'I missed birthday parties, I'd dread being asked to drinks - I had no clue how ill I was'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

"I was limiting my life so much that I would miss birthday parties, I'd miss friends visiting, I would dread people saying that they wanted to go out for a drink." Bryony should have been having the time of her life - going through university, graduating and beginning her life in a new city.

Instead, she was wracked with anxieties, starting to 'punish herself' through her 'obsessive' daily routine. Bryony was stuck in a cycle of disordered eating and obsessive compulsion.

But it was only after seeking professional help that she uncovered the extent of her struggles - and managed to make a miraculous turn around which she hails as 'life changing'. READ MORE: 1.5 million people are affected by this debilitating condition - including Molly-Mae - but many have no idea what it even is From the age of just 11-years-old, Bryony Rowe was in a 'perfect storm' of confusion about her body image.

She found herself caught between the expectations to be girly and 'pretty', and her love of sports that would encourage 'broad and muscly' bodies. “From around age 11, I was a competitive swimmer, did a lot of surfing, and also played rugby competitively – and there were always lots of comments and different views about female bodies and how they should look for these sports," she explained. “It created a perfect storm of being at an age where I wanted to be ‘pretty’ and look ‘feminine’ but, at the same time, play sports which were perceived by those around me as ‘masculine’, or where being broad and muscly was encouraged.