This Girl Beat Anorexia Thanks To A Note From A Stranger

Anna Wyatt's life changed after a stranger handed her a note in a supermarket

Image: Anna Wyatt Instagram

By the time Anna Wyatt was 20 years old, her anorexia was so bad that her weight had dropped to just six stone. Then 18 months ago, everything changed when a stranger handed her a note as she waited at a supermarket till.

The note was from a girl called Ella Crouch, instructing Anna to visit her blog, which documented her own anorexia recovery journey.

Image: Ella Crouch Instagram

Ella explains on her blog, ‘When I first started university I developed an eating disorder, and by my second year I had been diagnosed with anorexia and weighed 38kg. I started this blog when I took a year out from university to combat my disorder. I refused the hospital bed at a clinic and lived at home where I actively addressed my problem, with the help of my family, friends, and personal trainer/ best friend Leon Bustin (The LeanMachines). Within a year I had reached my weight goal in order to live abroad in France and Germany and continue with my degree.’

After reading about Ella’s experiences with anorexia, Anna was inspired to address her own eating disorder and begin the difficult journey to recovery.

'Having anorexia is like having the conscious part of your brain put in a very small box, which is surrounded by a much larger fog swirling all around inside your head,' said Anna.

'You know what is sensible but there is something that stops you from doing it.'

Anna contacted Ella’s personal trainer Leon and began focusing on getting stronger and changing her eating habits.

‘It was an incredible thing for the person to do, to be brave enough to walk up to a stranger and offer that help – I’m just so indebted to her,’ says Anna.

Thanks to Ella’s note, Anna has now fully recovered and is planning a trek to Machu Picchu in Peru to raise money for charity.

She says, ‘Now that the worst is behind me I find that challenging myself to complete physical and mental challenges is something that motivates me every day to keep going and to hopefully prove to others out there suffering that the world is a much more fun place when your body is strong enough to enjoy it.’