My Favorite Books-2014

 Hello there :)

So I thought I'd bring you a slightly different post to my usual mental health posts on this grey Sunday. I've really gotten into watching 'Book Favourites' videos on YouTube and got inspired to do my own version on my blog.

I've always been a bit of a book worm since I was little and so I read a lot, but I've managed to narrow my favourite books of 2014 (so far) to just 5 for you, however I couldn't put them in preference order it was just too hard!  

Divergent by Veronica Roth
So I am sure the majority of you have either read this, watched it or heard about it. I have read on three books in this series and honestly loved them all, however Divergent (the first in the trilogy) has to be my favourite. For those of you who don't know the story is set in an alternate world and follows a female protagonist by the name of Tris. I think the reason I loved this book so much is the world Roth created really captured me, it was exciting and followed a female who wasn't the stereotypical weak and clumsy type. It captured romance also but not in the cringe, cliché way and I couldn't put it down (I read it in two days).

The Fault in our Stars-John Green
I feel like there will be a simultaneous groan when people see this as this is all everyone has seemed to speaking about in terms of books for like the past 2 years, and I tried not to include it because it was just so typical but I couldn't not. I fell in love with the characters of this book, it was the most beautiful love story I have ever read and the words in it gave me goose bumps. I, like the rest of the world sobbed at this book, and any book that can give me goose bumps, makes me laugh and then sob is an amazing book in my world and so it needed to be in this post. If you haven't read this book then do it is better then the movie and makes you appreciate a lot.


The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Clibosky
Yes I am a little late with this one. This was an extremely hyped up book a few years ago but I have only just got around to reading it this year. This book is simply beautiful. I have very few words to say about this except it is honestly the most humbling and relatable story I have come across.

Catching Fire-Suzanne Collins
Yes this is a very well known book also. For those of you who don't know Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. I adored the series but when it came to picking my favourite this won by a landslide. This book introduces new characters like I literally love and grew very attached to, and the setting and storyline in this book had so many twists and so well written that I couldn't put it down. The romance element like divergent wasn't cringe in fact in some places it was beautiful and heart warming.

Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn
Okay so I will admit that without the release of the film recently I would have never of heard or read this book. But oh my goodness this book is unreal. If this list was in order this book would easily be at number one. The plot twists are mind blowing and every chapter leaves you thinking 'Oh my god!'. The character development is perfection and the female protagonist is probably my favourite main character of any book I have ever read. I couldn't put this book down and anyone who is looking for an intense crime to read then go and buy this and anyone who enjoys programmes such as Criminal Minds and CSI you will love this!

 

Okay so these are my favourite reads of the year so far. I really had fun making this post and so you will probably see more like this in weeks to come.
Comment below any book recommendations you have for me because I am always stuck on what to read next

Thank you so much for reading
B x

My story with anorexia.

Hello :)

It's been a good while since I have posted anything on this blog, I guess I just kind of forgot about it for a while with all the things that have been happening in my life.
I have been wanting to do this post for a while because many say that even if no one is interested it is good to write it all down and get it off your chest.

This post (as you may of been able to tell from the title) is the story of my own personal battle with anorexia from start to finish and so this post will be a long one so I won't get offended if you get bored and sign off half way through.

Before I begin I would like to quickly mention in the year 2012/2013 I suffered with self harming and depression and also this is my own personal story with anorexia everyone's story is different.

