Anna Archer “Fitness”

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This entire situation just makes me wonder: How much of the fitness industry is totally fake??

I spent a good part of my teenage years comparing myself to women like Anna and now that she's come out and said she's bulimic I feel like there's no purpose in me comparing myself to them anymore, because there's probably a lot of unhealthy, disordered behaviors going on. Makes me not want to watch any fitness influencers anymore
 
babykalechip said:
This entire situation just makes me wonder: How much of the fitness industry is totally fake??

I spent a good part of my teenage years comparing myself to women like Anna and now that she's come out and said she's bulimic I feel like there's no purpose in me comparing myself to them anymore, because there's probably a lot of unhealthy, disordered behaviors going on. Makes me not want to watch any fitness influencers anymore
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so true!! it really makes you think doesn’t it...
 
I’ve watched the video and I’m more concerned about Anna than ever.

In the video, Anna talks about ‘August to October’, and even January and February like they were a very long time ago. It’s only April. She has not had nearly enough time to process what she’s sharing from the recent past, and now she is bearing her deepest traumas publicly while working through them with therapists. I am quite alarmed.

I’m glad she’s seeking professional help. I’m glad she has the support of her family. I’m glad she feels her current coping mechanisms are helping her at the moment. I’m glad she is feeling better than she was. But, this is the latest in a long line of similar behaviour from Anna.

I can’t remember how many months I’ve followed Anna now - perhaps 8 months, but it feels like a lot longer, because she has been a whirlwind. It feels like she is constantly running away from herself. I can think of so many examples from her content - ‘When I do this, I’ll be happy’. And so she has constantly sought new things - new training techniques, new dietary restrictions, new plans. Everything she tries is ‘the best yet’ and ‘exactly what I need’. She has clearly crashed and burned behind the scenes: she has started and quit her degree, travelled to and left Aruba (in the middle of a pandemic, no less), and then the same with her sister - and it’s not made her feel better. Rather than pausing, she copes with the fallout in the same way, by trying something new. Suddenly, she announces her mum and stepdad are going to cook her meals, and take her for walks. She takes an extended break from social media. And now, mere months later, she’s following a predominantly vegan diet, and living in a cabin on her own. Yet again, chasing the next ‘best thing yet’, the next ‘exactly what I need’. And yes, seeking professional help for her deep-rooted trauma, which is behind these coping mechanisms, is exactly what she needs to do. But - she’s still coupling it with restrictive behaviours - they're just new ones we haven’t seen before. The disorder is just disguised again.

I understand she’s young. I understand she’s only human. She’s allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. She’s allowed to be complex and full of contradictions. She’s allowed to do whatever she likes with the platform she’s grown. However, she is clearly unwell. Again, it’s great she’s seeking professional help. I just think she needs to give herself more time before she bares her soul on the internet. Her anxiety about posting today should have been enough to show her it’s too soon to share.
 
I used to love Anna but if she really intends on helping people she needs to remove the majority of her previous posts. It seems disingenuous to have her old posts up and influencing people as if that behavior was fine meanwhile she had extremely disordered behavior. She may keep them up for the money and clout.
 
The responsible action for her to take at this point would to be to sign off of being a "fitness" or "wellness" or "health" or "lifestyle" or whatever other type of influencer she has decided to be. She clearly has trauma that prevents her from being a role model for health and wellbeing. She's not the person to be in front of others proclaiming the best way to do anything. She needs to sign off.
 
i assume a lot of people on this thread have had an eating disorder, myself included. So it’s very striking how it’s only been a month or two of her in recovery and she’s already saying how amazing and transforming it’s been etc. Like doesn’t it take an average of 5 years to recover from an ED? I worry that she’s now put the label of ‘recovering’ onto herself and will feel pressured to be the most perfect and aesthetic recovery account where you’re finding your true self and flourishing and nourishing your body 🥰 when in fact it isn’t like that, at all :( I think she should step away from socials, actuslly recover first and THEN show what helped. Not showing what currently helps but may not be attainable, like she did before with her fitness content 🥲
 
