Images: @annaarcherfitness
With nearly 500k followers, fitness influencer Anna Archer is living the Gen-Z dream in London at only 22 years old. Anna is very open with her audience, and as we value her transparency we were eager to understand her journey to healing her trauma and working on herself.
THE JOURNEY
Fitness has always been in my life. Growing up in an active family, I spent a lot of time outdoors and had a real passion for sports. Although my earliest memories of starting to feel uncomfortable in my body was at the age of 6, when I started comparing the muscles on my thighs to my friends, who maybe didn't have the same muscle and felt as though I was 'too big'. This struggle has only gotten worse in my teenage years, progressing further than just comparing myself.
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Food is fuel. I understand this now, but growing up I created such a 'good' food 'bad' food mentality, which then progressed to binge eating later on. I started the gym when I was 14, and became confident enough to begin weight training at the age of 17. My body dysmorphia stopped me from fuelling my body correctly, which is when I started calorie counting. For some people calorie counting can be amazing, but for me, someone with an addictive and resentful personality towards myself I went extremely low with food.
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The hardest point in my life was my dad passing away. I found myself reflecting my grief towards him onto myself, becoming my own bully and hating my body even more. Restricting my food was my coping mechanism, and then the pandemic hit. In lockdown I decided to take action and start therapy, this was my lowest, most alone stage in my life so far, but one day during lockdown I just decided I was done crying over something I could change. This mindset switch lead me to lose 13kg in 5 weeks, with the vein physical goal of looking good for a girls holiday. Comparing myself has throughout my life been one of my biggest struggles, always lying to myself that I am the 'bigger girl' which was extremely toxic way of viewing myself.Â
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I started my fitness social media whilst experiencing the weight loss high. I attached losing weight with happiness, and I wanted other girls to feel this sense of success, so I started sharing my journey to inspire other girls to follow along. My following just grew rapidly, hitting over 200,000 followers in less than 6 months, and I decided to stop therapy. In this time I struggled alone, hiding behind my social media accounts sharing advice to girls that I was unable to believe myself, I was consumed with negative thoughts, constantly thinking I wasn't good enough.
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My eating disorder took over. It ate me up, literally. I was binging and had now got to the stage of making myself sick after eating, which is how I recognised enough was enough. I quite quickly jumped into recovery, there was nothing stopping me from being able to say I am okay, and I started my self love journey. Everyone is different, therapy may work for some people but not for others and that is okay. I spent this time learning about myself, I needed to understand who I was in order to heal my trauma. My biggest piece of advice is don't let your body determine your happiness, find yourself and make yourself feel good, and in turn your body will forgive you.
MARATHON TRAINING
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Everything in life requires balance. My journey has opened my eyes to positive affirmations. You won't ever be happy with your body until you show yourself love, and to do that you need to spend time healing and working on yourself. I have spent time in recovery walking and moving my body which is where my love for running began. Running is one of the most rewarding activities, I wish I had known this at my lowest. Running is like free therapy, you get a runners high, and push yourself and no matter the distance, you always feel a sense of success.
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My marathon journey has been the best challenge I have faced. Pushing myself in the least toxic way has allowed me to love my body for what it can do. I don't run for weight loss, and I fuel myself for my runs to make sure I am the strongest I can be because I love my body no matter what it looks like. The Runna app has been the best form of training, it allows you to listen to your body whilst keeping you accountable, something I feel that I have maybe struggled with in the gym. Motivation comes and goes, you have to rely on yourself to reach your goals, and when you do that feeling of achievement is a high like nothing else.
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My marathons are supporting Mental Health Foundation. I am proud of how far I have come, and that my platform allows me to encourage other girls who have been in the same position as me to push themselves to new limits. Run clubs have shown me a new lease of life in the fitness community, and meeting every single one of you at these events make every part of my journey worth it. If I can inspire anyone to learn peace in health and fitness, it is extremely rewarding. So my biggest piece of advice is learn to enjoy moving your body, restrictions will only consume you, so have fun with your fitness journey and it will be extremely rewarding. But take time for yourself and take a moment to check in, ask yourself how are you feeling physically, emotionally and mentally, positive self-reflection is the best form of self-care.