In May 2014 I decided that I was going to try and get my figure more to how I wanted it to be, my boyfriend at the time was really into exercise and fitness and watching him work to get his body the best it could be really inspired me to do the same. So I made a plan that in my two week period after my AS exams I would exercise everyday and start eating healthily and in order to do this I downloaded an app called My Fitness Pal.
At the start I really enjoyed it, I liked my fitness improving and eating healthily it made me feel better in myself and when I actually started to see physical changes in my body in spurred me on to do more and more.
Then I spent one weekend away to visit a University and I ate a lot of junk food because being in a car the majority of the time you can't really access 'healthy foods' and when I got home I discovered that I had put on 2lbs. I had this gut wrenching feeling of failure and I hated it and I hated myself and I remember standing on the scale in my bathroom thinking 'this can never happen again'.
So the exercising began to increase to everyday and became more and more intense and my food intake was a strict 1200 calories a day of good and healthy foods and I began to avoid foods that are known to be unhealthy such as chocolate, pizza etc.
Before I knew it I was sucked in, obsessed completely with exercise and food. My daily food intake was cut from 1200 calories to 900 and my exercise routine remained the same. I began to weigh myself after every meal and every workout and I became more and more unhappy with what the scale told me and so I cut down on my food even more.
By September I was eating 400 calories a day maximum, I had a list of foods that I strictly couldn't eat:
-chocolate
-sweets
-crisps/chips
-biscuits
-junk food (burgers, pizza etc)
-cake
-bread
-pasta
-any sauces (ketchup, gravy)
-carrots
-apples
-bananas
-pears
-salt and pepper
-red meat
-potatoes
-oil
-spreads (butter, peanut butter etc.)
-cereal
-normal yogurt (only no fat natural greek yogurt allowed)
-any food over 100 calories
and list of rules I had made myself:
-drink water before and after every meal
-chew your food at least 30 times before swallowing
-no food in-between meals
-no food after 5pm
I couldn't see what I was doing to my body all I saw was fat, I obsessively rubbed my hip bones and ribs to check I hadn't gained fat from just eating. I had no energy to go out of the house and my joints ached to the point where I couldn't stand or walk for longer then 10 minutes, every time I stood my eyes when black and my head spun and I had to grab onto a side until my vision was restored. I could no longer do the long intense workouts I once did so I obsessively did 200 jumping jacks, 100 burpees, 60 crunches, 60 mountain climbers, 50 high knees three times a day everyday.

I became a vile person to be around when your body is starving you don't sleep and so I was surviving off 4hours of sleep per night and 400 calories a day and so I didn't have energy to even speak I just snapped at my loved ones for no reasons until the point where no one wanted to be around me. I became severely constipated and used it as an excuse to abuse laxatives and took around 7 each day I became addicted to them as I loved the feeling of my stomach being completely empty. I couldn't eat something unless I knew exactly how many calories it had in it, and I went food shopping with my mum every week until the point where I couldn't physically go because where I had been starving for so long being around food triggered a binge setting in my brain where I wanted to eat everything. I didn't see friends because I physically couldn't and when I got home I collapsed in bed and slept. I was cold to my core all the time even in summer, I went to Spain where it was 28 degrees in the evening and had to wear a jumper.

I dropped from 9stone 10 pounds to 7 stone in 2 months. My bra size went from 34 C to a 30 A (with room). My periods stopped. My hair thinned out and began to come out in clumps. My body was extremely dehydrated and malnourished. And I didn't care. My illness told me that all the bad things were worth it because I was getting thinner and I was better person because I was thin, I wasn't a failure anymore and people loved me more now.

On September 13th 2014 my boyfriend of 2 year who I planned to go to University with left me, he couldn't handle it anymore my vile moods and obsessive behaviour was sending him into depression. My mum had broken down completely exhausted with the worry of if I had collapsed at school or died in the night. On September 15th 2014 I got admitted to a specialised eating disorder clinic and I have been in recovery ever since.

I haven't suffered with my illness for long like millions of others, but the development of my illness was quick and dangerous.
I am currently in recovery and face a battle in my mind every time I eat but now I am getting better I realised that I wasn't living back then, I was dying and I choose recovery over a thigh gap and hip bones any day because in recovery I have my life back, I laugh again and go out.
Anorexia took everything from me, the love of my life, my ability to have children, my family, my friends. But she isn't going to take anything else.

If you made it to the end well done !
Thank you so much for reading, if you have any questions please ask and if you think you are suffering from an eating disorder PLEASE TELL SOMEONE and if you need to talk to me send me a question on tumblr:
Keep Smiling you lovely people
B x