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An ex-bodybuilder admitted 'letting herself go' was the best thing as she revealed her transformation.
Registered Counsellor and Coach Sami Rose, 37, struggled with body image from an early age.
She was obsessed with maintaining her rock-hard abs and weight, which morphed into a battle with disordered eating.
READ MORE: 'I was called gross and smelly when I quit shaving – but body hair made me fortune'
But when this 'challenge' began impacting her mental and physical health, she decided to take a break from bodybuilding.
Sami hasn't looked back – and six years on she's swapped her extreme lifestyle for body positivity and self-love instead.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, Sami shared how she's redefining the expression "let yourself go".
"After I stopped competing and restrictively dieting I went through a few months of struggling quite badly with binge eating," she candidly told us.
"And I gained around 10-12 kilos (1.5st-1.8st) in the matter of a few months.
"I was feeling bloated, sluggish, and terrible within myself.
"But it forced me to work on healing my relationship with food and my body, so I made it a priority to focus on the things I loved about myself that had nothing to do with my body – my positive qualities, strengths, and achievements."
Sami, from Brisbane, Australia, added: "Eventually things just clicked and I realised I'm so much more than my body, and I'm at peace with it being imperfect.
"I have way more valuable attributes to offer the world than some silly abs!"
As she realised that "silly abs" were not the be all and end all, Sami continued to hone her body positive mindset.
She's even built up a large following on both Instagram and TikTok where she posts self love clips.
In one of her popular videos, she "lets herself go" by letting herself live.
And by that she means, frolicking around in lingerie and bikinis, travelling and enjoying food – without fear of how she looks.
"I like to see it as letting myself LIVE – I let myself do things that I never used to do, I let myself go to spontaneous dinners instead of counting every calorie meticulously," Sami urged.
"Or I let myself go home and take a rest day instead of forcing myself to work out even when I am exhausted.
"I still choose self care every single day, and consider myself to have quite healthy habits with food, exercise, and my mental health.
"But it just happens to look a little different to what we've been conditioned to see as 'healthy'.
"I'm okay with that, because I'm actually living life to the fullest, instead of shrinking myself down and missing out on things in life just so I can be a bit thinner.
"I accept my imperfections, but don't feel the need to change things about myself, and sacrifice the life I love just to fit societal beauty standards.
"I know that whatever I wear, if I rock it with confidence and bring good energy to wherever I'm going, that's what's going to be most attractive."
Despite embracing her body and taking back control of her life, not everyone is fond of Sami's version of 'letting go'.
Since gaining weight and leaving the bodybuilding world behind, Sami has experienced some trolling.
But the influencer is now the most confident she's ever felt in herself – regardless of what anyone thinks or says.
"I have definitely had negative comments over the years," Sami explained.
"But for the most part they don't bother me – it's mostly people who don't know me, and project their own biases and insecurities onto me.
"I feel like it mostly comes down to unhappy people just hating seeing someone else be happy and confident, especially when it comes to people in bigger bodies, just happily existing.
"I'm grateful that the positive comments and support far outweighs the negative.
"Any time I get a mean comment I just remind myself that happy, positive people don't make comments like that – so it's coming from someone who probably hates themselves far more than they hate me!
"This is the most confident I've felt in myself – I still have the odd bad body image day here and there.
"But I've developed a sense of self love that helps me show up confidently regardless of how I feel about my body.
"It's an unconditional love that I've never really experienced until the last few years!"
If you're worried about your health or the health of somebody else, you can contact SEED eating disorder support service on 01482 718130 or on their website, here.
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