Quueen;)2401 said:
i assume a lot of people on this thread have had an eating disorder, myself included. So it’s very striking how it’s only been a month or two of her in recovery and she’s already saying how amazing and transforming it’s been etc. Like doesn’t it take an average of 5 years to recover from an ED? I worry that she’s now put the label of ‘recovering’ onto herself and will feel pressured to be the most perfect and aesthetic recovery account where you’re finding your true self and flourishing and nourishing your body 🥰 when in fact it isn’t like that, at all :( I think she should step away from socials, actuslly recover first and THEN show what helped. Not showing what currently helps but may not be attainable, like she did before with her fitness content 🥲
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I second this so much. While watching the video, what really struck me (apart from just feeling really bad for her, as I know how she felt during that month of January where she struggled the most with bulimia) was that she kept saying she wants to help people overcome the same disordered eating she had. I found this quite problematic. She speaks as if she will have that one one-size-fits all solution, which just isn't the case - everyone reacts differently and will need different treatment methods. She is in no way qualified to guide others through recovery and should not try to make it seem that way. In multiple stories, she's been saying how excited she is to share everything she's learnt, so others can benefit from it too, but in my opinion she should be very careful about pushing something that's been working for her onto others, given she is not a therapist or anything like that.

I think some recovery accounts can have a positive impact on their audience simply by inspiring people to e.g. overcome a 'fear food', but they don't claim that what they are doing will work for others. Anna did mention at the end of the video that she'd link some resources in the description, but I think she should've emphasized how important it is to get professional help. And just to not invalidate anyone in this thread, I know it is possible to recover alone, I just don't think it is optimal.
 
Quueen;)2401 said:
i assume a lot of people on this thread have had an eating disorder, myself included. So it’s very striking how it’s only been a month or two of her in recovery and she’s already saying how amazing and transforming it’s been etc. Like doesn’t it take an average of 5 years to recover from an ED? I worry that she’s now put the label of ‘recovering’ onto herself and will feel pressured to be the most perfect and aesthetic recovery account where you’re finding your true self and flourishing and nourishing your body 🥰 when in fact it isn’t like that, at all :( I think she should step away from socials, actuslly recover first and THEN show what helped. Not showing what currently helps but may not be attainable, like she did before with her fitness content 🥲
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For sure! I had an eating disorder for a relatively short amount of time when I was 14 and it came back time and time again, well into university. I still have to be careful and wouldn't consider myself fully recovered, although I have a great relationship w food and exercise now.

I understand someone restricting and convincing themselves that they are eating healthily or in a calorie surplus for fitness reasons, but I'm wondering how she, in good faith, put out multiple videos about her diet and fitness while she was bulimic? You cannot convince yourself that that is healthy like you can with anorexia/orthorexia. I know it is so so complicated, and also very personal, but that seems bizarre to me.
 
I thought that she would realise by this point that she shouldn't be advising people on health at all. She has very immature thought patterns for her age which may be a product of her trauma, but she continues to make assertions on health as if they're fact. She's continuing to do more harm than good.
 
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:/
 
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the irony of that second part of the comment when that was exactly what anna was doing!!! and she’s replied agreeing ????

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ngl this has really annoyed me?? why does she think a quick instagram story makes up for months of encouraging people into this mindset - as well as the posts literally still being up!! i wish she would realise that she’s likely going to continue to influence people negatively while she’s in recovery because eating disorders don’t allow you to have a rational mindset about these things, like the whole plant based thing now most likely being another way to restrict.
 
I just want to say going forward etc obvs this is a gossip forum but just since she's started posting herself again a lot more would it be possible if we didn't comment on weight gain/loss with her? I doubt she reads here anymore on her new 'journey' but just incase, comments like that will easily trigger a relapse as there is nooo way she is recovered yet :)
 
She deleted her insta story and her tiktok addressing her issues. Those are her biggest platforms and yet they still have her old content up with no warning that they are ED behaviors. She knows what she's doing, but would obviously rather have clout and continue to push ED's on people than delete what made her popular. She can claim that she's better now, but she is still fixated on her image and she doesn't care who she hurts.
 
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