A recovering anorexic has revealed how she ate virtually nothing and did 50,000 sit-ups a day while her condition was at its worst.
Dancer Niamh Fitzpatrick said a cruel comment from her ex-boyfriend sparked a five-year struggle with the deadly eating disorder.
Her skeletal frame meant that, despite being 15, she wore clothes for four to five-year-olds and she had to be hospitalised over fears for her heart.
Now 25, Niamh has told of her long road to recovery and is hoping her story will help others to beat the disorder.
Niamh, who teaches ballet in Dublin, remembers being insecure about her body when she was just seven, believing she had "fat legs".
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She said: "I'd been dancing from a young age, so maybe my legs were a little bigger than the other girls at school, but I didn't understand back then that it was muscle, not fat."
Now a healthy size 8-10, she has a normal relationship with food and is sharing her story to show others that recovery is possible.
She said: "I used to think I had no chance of getting better, but I want others to know that you can recover and live a happy life.
"I always get people messaging me saying they don't know how I did it, but everyone has the power to beat this illness.
"It's easy to compare yourself to others, but you've got to put yourself first and focus on you."
Despite being self-conscious about her body aged just seven, it wasn't until Niamh turned 15 that things began to spiral.
Then an undefeated dance champion, she had a great circle of friends. That summer, she enjoyed a holiday romance with a boy she genuinely believed she loved.
After he jokingly called her "fatso" one day, the comment became lodged in her brain.
They continued speaking by MSN instant messenger when they got home, until she saw he had a new girlfriend.
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She said: "I remember thinking, 'I bet she's prettier and skinnier than me'. I was only a size six myself at the time, but I still decided to go on a diet.
"Within a month, things were out of control. I'd cut down what I'd been eating until it was hardly anything.
"I used to take a whole lunch to school, then it'd be just a sandwich, then a sandwich without bread – it just kept going down and down."
On top of her alarmingly low calorie intake, she'd do around 50,000 sit ups throughout the day, even secretly working out when everyone else was asleep.
She said: "Every second I was alone, I'd exercise. I'd even go to the toilet just so I could jog on the spot without anyone seeing me."
Concerned by her shrinking frame and hair loss, people started asking Niamh if she was ill.
But it wasn't until a few months later that she confided in friends that she no longer wanted to eat, and they urged her to see a counsellor.
Niamh said: "I told the school counsellor that I thought I had an eating disorder, and she said it was really important I tell my parents.
"I went home that night and told them. I could see their hearts break as I said it."
Though Niamh had admitted she needed help, recovery was a long road. Over the next five years, she was in and out of hospital, eventually ending up in a psychiatric unit, where she was tube fed.
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Though she never had scales in the house, so isn't sure exactly how much she weighed, she recalls wearing clothes for four to five year olds at her smallest.
Doctors, fearful for her heart, prescribed complete bedrest, when ECG scans showed the anorexia had put it under strain.
Then, in June 2012, she had an epiphany.
She said: "I was sat in hospital looking out the window and just thought, 'I don't want this life anymore'.
"For the past five years, I'd been in and out of one hospital or another. I'd had enough. I missed home, and I was determined to get back there."
Doctors said that, before her parents, Teresa, 53, and Colm, 55, could take their daughter home, Niamh would have to prove she could gain weight.
For two weeks, she continued to be tube fed, before moving on to a solid diet and being allowed out of bed for five minutes a day.
As her weight steadily increased, she was eventually left to eat unsupervised.
She said: "That was the hardest. There was nothing stopping me from getting up to exercise, or not eating. But I had to say no. I wanted to go home."
At the end of summer 2012, Niamh was released on the proviso that she underwent intensive therapy and agreed to be readmitted straight away if she lost weight.
After 18 months of counselling, she was discharged from the psychiatric unit, too, with medics declaring her mentally and physically healthy.
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Now, her life has changed completely. She has a great job, good friends and is determined to use her experiences to help others.
Niamh, currently single, often posts about her recovery on Instagram, attracting messages from people who've been inspired by her progress.
She said: "I've stayed a healthy weight and never looked back. I'm still a picky eater, but food doesn't control my life now.
"I can go out for dinner or ice cream. I'm going on a girls' holiday in a few weeks, which is something I'd never have done before.
"At the end of last year, I even fulfilled my lifelong dream of opening a ballet academy. I now want other people to realise that nothing is impossible when you use your determination the right way."
