'I've gained 5 dress sizes but stopping one behaviour made me accept my curves'
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A woman who was once obsessed with dieting has opened up about gaining five dress sizes and embracing her curvaceous figure. Sophie Hughes spent years weighing herself every day, used exercise as punishment, and analysed every single thing that she ate. The model, from Manchester, says diet culture "had me in its grips" and she never thought she would fully accept her body.
She told The Mirror: "I used food as punishment, I used exercise as punishment and there was over a decade of my life where I analysed every single thing I ate and hated myself on the deepest level.". Her self confidence then plummeted after she underwent surgery at 25 to donate part of her liver to her baby nephew. She was left with a huge scar on her stomach and jumped from a size 6 to a size 16 in the space of 18 months. "I hated my body so much," Sophie admitted.
However, Sophie began noticing a movement of curvy women sharing their bodies online. She was inspired and decided rather than punishing herself, she would embrace her figure and shared vulnerable pictures online. The content creator, who boasts over 83,000 on Instagram, said: "I felt like if I showed the world all the worst parts of me then I could stop hiding.".
She then began working as a curve model and gained huge popularity online. Sophie said: "The response was overwhelmingly positive, I got scouted as a curve model and started shooting global lingerie campaigners alongside social media collaborations. It made me feel so positive that it snowballed from there!".
