Forest Town anorexia survivor reveals how she turned her life around

A anorexia survivor whose weight plummeted to just six stone after feeling ‘manly’ due to her 6ft frame said working in a clothes shop helped her to recover.

Leana Dennis, 19, from Forest Town, Notts, has struggled with an eating disorder since she was 14 but it was two years ago when she first went to university that the illness really took hold.

She dropped from a healthy 10 stone to just six stone in weight, and she was so thin that in photos her skeleton was visible through her skin.

But now she has made an incredible recovery, weighing in at 10 stone again, and said that working in New Look helped her to realise that people could be beautiful in ‘all shapes and sizes’. 

Leana Dennis during her battle with anorexia when she weighed just 6 stone 1lb (left). Now Leana weighs a healthy 10 stone after her incredible recovery

At her lowest weight, photos reveal that Leana’s bones were protruding, making her skeleton visible

Feeling pressured to look like her friends and like models in the magazines, Leana first started to lose weight aged 17 by severely restricting her food intake to just 200 calories a day. 

But now she is back to a healthy weight and works with a personal trainer to exercise in a healthy way and fuel her body with fruit, vegetables and pasta.

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Leana, who hopes to study animation at Falmouth University in September, said: ‘When I went to uni I wanted to change my look – I wanted to change how I was perceived by people.

‘My weight got so low my body would ache all over, my lips would turn blue because I didn’t have enough fat on me to keep warm.

Leana during her battle with anorexia (left). Now the sales assistant is working with a personal trainer to exercise in a healthy way and have a controlled diet that includes treats (right)

‘The media had a big impact, I saw pictures of skinny pretty models in the magazines and I felt like I needed to become like them.’

Leana said the illness first took hold in school, where she felt different from everyone else due to being so tall.

She added: ‘I wanted to change myself so I lost a little bit of weight. When I got to sixth form college I wanted to get noticed, I wanted to be noticed by boys and I had never had a boyfriend.

‘I felt like no one was paying attention to me. I was taller than the other boys so I felt manly, however I couldn’t change my height so I thought I would change my weight.’  

The illness became even worse when she left home and started a photography degree in 2016. Leana said the condition left her exhausted, struggling to walk upstairs and stay awake in lectures. 

Struggling to balance her studies with waitressing in the evenings and a two-hour commute, Leana claims she began to become worn down and didn’t make time to eat.

Leana nearly died after dropping to just 6 stone 1 lb

She dropped to just 6 stone 1lb in less than one term. 

Leana said: ‘I became isolated from my friends and living eight hours from home I was isolated from my parents too.

‘I would fall asleep in lectures because I was so tired, I struggled to do a five-hour shift in one go because I had so little energy.

‘I couldn’t see what I was doing to myself, I felt I was tired because of the stress I was putting myself under.

‘I started calorie counting. I worked out I needed to eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain, so I tried to eat less than that.

‘Then it got to 1,000 calories a day, so I tried to eat less than that and so on until I got to 200 calories.

‘I’d have a yoghurt and a small piece of fruit, that way I would have protein and vitamins and feel ‘healthy’. I would always eat in the morning so I had the chance to burn it off in the day.’

Weighing just 6st 1lb, Leana decided to take a break from the course and return to her parents’ home in Forest Town.

Worried parents Wendy Dennis, 51, and Neal Dennis, 52, took her to a doctor where she was diagnosed with anorexia before being admitted to hospital in December 2016.

Leana’s eating habits were monitored closed, however she tried to exercise five times a day to burn calories.

Leana has now put on weight and is a healthy 10 stone

Leana said: ‘I did star jumps, sit ups, push ups, anything to stop me putting on weight. It was like taking any moment of opportunity to attack myself.

‘Anorexia is very secretive, I would lie to my parents and say I went out for lunch or I ate this when I hadn’t. I felt like I didn’t deserve food.’

Leana eventually started eating more and when she reached 8st seven months later she discharged herself and continued to work with medical staff at home.

Leana said: ‘Looking back at how I looked it frightens me. I don’t want to go back there, I lost so much weight. However the pictures also give me the motivation to carry on.

‘When I was in hospital I couldn’t do things I loved like scuba diving and swimming, however now I can go back and do that.

‘If I had carried on the way I was going I would have definitely died, I was at death’s door and I didn’t even know it. Without everyone’s help I know I wouldn’t be here today. 

‘Even though I felt like the fattest one in there at the time I knew I had to put on weight in order to be free.’

Now she works with her personal trainer to have a healthy diet that also includes her favourite treat foods such as Ben and Jerry’s.  

Leana said: ‘I got a job working at the New Look in Mansfield six months ago and I love it.

‘I love clothes and the job has given me a big confidence boost, I get to see people of all shapes and sizes and I now know everyone is beautiful regardless of what they look like.

‘I don’t count calories anymore, I last weighed myself three months ago and I was 10 stone, but I know I’ve put weight on since then and I’m happy with that.’

She added: ‘My parents used to have an English breakfast every Sunday and I always used to refuse it, however one time I asked for a sausage cob and it made my mum cry, she was so happy.’   

WHAT IS ANOREXIA?

Anorexia is an eating disorder and a mental health condition.

People diagnosed with it try to keep their weight as low as possible by eating little or excessive exercise.

Men and women can develop the illness, however it typically starts in the mid-teens.

Those with anorexia can have a distorted image of their bodies, thinking their fat when in fact they are severely underweight.

Causes of the condition are unknown, but those with it have either low self-esteem, have a family history of eating disorders or feel pressured from society or place of work.

Long term health complications can include muscle and bone problems, loss of sex drive, kidney or bowl problems or having a weakened immune system.

Treatment for anorexia can include cognitive behavioural therapy.