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Why A Blogger Says That "Becoming Fat" Saved Her Life

Danica Marjanović knows exactly what you're thinking when you look at her.
She doesn't have to ask to know that when most people look at her body, they'll be "concerned" about her health.
"I can’t tell you how many fake health concerns/bullying/body shaming comments I get that start with 'I am all for self love BUT... you should be working out to love your body,'" she wrote on an Instagram post earlier this month.
However, she pointed out, those comments are often reserved specifically for fat bodies, designed to mask weight discrimination.
"Would you tell an underweight anorexic patient in the early stages of recovery to start exercising to prove she loves her self?" she asked.
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Marjanović, who is recovering from an eating disorder, wrote on her photo that becoming fat saved her life, and hit back at what she calls "the treatment of bodies that are not skinny."

same mirror same bedroom just 7 years on and a whole lot of shit and experiences learnt from. I can’t tell you how many fake health concerns/bullying/ body shaming comments I get that start with “I am all for self love BUT.. you should be working out to love your body’ would you tell an underweight anorexic patient in the early stages of recovery to start exercising to prove she loves her self NO. just because my body does not conform to society’s standards of an eating disorder recovery body does not mean I am not over coming a serious issue with restricting my food. no one has the right to then use their ill informed ignorant judgment to tell me how I should or shouldn’t be showing love to my body you have NO not even a SLIGHT idea how far I’ve come with my relationship with food and exercise. From months of therapy I’ve been told I essentially recovered my self out or signs of what sounded like undiagnosed anorexia; want to know why I was never diagnosed? Because I always felt not skinny enough to go get help about my issues with food and body image. So save your ‘I know what self love is better than you’ judgments to yourself and have some basic knowledge and respect into the statistics of eating disorders. If anything I’m trying to make a point of the treatment of bodies that are not skinny even in the treatment of eating disorders - this has to change. My page isn’t just showing you how to be confident it’s about showing you how I have faced my biggest fear in life and turned it into something beautiful.

A post shared by DANICA MARJANOVIĆ (@lovefromdanica) on

The thing is, you can't tell whether or not someone is healthy just by looking at them, but people feel much more free to comment on someone's body if they're overweight — despite the fact that people who aren't thin can also be struggling with disordered eating.
"Just because my body does not conform to society’s standards of an eating disorder recovery body does not mean I am not overcoming a serious issue with restricting my food," Marjanović wrote. "No one has the right to then use their ill informed ignorant judgment to tell me how I should or shouldn’t be showing love to my body you have NO not even a SLIGHT idea how far I’ve come with my relationship with food and exercise."
The stereotypes we hold up about what eating disorders look like can keep survivors from seeking help, she said.
"I always felt not skinny enough to go get help about my issues with food and body image," she wrote. "If anything I’m trying to make a point of the treatment of bodies that are not skinny even in the treatment of eating disorders — this has to change."
Refinery29 has reached out to Marjanović for comment, and will update this article when we receive a response.
If you are struggling with an eating disorder, please call Beat on 0808 801 0677. Support and information is available 365 days a year.
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