told news.com.au. “They want a quick fix.”

She never stopped going to the gym, and at first it was difficult for her to keep food down. Others wanted her to abandon her dream of becoming a bikini model, but she couldn’t.

“Anorexia is not a body type or a body shape, it’s a mental illness. You still need to treat it, even once the weight has been gained,” she told the news site.

Now recovered, she competes in World Bikini Fitness and Fashion and posts on social media regularly to help others who may be going through the same battles. She shares photos illustrating her transformation on her Instagram account, where she has garnered more than 12,000 followers.

“When I was lying in my bedroom in constant pain and felt like it was going to end for me, having someone I looked up to made me feel there was a road ahead,” she said. “And now I’m living the life I dreamt of living.”