It’s hard to imagine that New Zealand woman and mother-of-two Claire Burt previously waged a 14-year battle with body image issues and eating disorders.
A glimpse at her Instagram feed today shows happy and uplifting posts about her life as a mother of two young children along with photos where she looks fit and healthy.
However, a recent poignant post shared by the social media influencer was a stark reminder of the past difficulties she’s faced.
Claire, 32, posted an image of a hand-written note, explaining that she had been doing some packing when she came across a ‘letter I wrote to my parents when I was 14 years old’.
The raw and emotional letter revealed Claire begging her parents for ‘help’ because she feels ‘way overweight’.
The teenager’s letter asked her parents to get rid of ‘any unhealthy food’ in their house and encourage her ‘to go to the gym’ – even when she refused.
‘I really need to do this (because) I’m not happy with myself,’ she pleaded in the letter.
Looking back at her words while knowing the health struggles she subsequently endured over the years, Claire wrote in the caption: ‘I knew something wasn’t right in my brain [even] back then.’
After undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in 2020 when her weight topped out at 170kg, Claire has since lost a staggering 92kg and transformed her life
Claire Burt recently uncovered a heartbreaking letter that she’d written as a teenager begging for help with her weight problems
The content creator told FEMAIL that reading the letter broke her heart on many levels.
‘I think about what I went through in the years after that,’ Claire said.
‘And now having have two babies of my own, I think about what my parents had to go through seeing me struggle for years. They would have felt so helpless.’
Starting from as early as primary school and continuing well into adulthood, Claire told FEMAIL that she battled multiple eating disorders including ‘binge eating, bulimia and anorexia’.
The turning point for Claire came five years ago after her weight ballooned to 170kg.
‘The binge eating disorder had won and fully taken over,’ she told FEMAIL.
By that point, Claire said her relationship with food was completely out of control.
‘It’s so crazy to me looking back at how much I would consume at once,’ she said.
‘And now having have two babies of my own, I think about what my parents had to go through seeing me struggle for years. They would have felt so helpless,’ she said (pictured at 14)
Claire Burt has documented her life changing weight loss journey on her Instagram account @life_of_a_binge_eater
‘I would have two large pizzas, two sides and 50 chicken nuggets and a 1.5L bottle of Coke in one binge. That would be one of many in a day.’
When she reached 170kg – her heaviest weight ever, Claire says she could no longer ‘function properly mentally and physically’.
It was at that stage that she made a life-altering decision.
‘I made the choice to have gastric sleeve surgery because I was at the past the point of no return,’ Claire said.
The surgery enabled Claire to drop a staggering 92kg over the next few years.
But it wasn’t just a catalyst for physical change, with Claire explaining that it also sparked a reboot in her mentality when it came to food and eating.
‘It completely changed my life,’ she said.
‘It was like it switched the food voices off in my head and I was able to build a new relationship with food.’
It was around this point that Claire began sharing details of her health journey on her social media account, posting under the online handle @life_of_a_binge_eater.
Her Instagram account, which now has more than 37.3K followers, sees the digital creator sharing candid posts and updates about her weight loss experience and discussing how she continues to keep her eating disorder demons at bay.
These days, many of the Claire’s posts share details of her smashing her health goals, as well as enjoying parenthood alongside her husband Charlie as they raise their two young children, Kingston and Lulu.
When she reached 170kg – her heaviest weight ever, Claire says she could no longer ‘function properly mentally and physically’
Nowadays, Claire Burt’s Instagram feed features posts about parenthood as a mother of two young children as well as updates about her health and weight loss journey
Having made so many positive strides forward in her health journey, it would’ve been easy for Claire to simply put aside the letter she recently stumbled across and omit sharing it with her followers.
However the online influencer tells FEMAIL it was important for her to share it as a reminder to her followers – and herself – of the difficulties that she’d previously faced.
‘I hope it makes others realise they are not alone,’ Claire says.
‘And that I will always be a safe place for anyone who is struggling.’
Although Claire looks a like a completely different person since shedding over half her body weight, the influencer admits that even today she still ‘struggles with body image’.
‘Anyone that has lost a big amount of weight goes through body dysmorphia. Especially when it’s rapid weight loss,’ she said.
While aware of the mental challenges that she continues to face, Claire said she remains focused on keeping herself and her body in a healthy frame of mind.
‘I continue to stay mindful of what I am thinking and feeling when it comes to food and making sure I eat foods that are good for me – but also letting myself have treats without over doing it.’
