This is the desperately sad story of the thinnest woman in the world who weighs just four stone after years of extreme dieting. But rather than feel sorry for herself, Valeria Levitin says her emaciated figure should be a severe wake-up call for girls wanting matchstick-thin figures.
At 5ft 8in, she should weigh between 9st and 12st, according to NHS advice. Instead, she is a tiny 4st 3lbs, less than half of what her lightest healthy weight should be.
Valeria, who developed her eating disorder as a teenager, has chosen to speak out about how the illness has ruined her life.
She says she wants to share her story to prevent other people falling victim to the same fate, saying anorexia has made her ‘lonely, unattractive and repulsive for the people around me’.
She believes the roots of her condition lie with her mother, who was terrified Valeria would grow up obese like her relatives. Even as a young child, her diet was curtailed. She was weighed often to ensure she hadn’t gained any weight, such was her mother’s drive for perfection.
At 16, and weighing 10st, Valeria moved to Chicago with her parents. Desperate to fit in at a new school, she thought that if she lost weight, she would be accepted and liked. As a result, she restricted her diet even further, cutting out sugar or carbohydrates. The irony today is that, having cut out certain foods for so long, her body is intolerant to them and could not process them even if she wanted to.
0 comments:
Post a Comment