It took a doctor telling Australian model Annaliese Gann that she needed to gain weight or risk her organs failing to turn her life around.
"I was at the most unhealthy moment in my life. I went to see a doctor, and she told me if I didn't put on weight now, my internal system may start failing," the 22-year-old recently revealed on Instagram.
"I was miserable — always cold, lifeless, and struggled to get through the day. I survived on salads and black coffee... I was at the unhealthiest moment in my life."
After the doctor's visit, the now proudly curvy model began her journey to recovery. And this started by embracing her bigger frame "for what it is".
In another post, she acknowledges that she is not naturally thin, and upon accepting this, she started living life in her true self. "I am at my natural size. I am truly myself; the healthiest and happiest I've ever been."
Gann's journey mirrors that of local body activist and curvy model, Marciel Hopkins. "There's no shame in putting on weight, if your body wants to be healthy in a different size than you were forcing it to be," she previously told HuffPost.
The Miss SA 2016 finalist lost 14kg in four months to participate in the pageant. Like Gann, she trained two to three hours every day — so hard that her monthly period stopped. She would have baby apples for dinner — but all that's since changed.
"Healthy looks different on every body," she recently wrote on Instagram.
Hopkins' most helpful tools to self-love and acceptance? Not comparing yourself or your body to other people's — especially supermodels — and not obsessing over the scale.