Demi Lovato is making strides in her recovery from bulimia nervosa. The singer and activist, 25, shared a fan-made image to her Instagram Story on Wednesday, October 18, showing how her body has transformed in recent years. She captioned the “Then” and “Now” photos: “Recovery is possible.”
The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer opened up about her battle with the eating disorder in her YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated, and explained how her June 2016 breakup from boyfriend of six years Wilmer Valderrama caused her to fall back into old struggles.
“When I was in a relationship with Wilmer I went three years without purging and when we broke up that’s one of the first things I did,” she said to her manager, Phil McIntyre. “The less I have to think about food, the easier it is to go about having a normal life and I don’t want to let anybody down so when I do have moments when I slip up, I feel very ashamed. What started the relapse was missing Wilmer. And when I feel lonely my heart feels hungry and I end up binging.”
Her struggles with eating began at an early age, Lovato recalled in the documentary. “I would bake cookies for my family and I would eat all of them and nobody would have any to eat. That was my first memory of food being that medicine for me,” she said. “Food is still the biggest challenge in my life and it controls — I don’t want to give it the power to say it controls my every thought, but it’s something that I’m constantly thinking about.”
She added: “Body image, what I’m going to eat next, what I wish I could be eating, what I wish I didn’t eat. It’s just constant. Like I get envious toward people that don’t struggle with an eating disorder just because I feel like my life would be so much easier.”
Today, the musician finds comfort in physical activity. “The gym really helps and I know that I would be in a very dark place without it,” she said. “Anytime I’m able to take my mind off of any of my addictions, it’s very beneficial to me. Working out is a form of meditation for me because I’m not focused on anything in my head. It can transport you to a totally different place.”
The “Confident” singer recently opened to Us Weekly about her mixed martial arts workout regimen, explaining that the sport is “therapeutic” for both her body and mind. “I feel the most confident when I’m in the gym,” she told Us at the launch of her limited-edition Fabletics activewear collection on May 10 . “Whenever I’m training — whether it’s boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu.”
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