Fatorexia

 

Self-confessed ‘FATorexic’ Sara Bird coined and the trademarked the term FATorexia and wrote her book about her experiences as an overweight woman who saw a slimmer self in the mirror, becoming obese without noticing it. She and marketing manager Stephanie Bilton cam to Kealmedia to write the press release to put before the world’s media, to re-write their press pack and to write a new blurb for the second edition of her book after edition one rapidly sold out.

 

CLIENT’S VERDICT:

 

“I love what you have done – very punchy, and I think it creates a desire to know more and sets just the right tone….Thank you for doing it so quickly too.”

 

Here’s the release that helped FATorexia generate the media feeding frenzy that has greeted its publication:

 

How overcoming FATorexia left Sara as free as a bird…

 

Businesswoman Sara Bird has overcome years of self-doubt, yo-yo dieting and stress to launch herself into the media spotlight with her new book, FATorexia.

 

Sara always saw herself as slim and glamorous. Then a brutally frank GP and some cruelly revealing party photographs told her she was in denial about her size. What she saw in the mirror wasn’t what others were seeing.

 

“When I looked in the mirror I saw a confident, thin person, when in actual fact I was obese,” says Sara, 45. The GP’s assessment left no room for doubt: “It was horrific! How could anyone tell me I was fat? I would have known if I was. But therein lies the problem – I had convinced myself that I was slim and in control, when in fact I was clearly the opposite.”

 

The mother-of-two searched high and low to put a name to a condition to match her symptoms. When none could be found, she coined the name herself – FATorexia, the opposite of anorexia. Sara began to chart how FATorexia affected her, and became increasingly convinced that she had uncovered a condition blighting the lives of many thousands, perhaps millions of people.

 

There was no information out there, no resources to draw upon, so Sara conducted her own research, interviewed fellow-sufferers and trademarked FATorexia, turning her findings into a self-published book* that is already causing a sensation.

 

“I realised that being stressed about your weight is as bad as being fat. But I can do something about being stressed, and that has to be better for me and for my body,” says Sara.

 

“I believe that if diets don’t work, then a person needs to resolve the situation in a way that makes them happy. For me, that resolution came with accepting who and what I am whilst making sure, by conquering FATorexia, that I don’t get any fatter.

 

Sara is now enjoying a new lease of life and is facing inquisition by the national Press with a spring in her step. But Sara is quick to point out that she is not endorsing obesity.

 

“Coming to terms with FATorexia is about control, moderation and choice. I don’t want to spend endless hours in the gym. I just want to be as healthy as I can be and enjoy my life to the max! Knowing I was a FATorexic helped me to find my ‘trigger’ – identifying the point where I won’t allow myself to get any bigger.

 

“I’m in control now.”

* Fatorexia, by Sara Bird. £16.99. Order from www.fatorexia.com