Life

Selfies Helped This Woman Lose 100 Pounds

by Catie Keck

An Icelandic woman has lost more than 100 pounds using selfies to motivate her, reports the New York Post. After years of being plagued with health complications and obesity, Eva Rut Gunnlaugsdottir tells Central European News (CEN) that her weight loss was facilitated by seeing her visual evolution on social media, adding that the documentation of her transformation helped her stay motivated. Essentially, Gunnlaugsdottir fat-shamed herself to a healthier body by posting photos that she knew were expressly unflattering. Now a healthier woman, she’s come forward about using a public forum as impetus for weight loss.

“I posted the first one almost as a joke,” Gunnlaugsdottir told CEN. “I felt really bad about myself and looked bad and I felt if I could start to see the change it might help me to carry on. But in fact I was also so embarrassed about the images that it was something that made me determined to carry on."

The 35-year-old dropped from 268 pounds to around 150, reports the Post. Encouraged by friends and family, Gunnlaugsdottir said that the first few days of her weight loss were difficult, adding that portion control has long been at the heart of her weight gain (having children contributed, she added). But committing to weight loss through public documentation of her evolution enabled her to shed what she saw as extra weight, and feel better about herself as she did.

Is this a healthy way to lose weight, or did this woman just fat shame herself into dieting? And if it indeed made her healthier, was it worth it?

Image: Colin Oehring/Twitter; Eva Rut Gunnlaugsdottir/Facebook