“Let me tell you about Slim Jim…”
Maeve Madden has shared an incredibly important post about her struggle with body dysmorphia, her anxieties around exercise, and why you should never comment on another person’s weight.
The personal trainer and model posted two side-by-side images of herself three years apart.
In the first, Maeve said that she had been called ‘Slim Jim.’ She had been anxious, struggling with self confidence, over-exercising, and unhappy.
“’I remember you when you were ‘Slim Jim!!'” she wrote. “Who am I now then??”
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“Three years 12+kg in weight from the hell that was ‘Slim Jim’ to the fabulous happy me.
“If only you knew just how far I had come on my journey, maybe you would think twice about commenting on another person’s weight. Would you even recognise me in this picture??”
Looking back at the photo, Maeve said that the stress and pressure she felt to look a certain way “breaks her heart.”
She explained that it took her a long time to become comfortable enough in her own body to gain muscle and weight.
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“I had complete body dysmorphia,” she said. “Always tired, always anxious, unhappy, over exercised, under nourished, hair loss, bad skin, zero confidence, not the real me!!
“Gosh, now I can’t stop looking at this picture and my poor tiny body.”
The model said that she remembers losing jobs anytime she gained weight. She finished her post by saying that she is not ‘Slim Jim’ – “and I never wanted to be anyway.”
“I am happy and I am me,” she said. “Love yourself for everything you are. You are STRONG. You are BEAUTIFUL. You are ENOUGH.”
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Maeve recently chatted to Her about her experience with PCOS for Fertility Month.
Having been diagnosed with the condition 10 years ago, she said she was “devastated” to learn she would struggle to become pregnant in the future.
“I get messages about fertility and PCOS every day,” she said. “I always think that girls are very worried about it but I’ve had more positive stories sent to me than negative ones, which I love.”
“I’ve had so many say, ‘I tried for so many years and now I’ve got four kids or three kids’ or ‘I came off contraception and within six months I was pregnant’, so there are there are so many stories of positivity.”
You can read our full interview with Maeve here.
