Exclusive:
A woman, who once hated her body, is now unashamed of going from a size 6 to 16 after realising that punishing herself with exercise or food is not the answer – and now wants others to grow in confidence too
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!”
She added: “I started modelling at the age of 15 and struggled with disordered eating, diet culture had me in its grips and if you’d told me I would one day be sharing my cute little belly I’d have laughed in your face.”
The woman, who has a new found confidence, reflected on how far she has come. She explained: “When I was younger I weighed myself multiple times a day, my entire self worth was based on my body and how it looked that day. 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.”
Contrasting to now, she added: “I wake up every day and there’s peace, I don’t love every inch of myself but I am at peace, I hand on my heart genuinely just don’t care anymore. I realise, finally, that there are so many more interesting and incredible things about me than just the way I look.”
How Sophie found her confidence
Sophie, who now hosts talks where she helps others improve their confidence and way they look at their body, says she tries to focus on eating foods that make her feel good. “I move my body in ways I love and I allow myself to just be – I feel so free,” she added.
But she admits that it is a long and ongoing journey. Sophie, who says people shouldn’t compare their body to when they were a teenager, said: “You don’t just wake up one day and love yourself. I had therapy, I journaled, I focused on gratitude, I used positive psychology hacks to rewire my brain. I learnt how to be kind to myself.
“I started dressing to compliment the body I have and not the body I wanted. I followed people who looked like me. I unfollowed anyone I compared myself to in a negative way. I focused on all the things my body can do, instead of just how it looks.”
Sophie says Simply Be is her favourite fashion site as sizes range from a 10 to 32. She describes the clothes as “always flattering, always true to size”.
Issuing a message to anyone who is struggle who thinks altering their body is the answer, Sophie said: “You can’t hate yourself into a body you love and self acceptance doesn’t exist at the end of an appearance based goal. What I mean by that is losing six pounds, getting a boob job, doing 10,000 squats, they’re not actually the answer.”
She concluded: “For as long as your self worth is based on the way you look you will never learn to accept yourself. You have to figure out how to accept yourself in the now. That’s not to say you can’t have goals to lose weight for your health, it’s just to say that even then, your body is still the least interesting thing about you.”
The candid woman has launched a Body Confidence course for anyone who may be struggle.
Do you have a story? Get in touch at Lucy.Marshall@reachplc.com.
